Greencoat Capital, one of the U.K.'s biggest managers of renewable energy funds, is considering a potential sale, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The asset manager is in the early stages of speaking with potential advisers as it weighs strategic options, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Greencoat could attract interest from other fund managers looking to gain expertise in environmentally friendly investments, the people said. The firm has about £6 billion ($8 billion) of assets under management, according to its website.
It runs Greencoat UK Wind PLC, a listed infrastructure fund that has a market value of about £2.6 billion and is a member of the benchmark FTSE 250 Index. The firm also manages Greencoat Renewables PLC, another publicly traded investment fund, as well as solar and bioenergy funds aimed at institutional investors.
Renewable power assets are in high demand as the world moves away from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy sources. That's helping to lead to a flurry of deals for green energy assets and the companies that build and manage them. Another renewables asset manager, Foresight Group, raised £227 million through a London initial public offering in February that valued the company at £455 million.
Any deal would add to the $48 billion in takeovers of U.K. companies announced this year, up 140% from the same period in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Greencoat was founded in 2009 by veteran dealmaker Richard Nourse, the former head of Merrill Lynch's energy and power team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Mr. Nourse previously worked at storied British investment bank Morgan Grenfell & Co., as well as an arm of the U.K. government, where he helped manage the state's investments in nuclear power generators including British Energy and Urenco.
Greencoat benefits from being in one of the hottest areas of finance at a time when investors' money is increasing moving into long-term infrastructure assets providing higher yields. Greencoat has a team of about 50 investment professionals, spread between its London headquarters and a second office in Dublin.
Deliberations are ongoing, and there's no certainty they will lead to a transaction, the people said. A representative for Greencoat declined to comment.
