BlackRock Buys 90% Interest in 80 Megawatts of Iowa Wind

By Justin Doom

(Bloomberg) — BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest money
manager, is buying a 90 percent stake in 80 megawatts of Iowa
wind capacity to help diversify its infrastructure fund.

BlackRock is acquiring interests in the 42.5-megawatt Elk
and 37.5-megawatt Hawkeye wind farms from RPM Access LLC for an
undisclosed sum, the New York-based firm said Wednesday. The
Central Iowa Power Cooperative buys electricity from the power
plants, which came online in 2011 and 2012, under a long-term
contract.

“We’re specifically looking for things that get our
portfolio diversified geographically,” Managing Director David
Giordano said in a phone interview. “Iowa has been a state
that’s had a lot of great penetration, but a lot of it’s
operating projects with not a lot of new projects getting done
right now. So this was just a great opportunity for us.”

The Elk and Hawkeye wind farms use 32 2.5-megawatt Nordex
SE
turbines that have been deployed in projects outside the U.S.
where BlackRock’s invested, Giordano said. Familiarity with the
technology and the long-term power-purchase agreement made the
projects attractive additions as the firm beefs up its $1.5
billion infrastructure fund.

“We’ll stay very active through 2015 and into 2016,”
Giordano said. “BlackRock has a number of places where these
types of investments make sense.”

For Related News and Information:
BlackRock news: BLK US <EQUITY> CN BN <GO>
Wind power, climate, water news: NI WIND <GO>, GREEN <GO>

To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at +1-212-617-5908 or
jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-3525-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
Randall Hackley

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