German wind developer and finance arranger WPD of Bremen is opening an office in London "for further nurturing key contacts in international project finance" and as a base for its UK business. "In London we have the opportunity to team up with financiers for our rapidly expanding international presence in the European and Asian growth markets," says WPD's Achim Berge, who works at WPD's Swedish subsidiary, Svind Svenska Vind. WPD chairman Gernot Blanke adds that the London office provides access to "interesting opportunities" for WPD's 3800 MW of offshore projects off Germany's
coasts. None of the projects yet have construction permits. "Financing projects of this magnitude involves international underwriting groups for the debt portion and foreign investors on the equity side. We want to bring together such groups of lenders in the following months. Also we want to assume the equity investor role," says Blanke.
