Vestas and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have officially launched a new 50:50 joint-venture company MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S, dedicated to offshore wind turbine business.
The new company, established 1 April 2014, has 380 employees and is headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark. Chairman of the Board of Directors is Masafumi Wani, chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Europe, Ltd. Vice chairman of the Board is Vestas CEO Anders Runevad.
MHI and Vestas will focus their joint venture on the market for offshore wind turbines in the North Sea (particularly the UK and Germany), which they believe has "robust growth potential".
The JV will initially concentrate on Vestas’ 3 MW V112 wind turbine and the newly-developed V164-8.0 MW. Its responsibilities will range from "development, design, procurement and manufacture to marketing and after-sale servicing," MHI said.
Capitalization has initially been set at approximately €144 million, with MHI Holding Denmark ApS (MHD) and Vestas having equal ownership shares. MHD is also scheduled to receive a maximum of €132 million in capital investment, in the form of preferred shares, from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
In 2016 a call option will be exercised and the ownership ratios in MHI Vestas Offshore Wind are planned to shift to MHD 51% and Vestas 49%.
