Greentech Energy Systems (GES) A/S, a Danish renewable-power developer, recovered the 15 percent stake in a Sicilian wind farm swept up when anti-mafia police seized assets from a former shareholder in the project.
A court in the city of Trapani, Sicily, returned the stake in the Minerva Messina wind farm, Greentech said in a statement today. The plant was one of the assets acquired when Greentech purchased the project's holding company in 2007. The Danish company later bought a 15 percent share held by businessman Vito Nicastri after discovering he was being probed by the police.
The company wasn't accused of any wrongdoing and production continued at the plant, with 34,500 megawatt-hours generated in the year to July 18, more than a quarter of Greentech's output.
"Having an investigation into the seizure of shares due to a mafia connection was not nice," said Chief Executive Officer Sigieri Diaz della Vittoria Pallavicini in a phone interview from Rome today. "Now we're off the black list for investors."
Greentech plans to cut dependence on Italy, where it has more than 168 megawatts of wind power in operation. In March, it wrote down projects in the country because of market conditions and local opposition, and seeks to focus on business in Poland. The Italian government, beset by rising interest rates and a sluggish economy, says it will curb clean-energy incentives.
The renewable-power company, based in Herlev, Denmark, is studying a takeover of domestic competitor Scan Energy A/S to add assets beyond Italy, Diaz Pallavicini said on Aug. 9.
Cash Rich
Scan Energy referred a call from Bloomberg News seeking comment to Jorgen Elmer, a lawyer at Lund Elmer Sandager LLP, who said his client was in the process of restructuring.
"We have to have a negotiation with parties interested who might want to buy," Elmer said by phone.
Greentech is "cash rich" since closing a merger yesterday with GWM Renewable Energy, a unit of Geneva-based financial services company GWM Group, Diaz Pallavicini said. The Danish company has said it will spend at least 100 million euros ($142 million), plus 400 million euros of debt financing, in the next year on new projects, mainly in Poland, Spain and Germany.
