European Commission Nods to Galloper OFTO Ownership Change

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control over Diamond Transmission Partners Galloper (Holding) Limited by Diamond Transmission Corporation Limited (DTC) and InfraRed Capital Partners Limited (IRCP), all of the UK.

Diamond Transmission Partners Galloper is the holding company of the offshore transmission owner (OFTO) for the Galloper offshore wind farm, active in the transmission of electricity from this wind farm to the UK’s onshore grid.

Diamond Transmission Partners Galloper is currently solely controlled by DTC, a holding company with activities in the electricity transmission sector.

IRCP is an infrastructure investment management company active in financial advice and managing investments on behalf of investment funds.

The commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because the companies’ activities do not overlap. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure.

The Galloper offshore wind farm comprises 56 Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines spinning some 30km offshore Suffolk.

First power was generated in November 2017, while the 353MW project was officially inaugurated in September 2018.

The project is owned by innogy SE (25%), Siemens Financial Services (25%), Sumitomo Corporation (12.5%), ESB (12.5%) and a consortium managed by Green Investment Group and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (25%).