Abu Dhabi's Masdar, which invests in renewable energy and cleantech companies, has invested $174 million in Finnish wind turbine manufacturer WinWinD. Masdar will pick up a 40% stake through allotment of fresh shares and have three board seats in the wind turbine manufacturer. NRI investor & businessman C Sivasankaran holds a 90% stake in the firm, which will go down after issue of fresh shares. Other investors are Finnish Industrial Investment Corp (7%) and the rest is held by employees.
A large proportion of Masdar's investment in WinWinD will go into expanding its Indian operations to improve global performance. After Sterling Group's acquisition of WinWind, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary called Winwind Power Energy Pvt Ltd was formed. It has a factory near Chennai, which caters to both domestic and international markets.
WinWinD is involved in the design, development and assembly of technologically advanced 1 and 3 MW wind turbines. The firm is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland and has corporate offices in Oulu, Finland and Chennai, India. Following the investment by Masdar, it plans to expand operations to Abu Dhabi also.