CS Wind buys Portugal's offshore wind energy firm

CS Wind Corp., the global leader in the wind tower market, has agreed to buy a majority stake in Portugal's largest wind tower manufacturer ASM Industries SA for €46.5 million ($55 million).

The acquisition of a 60% stake in ASM is aimed for the South Korean company to advance into Europe's offshore wind power market, CS said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

After closing the acquisition on Sept. 15, WAM Investments will remain a minority shareholder, CS added, without elaborating further.

"We concluded that ASM Industries' facility located in a Portuguese port is optimized to fabricate and transport offshore towers and support structures," a CS Wind official told Market Insight, the capital news outlet of The Korea Economic Daily.

ASM Industries, established in 2007, is a holding company that operates in the fields of manufacturing onshore and offshore wind towers, as well as offshore foundations and marine structures.

In particular, CS Wind plans to expand into the segment of monopile foundations that support floating wind power generators as anchors.

ASM supplies wind towers, one of the three parts of a typical wind power generator, across Europe. Since 2019, it has been focusing on the offshore wind power market, producing offshore foundations on sea and marine structures.

The latest acquisition is part of CS Wind's efforts to diversify its Asia-focused operations. It runs factories in China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam, and relies heavily on three major clients -- Vestas, Siemens and Nordex SE -- which account for 70% of its revenue.

In June of this year, the company acquired full ownership of the world’s largest tower manufacturing facility in the US from Denmark’s wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S for $150 million.

Earlier this month, CS Wind injected $29 million into the expansion of its wholly owned facility in Turkey via a rights offering.

Write to Ji-hye Min at spop@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.