Vestas will acquire all of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ (MHI) shares in their offshore focused joint venture, MHI Vestas. In return, MHI will acquire a 2.5 % stake in Vestas and gain a seat in the company’s board of directors. The transaction has a value of EUR 709 million.

“Vestas is the leader in onshore wind, but to accelerate the energy transition and achieve our vision we must play a larger role in offshore wind. Offshore wind is key to creating a sustainable planet for future generations and offers unique growth, and with today’s announcement we underline that we want to be an integral part of both”, says Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen

The move is intended to help Vestas grow and become a leading player in offshore wind by 2025. By integrating the offshore business into the Vestas Group, the company will be able to realize synergies in sales, technology, manufacturing footprint and procurement.

The manufacturer says it will also introduce a new offshore wind turbine platform, aimed at improving efficiency and driving down levelised costs. This likely means that Vestas will release a large offshore turbine to compete with GE’s 12 MW Haliade-X and Siemens Gamesa’s 14 MW SG14-222.

Vestas and MHI also plan to collaborate in green hydrogen as well as a joint venture in Japan to secure accelerated growth for both onshore and offshore wind energy.

“We are very pleased to be able to expand our cooperation and collaboration with Vestas, now more than ever, under the backdrop of the increasing need for cleaner and more economical energy worldwide. We will continue to strengthen business cooperation by leveraging our respective strengths to support the growth of clean energy around the world, especially in Japan”, comments MHI CEO Seiji Izumisawa.

On a stand-alone basis, MHI Vestas is expected to report EUR 1.4 billion in revenue this year, with an operating profit margin of about 4%. Vestas will start the integration of the offshore business immediately and closing of the transaction is expected to take place within either the fourth quarter of 2020 or the first quarter of 2021.