Nick Gardiner will take on the role of Managing Director, Offshore Wind while Karl Smith becomes Fund Managing Director. Mr Gardiner will lead the GIB’s offshore wind direct investment team and joins the bank from BNP Paribas where he was instrumental in the development of the renewables project finance business (debt advisory and arranging), with specific focus on the offshore wind sector.
Mr Smith was previously a Director in GIB’s offshore wind investment team and will take on the newly created role managing the Fund, which will operate separately from GIB’s offshore wind direct investment team. Smith led GIB’s principal equity investments in the offshore wind sector and has extensive experience in debt and equity investments and financial advisory across the energy and infrastructure sector. He joined GIB in 2012, having previously spent almost three years with advisory firm Hideal Partners, advising and developing energy and infrastructure M&A transactions.
“This is an exciting time for GIB’s offshore wind business, as we continue to look at investments in construction assets and start fundraising for the UK’s first dedicated offshore wind fund” said Ed Northam, GIB’s Head of Investment Banking. “I look forward to working with our two new MDs as we realise our ambitious plans for the offshore wind sector.”
Since the launch of the GIB in November 2012, the bank has made five investments in the offshore wind sector, totalling £642 million, making it the most active investor in the UK offshore wind market. In June 2014 for example, the bank announced its intention to raise a £1 billion offshore wind fund which will make equity investments in UK unlevered operating assets, bringing new long-term investors into the UK’s green economy and helping to lower the cost of capital for offshore wind.
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