Summary
- Orsted shareholders back $9.4 billion rights issue
- Group’s two US projects at risk in Trump’s war on wind power
- S&P Global warns equity raise offers limited relief from credit pressures
- Orsted’s shares down 85% from 2021 peak
COPENHAGEN, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Danish offshore wind developer Orsted secured shareholder approval on Friday for a $9.4 billion emergency rights issue aimed at staving off a crippling credit downgrade as the Trump administration targets its U.S. projects.
Once celebrated as a trailblazer in offshore wind, the state-controlled group now finds itself in dire straits, grappling with industry-wide challenges and U.S. President Donald Trump’s to wind power.
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“(The rights issue) gives us a strong financial foundation that is necessary to deliver on our business plan, manage the uncertainty in the U.S. and ensure that we can contribute to the development of offshore wind in Europe,” Chair Lene Skole told shareholders.
“It’s going to be a long, tough journey to re-erect Orsted,” Skole said.
Adding to its troubles, low wind speeds in July and August and a delay to a project under construction off Taiwan prompted it to cut its 2025 operating profit outlook on Friday.
The stakes are high for the Danish firm, which has transformed itself from oil producer DONG Energy into a global renewables leader with a market value that grew five-fold between its 2016 IPO and a 2021 peak.
But supply chain disruptions, surging interest rates, project delays, and Trump’s anti-wind policies have battered the offshore wind sector, sending Orsted’s shares tumbling by 85% from their peak.
TRUMP’S WAR ON WIND
At the heart of the drama are Orsted’s U.S. projects Sunrise Wind and Revolution Wind, both of which have been thrown into uncertainty.
Two-thirds of the fresh capital it is seeking to raise is earmarked for Sunrise Wind, a project that saw potential co-investors flee after the White House ordered Norway’s Equinor to halt a neighbouring wind farm in April.
U.S. officials also issued a stop-work order for the nearly completed Revolution Wind facility last month, prompting the joint venture running the project to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the decision.
The rights issue is critical for Orsted’s survival and its ability to retain its credit rating.
“We do this to ensure that we can continue to lead the expansion of offshore wind in our core markets here in Europe for the critical years to come,” CEO Rasmus Errboe told reporters at a meeting of EU countries’ energy ministers in Copenhagen on Thursday.
Ratings agency S&P Global warned that the equity raise might only buy the company three to six months of relief from construction delays before it faces additional credit pressures.
S&P already downgraded Orsted to BBB- in August, the lowest investment-grade rating. Any further downgrade would push it into junk territory – a label that would impact its ability to finance future projects.
Norwegian state-controlled energy firm Equinor, a 10% shareholder in Orsted, has thrown it a lifeline, pledging to inject up to 6 billion crowns ($941.2 million) into the rights issue.
Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan described the moment as a crucial juncture.
“We find it important to be a long-term and supportive investor in a period like this,” Reitan said earlier this week, hinting at a deeper strategic collaboration between the two companies.
($1 = 6.3751 Danish crowns)
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