Macquarie Group has hired Macquarie Capital to explore a potential sale of its global offshore wind developer Corio Generation, amidst a splurge of M&A activity among global renewables developers, sources familiar said.

The Sydney-headquartered investor is planning to bilaterally approach strategic and financial investors later this year to gauge their interest in a full or partial stake sale of Corio rather than run a full blown two-stage auction, according to the sources.

There is at this stage no fixed timeline for the sale of London-headquartered Corio, which is managed by Macquarie Asset Management and has a roughly 30 GW development pipeline as well as 11 offices across the US, Europe and Asia.

Macquarie and Macquarie Capital declined to comment.

The sale takes place as Macquarie also looks to offload its global solar developer, Cero Generation, while Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Public Sector Pension Investment Board are readying a sale of Cubico Sustainable Investments.

Corio, which plans to build up to 3 GW of floating offshore wind by the end of the decade, is expected to attract interest from only the largest financial investors given the expected multi-billion pound price tag.

One source said that “Macquarie will be looking for a strategic partner on a bilateral basis to take Corio to the next phase”.

The source added that Corio is a “truly global platform”, and that its “sizeable and geographically diversified near-term development pipeline in this high growth industry is quite unique”.

Corio, which recently issued teasers to sell its 3.2 GW offshore wind development pipeline in South Korea, has signed numerous partnerships with other developers across the globe, such as Qualitas in Spain and Norway’s Å Energi.

While as yet it does not own any operating offshore wind farms, it has recently advanced development of several key ones, including its 125-turbine West of Orkney Windfarm that won planning permission in June from Scotland’s Highland Council.

Its joint venture partners typically also own shares in projects alongside Corio, including TotalEnergies which owns a stake in the West of Orkney Windfarm as well as others worldwide.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, which partnered with Corio in 2022 to develop up to 9GW of offshore wind worldwide, also owns stakes in projects being developed by Corio.

OTPP might look to sell its stakes in the projects, although this would not form part of the Macquarie Capital mandate, the sources said. OTPP declined to comment.

Macquarie Asset Management-managed funds also own stakes in projects being developed by Corio, although one of the sources said they are not looking to sell.

Corio’s other key European projects include the 450 MW Sceirde Rocks Windfarm in Ireland; the Vindpark Falkenberg wind farm on Sweden’s south-west coastline, and the 1.5 GW Outer Dowsing off the east coast of England.

Corio’s US activities to date centre on the Attentive Energy projects in New Jersey, totaling some 3 GW of offshore wind capacity.

Last November Attentive Energy One—on which Corio, TotalEnergies and Rise Light & Power are partnering—was selected to deliver up to 1.4 GW of energy to New York, and in January of this year, the second phase of that project (Attentive Energy Two) was approved for delivery of up to 1.3 GW of renewable energy capacity to New Jersey.

The Attentive Energy Two project, co-sponsored by Total Energies, received an offshore renewable energy credit contract earlier this year.

Infralogic reported in June that Macquarie was actively vetting opportunities in US advanced-stage offshore wind projects that have been the subject of ownership shakeups in recent months.

Corio, which is headed by former Iberdrola executive Jonathan Cole, was launched by Macquarie’s Green Investment Group in 2022.