In early July 2023 Masdar was reported to be lining up a stake in Baltic Eagle, a 476 MW offshore wind farm Iberdrola was building in the German Baltic Sea. By the end of the month the deal was signed. The structured price per megawatt that came out of it looks modest for German offshore wind. It is not, and the reason sits in what Masdar actually bought and what it agreed to pay after closing.
Key takeaways
- Iberdrola signed an agreement on 26 July 2023 to sell a 49 percent stake in the 476 MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea to Masdar, retaining a 51 percent majority stake.
- Enerdatics calculates the transaction value of Masdar's 49 percent stake at $862 million, based on an enterprise value of $1.76 billion for the whole asset as reported by Iberdrola, equal to about $3.70 million per MW on a 100 percent basis.
- Under the agreement Masdar must contribute to Baltic Eagle's construction costs in proportion to its 49 percent stake until the wind farm is complete, on top of the price paid for the shares.
- Baltic Eagle is expected to generate 1.9 TWh a year and has a minimum regulated tariff of $71.4 per MWh for its first 20 years, plus PPAs with Salzgitter, Holcim, Stahl-Holding-Saar and Amazon.
- The transaction completed on 2 November 2023, and in March 2024 Masdar secured $532.79 million (EUR 488 million) of debt from ABN AMRO, Credit Agricole CIB, ING, Santander and Siemens Bank for the project.
How did the deal move from a rumoured stake to a signed sale?
It moved in three steps over four months, and each one changed what the market knew. The first version of this post, published on 6 July 2023, covered reports that Masdar was set to take a stake in Baltic Eagle. Those reports named the asset and the buyer but not the size of the stake or the terms.
Iberdrola then announced the signed agreement on 26 July, which is the date Leap records for the transaction. That announcement fixed the stake at 49 percent, kept control with Iberdrola, and set out the obligation for Masdar to fund its share of the remaining build. Completion followed on 2 November 2023.
Why is the structured price per MW only half the real figure?
Because $862 million buys 49 percent of the project, not all of it. Divide that consideration by the full 476 MW and the result is $1.81 million per MW, which is what a structured database field shows. That number compares a minority price with majority capacity and understates the valuation by roughly half.
Grossing up fixes it. Iberdrola reported an enterprise value of $1.76 billion for the whole asset, and Enerdatics derives the $862 million transaction value from that figure. Spread over 476 MW, the full asset is valued at about $3.70 million per MW. That is the number to set against other German offshore deals.
Even that figure understates Masdar's outlay, because it must also fund 49 percent of the remaining construction costs. The record does not state the size of those contributions, so the all-in cost of Masdar's position cannot be computed from public figures.
What revenue sits behind the valuation?
A floor plus a set of corporate contracts. Baltic Eagle carries a minimum regulated tariff of $71.4 per MWh for its first 20 years, which Enerdatics understands to be contracted under the German feed-in tariff regime. A minimum tariff means the project receives at least that price per MWh it sells, which caps the downside on power prices without capping the upside.
On top of the floor sit long-term power purchase agreements, contracts in which a buyer agrees to take a set volume at agreed terms. Salzgitter has a 15-year PPA for 455 GWh, Holcim a 15-year PPA for 250 GWh and Stahl-Holding-Saar a 15-year PPA for 200 GWh. Amazon has a PPA for 1,100 GWh. Leap's later financing record also lists a 15-year PPA with O2 Telefonica for 200 GWh.
For an investor arriving mid-construction, that contracted mix is what lets the asset carry a valuation close to operating German wind farms before it has produced a megawatt hour.
How did Masdar pay for it?
Enerdatics estimates the acquisition was funded through a combination of cash on hand and debt. That estimate rests on Masdar's cash position of $857.6 million at 31 December 2022 and its five-year credit facilities with 14 banks signed in December 2021. Intesa Sanpaolo acted as financial adviser and White & Case as legal adviser to Masdar.
The project-level funding came later. In March 2024 Masdar raised $532.79 million of debt from five banks for Baltic Eagle, which Leap's record describes as Masdar's largest euro financing. Masdar had already begun tapping the bond market for its equity commitments abroad in July 2023, as set out in Enerdatics' map of where Masdar's first $750 million green bond was going.
Enerdatics records 24 German offshore wind transactions between January 2022 and June 2024, of which 11 carry a disclosed value. Grossed up to a 100 percent basis, the operational asset deals in that set range from $3.60 million per MW, for two 2023 stake sales in the 288 MW Butendiek wind farm, to $4.24 million per MW for Enbridge's 24.5 percent of Hohe See and Albatros. The only other in-construction print is Glennmont Partners' 50 percent of Orsted's 253 MW Gode Wind 3 at $3.94 million per MW. EnBW's sale of 49.9 percent of the 960 MW He Dreiht project, still under development, grosses up to $2.91 million per MW. Baltic Eagle, at $3.70 million per MW, sits where its stage says it should: above development, just below operating assets.
What does the deal signal for German offshore wind?
It signals that German offshore assets are priced by stage, and that the discount for construction risk is modest. Baltic Eagle traded within about 6 percent of Gode Wind 3, the other in-construction asset, and within the band of operating Butendiek stakes. Buyers taking on build risk alongside a major utility are paying close to operating prices because the utility keeps control and the contracted revenue is already signed.
It also marks the start of a wider partnership. In December 2023 Leap records Iberdrola and Masdar agreeing to co-invest up to $16.2 billion in offshore wind and green hydrogen across Germany, the UK and the US. The same pairing later extended to the UK, covered in Enerdatics' analysis of Masdar's investment in Iberdrola's East Anglia 3 project.
For German offshore wind more broadly, the long-dated sale of operating stakes to financial buyers, as with Germany's first offshore wind farm changing hands as its tariff fell away, now has a counterpart earlier in the life cycle. Utilities are recycling capital before commissioning, not after.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Masdar pay for its stake in Baltic Eagle?Enerdatics calculates the transaction value of Masdar's 49 percent stake at $862 million, derived from Iberdrola's reported enterprise value of $1.76 billion for the whole asset. Masdar also agreed to fund 49 percent of the remaining construction costs until completion.
What is Baltic Eagle's valuation per MW?On a 100 percent basis the $1.76 billion enterprise value equals about $3.70 million per MW across 476 MW. Dividing the $862 million stake price by full capacity gives $1.81 million per MW, which understates the valuation by roughly half.
When did the Masdar Baltic Eagle deal close?Iberdrola signed the agreement on 26 July 2023 and the transaction completed on 2 November 2023.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
