Iberdrola has agreed with the company Mexico Infrastructure Partners (MIP), owned by the Mexican State, the sale for 6,000 million dollars (5,500 million euros) of most of its electricity generation assets in the country, in the largest divestment ever made to date by the Spanish company.
The assets sold consist of combined cycle gas plants with a combined capacity of 8,436 megawatts (MW) and a wind farm with another 103 MW. MIP will take ownership of various subsidiaries of Iberdrola Mexico through which these infrastructures are managed, totaling 8,539 MW.
Following this move, the Spanish group will remain in the country with a portfolio of just over 2,000 MW of renewables, gas cycles and cogeneration, in addition to the electricity marketing subsidiary, which will now be in charge of signing bilateral contracts. with third parties for the purchase and sale of megawatt hours.
The assets sold, especially the combined cycles, are part of the infrastructure development plans with which the Mexican Government renewed its generation park several years ago. At that time, Iberdrola took advantage of the opportunities and became one of the benchmark electricity companies.
In recent times, Iberdrola had become one of the companies regularly cited by the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, when criticizing the multinationals that operate in the country. At the end of last year, the CEO of Iberdrola in Mexico, Enrique Alba, reported that the company’s efforts will be diverted to the United States, where there is “legal and regulatory certainty for the company’s investors.”
The group chaired by Ignacio Galán has opted in recent years for the development of electricity and renewable networks, with special emphasis on the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil. Among the gas assets sold in Mexico are some of the largest plants of this type in the country.
Among the assets included in the transaction are the Monterrey I and II, Altamira III and IV, Altamira V, Escobedo, La Laguna, Tamazunchale I, Baja California and Topolobampo II and III combined-cycle gas plants, together with the onshore wind farm La Sale III.
The operation, subject to the approval of the regulatory authorities, is part of a broader asset rotation plan announced by Iberdrola, which includes assets for close to 5,000 MW until 2025.
