Mainstream enters $1.5bn Vietnamese venture with GE

Energy entrepreneur Eddie O'Connor's Mainstream Renewable Power has signed a deal with General Electric to build $1.5 billion (€1.3bn) of wind power plants in Vietnam.

The Dublin-based company, which is currently seeking to raise at least €100 million of equity to help fund its development pipeline, said the projects would comprise both greenfield and partially developed sites, and be financed through an agreement between Mainstream and GE Energy Financial Services. GE will also provide the technology for the project.

"Delivering low-cost renewable energy in high-growth markets such as Vietnam is Mainstream's key strategic focus," said Andy Kinsella, Mainstream's chief operating officer. "We have a strong track record as a leading developer in Africa and South America."

Mainstream hired US investment bank PJT Partners this year to raise at least €100 million of equity from one or more investors after the company swung into a €96 million net profit last year from a €46.6 million loss in 2014.

Investors

Mr O’Connor told

The Irish Times

last month that he is open to raising a multiple of the target even if it meant handing over a controlling stake to new investors – as long as a shareholder agreement allows Mainstream to continue its strategy.

“If somebody came in with €200 million or €300 million, you’d be inclined to say, why not? You’d have to look at it very seriously. It all depends on the price,” he said at the time.

Mr O’Connor set up Mainstream in 2008 after Airtricity, the wind energy company he founded two decades ago, was sold to Scottish & Southern Energy, now SSE.