Sumitomo buys into offshore monopiles outfit of German EEW

Japanese trader Sumitomo Corp (TYO:8053) is acquiring an unspecified equity stake in newly-founded EEW Offshore Wind EU Holding, a German manufacturer of monopiles for the offshore wind industry.

The agreement, financial details about which were not given, will have a commercial effect from July 1, 2024, EEW Group said in a social media post on Monday. The German steel pipe manufacturer is the parent company of EEW Offshore and will continue to be its majority owner.

EEW Offshore focuses on the production of steel foundations for bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines.

Tokyo-based Sumitomo said separately that its investment is expected to support the stable supply of monopiles to solve the bottleneck in the European offshore wind power industry. It noted that its acquisition was made following two decades of “strong business relationships” with EEW.

“This investment aligns with our commitment of contributing to green transformation and global shift to renewable energy,” commented Takuro Horikoshi, general manager of Steel Products SBU at Sumitomo.

The transaction needs to be approved by European Union regulators and is seen to be completed at the very end of the year.

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