Masdar has borrowed $532.79 million from five banks to build Baltic Eagle, a 476 MW offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea. Leap's record calls it Masdar's largest euro financing. Masdar is not the majority owner of the project. Iberdrola is, and the loan's size makes more sense once that is clear.
Key takeaways
- Masdar secured $532.79 million (EUR 488 million) of debt, announced on 15 March 2024, from ABN AMRO, Credit Agricole CIB, ING, Santander and Siemens Bank for the development and construction of the 476 MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in Germany.
- The Baltic Eagle lending package is recorded by Leap as Masdar's largest euro financing deal, with Santander as financial adviser and Watson Farley & Williams advising the lenders.
- Masdar acquired a 49 percent stake in Baltic Eagle from Iberdrola in July 2023; Iberdrola won the project in an April 2018 offshore tender run by Germany's Federal Network Agency.
- Baltic Eagle has a minimum regulated tariff of $79.4 per MWh for its first 20 years and PPAs with Salzgitter, Holcim, Stahl-Holding-Saar, Amazon and O2 Telefonica, whose listed volumes add up to 2,205 GWh.
- Enerdatics records six debt financings for German wind between January 2023 and June 2025, and the Baltic Eagle loan is the third largest, behind two loans for EnBW's He Dreiht offshore wind farm.
Why is the minority owner the one borrowing?
Because each owner funds its own share of construction. When Masdar bought its 49 percent of Baltic Eagle, it agreed to contribute to construction costs in proportion to its stake until the wind farm was complete, on top of the price paid for the shares, as our post on the valuation behind Masdar's Baltic Eagle stake explains. Those contributions have to come from somewhere, and debt is cheaper than equity for a project with secured revenue.
Leap's record does not say whether the $532.79 million covers the whole project or only Masdar's share of it. The fact that Masdar is named as the borrower, rather than Iberdrola or the project company, points towards Masdar raising debt against its own 49 percent. Per megawatt of the whole wind farm, the loan comes to about $1.12 million. Per megawatt of Masdar's 233 MW share, it is about $2.29 million.
The currency fits too. The loan is denominated in euros, EUR 488 million, and Baltic Eagle earns its revenue in a euro market. Masdar, based in Abu Dhabi, likely limits its currency exposure by borrowing in the currency the project earns.
What makes Baltic Eagle easy to lend against?
A revenue floor and a buyer list. Baltic Eagle has a minimum regulated tariff of $79.4 per MWh for its first 20 years. A regulated minimum tariff means the generator is guaranteed at least that price, which protects lenders if wholesale prices fall. Lenders size debt to the revenue they are confident of, and a floor raises that figure. Timing helped too. The wind farm was scheduled to start operating by the end of 2024, so when the loan was announced in March 2024 the remaining construction period was less than a year.
On top of the floor, the project has signed PPAs with five buyers. Leap lists 15-year contracts with Salzgitter for 455 GWh, Holcim for 250 GWh, Stahl-Holding-Saar for 200 GWh and O2 Telefonica for 200 GWh, plus a contract with Amazon for 1,100 GWh. Amazon's volume alone is about half of the 2,205 GWh total. The O2 Telefonica contract, the last to be signed, is covered in our post mapping the five buyers of Baltic Eagle's output.
Three of the five buyers are heavy industry: two steelmakers and a cement producer. They need large volumes of power for a long time, which suits a wind farm that wants a long contract. The steelmakers in particular are buying renewable power to cut emissions from steel production, which our post ranking Salzgitter's renewable power contracts sets in context.
How does the loan compare with other German wind financings?
It sits with the largest, all of them offshore. Enerdatics' data shows six debt financings for wind in Germany announced between January 2023 and June 2025. The three biggest are all offshore wind loans of more than $500 million: $647.97 million from the European Investment Bank for EnBW's He Dreiht in March 2023, $543.77 million from a bank group including EIFO, Commerzbank, KfW IPEX-Bank and LBBW for the same project in June 2023, and Masdar's $532.79 million for Baltic Eagle.
The other three are far smaller. VSB borrowed about $224 million from LBBW and DZ Bank for its Elster onshore wind farm in September 2023. NEAG Norddeutsche Energie secured about $16 million in March 2025, and Enova's mezzanine financing for 250 MW of onshore wind in August 2024 has no disclosed amount. Offshore wind dominates German wind debt by value because each project is so large.
He Dreiht was financed in two pieces, a public lender first and banks second. Baltic Eagle's record shows a single bank package. The difference may reflect who is borrowing: EnBW is a German utility funding its own project, while Masdar is a foreign co-owner funding its share.
What does the deal signal for German offshore wind?
It signals that co-ownership changes how offshore wind is financed. A single owner can raise debt for the whole project. When a developer sells a large minority stake during construction, as Iberdrola did, the incoming partner needs its own funding for its share of the build. That creates a second financing alongside whatever the majority owner arranges.
For banks, that means more transactions on the same asset, each sized to one owner's share. For developers like Iberdrola, it means construction cost is shared before the first turbine turns. Baltic Eagle was scheduled to come into operation by the end of 2024. The open question is how the debt is repaid once the farm is running, and whether Masdar refinances it against the PPAs once construction risk is gone.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Masdar borrow for Baltic Eagle? Masdar secured $532.79 million, or EUR 488 million, from ABN AMRO, Credit Agricole CIB, ING, Santander and Siemens Bank, announced on 15 March 2024.
Who owns Baltic Eagle? Iberdrola holds the majority, and Masdar acquired a 49 percent stake in July 2023. The 476 MW wind farm was awarded to Iberdrola in a German offshore tender in April 2018.
Who buys power from Baltic Eagle? Leap records PPAs with Salzgitter, Holcim, Stahl-Holding-Saar, Amazon and O2 Telefonica, with listed volumes totalling 2,205 GWh, alongside a minimum regulated tariff of $79.4 per MWh for 20 years.
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