BlackRock Real Assets makes first Korean offshore wind investment

BlackRock Real Assets, a unit of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock Inc., has acquired a 100% equity stake in Korea Renewable Energy Development & Operation Holdings Co. (KREDO Holdings), previously known as IGIS Private Equity.

This marks the affiliate’s first investment in South Korea’s offshore wind power sector as part of BlackRock’s $4.8 billion Global Renewable Power fund, the company said on Thursday.

BlackRock Real Assets said more than one-third of the fund is marked for investments in climate infrastructure assets in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We are delighted to make a material commitment to the energy transition in South Korea. We believe that offshore wind will play a vital role in the nation’s road to decarbonization,” Charlie Reid, managing director of BlackRock Renewable Power, said in a statement.

KREDO Holdings is one of Korea’s largest renewables developers and owns an advanced pipeline of offshore wind and other renewables assets with over 2GW in power generation capacity.

The projects are expected to be fully contracted under 20-year agreements with subsidiaries of state-run Korean Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), it said.

BlackRock Real Assets said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to build KREDO Holdings’ portfolio of assets. Once fully operational, these assets will help Korea cut seven million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, it said.

“We are proud of this significant investment from BlackRock, which embodies sustainability as its new standard for investing,” Said Doh Jeong-hoon, chief executive of KREDO Holdings.

“Achieving the Korean government’s net-zero emission commitment by 2050 will require substantive development capital. We believe our investment will contribute significantly to this effort.”

PART OF GLOBAL ESG INITIATIVE

With $8.68 trillion in assets under management, BlackRock has aggressively pursued ESG-themed investments across the globe under its Chairman and CEO Larry Fink since last year.

In April this year, BlackRock Real Assets raked in $4.8 billion for its third Global Renewable Power Fund (GRP III) after receiving commitments from over 100 institutional investors at its final close.

Korean investors also joined in the BlackRock GRP III fund.

In April, Korea Transportation Asset Management (KOTAM) raised $185 million from five domestic institutional investors to commit to the BlackRock renewable energy fund.

The BlackRock fund has already completed an onshore wind investment in Europe, solar investment in Asia and a distributed solar generation investment in the US. GRP III also plans to invest in supporting infrastructure, including energy storage, distribution and electrified transport.

Write to A-Young Yoon at Youngmoney@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.