GE Plans Acquisition Of Turbine Blade Manufacturer LM Wind Power For $1.65 Billion

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One of the world’s largest industrial companies and leading wind turbine manufacturer, GE, has announced the planned acquisition of wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Wind Power for $1.65 billion.

GE announced on Tuesday its intention to purchase Denmark-based LM Wind Power, a manufacturer and supplier of wind turbine rotor blades, for a healthy $1.65 billion (or €1.5 billion). If the deal is successfully completed, it would mean GE would in-source its own wind turbine blade design and manufacturing capabilities, which in turn would set the company up to better increase energy output and create value for its onshore and offshore customers.

Adwen-1LM Wind is already GE’s leading supplier of turbine blades, as the company does not make or design its own blades. Since 1978, LM Wind Power has produced more than 185,000 blades, or around 77 GW. The company is also responsible for the world’s longest wind turbine blade, unveiled back in June, for offshore wind turbine manufacturer Adwen.

The planned acquisition, valued at 8.3 times pro forma earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) (2016 estimate), is subject to the customary regulatory and government approvals of any such acquisition, and GE is expecting to close the transaction in the first half of 2017, which would in turn see the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in 2018.

“Increasingly, wind turbine innovation is driven by system design, materials science, and analytics — all elements of the GE Store,” said Jérôme Pécresse, President and CEO of GE Renewable Energy.

“We, along with LM Wind Power, have a deep pipeline of technical innovations that can further reduce the cost of electricity. With our combined global footprint, we can build flexible solutions for customers around the world. This combination will help sustain growth in the wind power industry.

“The acquisition of LM Wind Power, a leading supplier to the wind industry, will help us deliver on that goal. Simply stated, we’ll be more local, have more flexibility and knowledge in turbine design and supply, and more ability to innovate and reduce product costs, while improving turbine performance. We will also develop enhanced digital and services capabilities. All of which will be good for customers, competition in the industry, and the growth of wind power globally.”

“This deal will merge the speed and focus of LM Wind Power’s entrepreneurial culture with GE’s world-class engineering and operational capabilities,” added Marc de Jong, CEO of LM Wind Power. “Our two organizations are highly complementary and the transaction positions us well to respond faster to customer needs and enhance performance of wind turbines to ultimately reduce the cost of energy. We look forward to working closely with the GE Renewable Energy team to accelerate our growth strategy and continue to deliver greater value to all our customers.”


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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