Japanese oil company Eneos buys "green" startup JRE for $1.7 billion
Japanese oil giant Eneos Holdings has closed a deal to buy Japan Renewable Energy (JRE) from the US bank Goldman Sachs Group and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited for 191.2 billion yen ($1.7 billion).
It is expected that the shares in JRE acquired by Forest E and Forest S will eventually be transferred to third parties, which may give a synergistic effect in terms of business strategy.
The Holding emphasizes that the impact of the transaction on its consolidated financial results as of March 31, 2022 will be minimal.
The upcoming agreement became known in October 2021.
As the Nikkei newspaper noted, this is the first example of a Japanese oil company buying a large startup in the field of renewable energy.
JRE was founded in 2012. The company focuses on the management of enterprises for the production of solar and wind energy, as well as energy from biomass. JRE operates about 60 businesses in Japan and Taiwan.
The Japanese government has set a target of 45 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2040.
Eneos believes that the acquisition of JRE will help the oil giant to enter the market faster and will save it from the need to independently develop offshore wind energy.
The company has set a goal in its medium-term business plan to invest more than $3.5 billion in renewable energy sources (RES) by March 2023.
Buying a JRE will make up almost 50% of the target.
Jan. 24, 2022