The European renewable energy market, including solar and wind power, offers investment opportunities reaching 800 billion euros (approximately 1,300 trillion won) annually.
Raphael Lance, global head of private assets at Mirova, a French asset management company under Natixis Financial Group, and Nicolas Hayon, head of the Singapore office, noted in an interview with ChosunBiz on the 16th in Yeouido, Seoul, that "if Korean institutional investors want to invest in the European market, Mirova, with its long history and network, can be a good partner."
They emphasized that Korea will also follow the renewable energy transition paradigm and hinted at the potential for domestic renewable energy asset investment. If Korea had previously only been a source of funding for overseas private equity funds (PEFs), this implies that its attractiveness as an investment target has also increased. Lance explained, "I participated in a competitive bidding to invest in a solar power plant project in Korea this year, but another asset management company took the investment opportunity," adding, "The potential for investment in Korean assets is rising."
Nicolas, who oversees investments in the Asia region, explained the reasons for not having previously invested in Korea's renewable energy sector. He stated, "Because renewable energy does not account for a significant portion of the Korean market, it was difficult to allocate enough time to consider investments," and noted, "While Europe is the main investment destination, we are increasing investments in Asia as part of our strategy diversification, and we are currently considering investments in Korea and Japan, triggered by recent investments in Australia."
He also mentioned the limitations and growth potential of the Korean renewable energy market. He stated, "I am cautious to speak due to insufficient analysis of the Korean market, but globally, the production costs of renewable energy are decreasing while Korea's wind power plant construction costs are much higher than those in Europe," adding, "I believe this is due to the market being small and having to rely entirely on imports." He emphasized, "If the wind power market grows, costs will gradually decrease like solar power, triggering a virtuous cycle."
Mirova combines minority equity investment with management rights acquisition. For individual corporations, it conducts minority equity investments through preferred shares, and for project-level assets, it acquires management rights. The size of the investment assets focuses on the mid-sized market of around 200 million euros (approximately 32,000 billion won). Lance remarked, "While the scale of European renewable energy projects is smaller than that of large markets like the U.S., there are more diverse investment opportunities in projects of this magnitude."
Founded in 2012, Mirova has assets under management (AUM) of about 56 trillion won. It has branches in France, the U.S., the U.K., Luxembourg, Kenya, and Singapore. It began its relationship with Korea starting with the fourth fund established in 2018 and is currently raising its sixth fund, which is about 25 trillion won. Major domestic pension funds, banks, and life insurance companies have invested in Mirova.