The Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday that Eneos Holdings Inc, Japan’s largest refiner, plans to buy Japan Renewable Energy from Goldman Sachs and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC for around 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion).
According to the Nikkei, the sale would be the first big purchase of a renewable company by a major Japanese oil corporation, as Eneos attempts to move away from fossil fuels.
Japan Renewable Energy, which was founded in 2012, develops and builds renewable energy assets. It now operates 419 megawatts of solar, onshore wind, and biomass capacity, with another 410 megawatts under construction.
Eneos is considering various options to expand its renewable energy business, according to a spokesperson, but nothing has been decided. A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.
Japan’s oil corporations, like their international counterparts such as Royal Dutch Shell, are expanding into new regions, particularly after Tokyo and other governments increased their obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
There is scant financial information on the Japan Renewable website, but given its limited capacity, any acquisition is unlikely to make much of an immediate impact on Eneos’ usual annual sales of approximately 10 trillion yen ($90 billion).
However, as the energy shift accelerates, it signals Eneos’ intention to begin transitioning away from fossil fuels. Japan’s official renewable energy ambitions are set to roughly treble in the world’s third-largest economy’s energy mix.
Eneos owns half of the Japanese gasoline and other fuels industry, but its customer base has been shrinking for years due to a dwindling population and changing tastes.
