Green investors are taking advantage of green stock slump

Green investors on a buying kick during Trump’s oil reign: Private investors are on a green shopping spree amid a slump in clean energy stocks, Bloomberg reported last week. One investment player leading the pack is Brookfield, whose confidence in rising renewables demand has seen the firm invest in USD multi-bns green purchases despite the sector’s seeming reversal in fortunes with Trump’s ascendance.

The rationale: “Whenever we see a dislocation between what the market noise is and the fundamentals, that creates a very good opportunity for us to make acquisitions at very attractive entry prices,” says managing partner and deputy chief investment officer in the renewable power and transition group of Brookfield Asset Management Ignacio Paz-Ares. “When sentiment around something is low, it’s a good time to be a buyer,” says head of sustainability and transition strategy at Jefferies Aniket Shah.

Power prices are also attractive: Owners of renewables projects are benefiting from high power prices due to dwindling natural gas supply from Russia. Long-term power prices are at least twice as high as they were before the war in Ukraine, CIP managing director Jakob Baruel Poulsen said.

Brookfield’s purchasing spree: Over the last few months, the Canada-based investment firm has finalized a USD 1.7 bn purchase of the British National Grid Group’s onshore renewables arm and a USD 2.3 bn stake in UK wind farms from Orsted. The company also acquired French developer Neoen for USD 6.6 bn at a price per share one-third lower than the company’s peak in early 2021.

ICYMI- Brookfield — which oversees USD 126 bn in renewable and low-carbon investments — said last month that it is actively scouting for major publicly traded sustainable energy (solar and wind) firms to acquire. The company also recently raised USD 3.5 bn for its second energy transition fund, as part of its 4Q record fundraising goal of USD 29 bn in a funding round that is set to close by mid-year.

Others are also eyeing the industry: The market for low-carbon investments is less crowded and more attractive as Big Oil backtracks on their renewables projects, Hedge fund manager Trium Capital said. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) — which previously stepped back from the competition in the North Sea — is now looking to reenter the sector, recently buying a 480 MW project in the Irish Sea on “very attractive terms.”