Ørsted chief financial officer Trond Westlie reiterated the company’s plan to concentrate its efforts on the European offshore wind market in future (source: Ørsted)
04 Feb 2026by David Foxwell
Wind energy developer Ørsted has signed an agreement with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to divest its entire European onshore wind business, a transaction forced on it by problems in the US offshore wind market
The offshore wind developer, which also recently completed a rights issue and announced plans to lay off a quarter of its workforce after losses inflicted as a result of the Trump administration’s antipathy towards offshore wind, said the total value of the transaction is €1.44Bn (US$1.71Bn), with expected closing in Q2 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.
Together with the 50% divestment of the Hornsea 3 offshore windfarm in the UK, and an agreement to divest 55% of the Changhua 2 offshore windfarm in Taiwan, Ørsted has now signed three ‘cornerstone’ transactions and finalised its divestment programme, as planned. Doing so has significantly strengthened its financial situation.
With the divestment of its European onshore business, Ørsted has signed transactions during 2025-2026 with proceeds totalling approximately Dkr46.0Bn (US$7.3Bn), delivering on the company’s target of more than Dkr35Bn in proceeds.
In a statement, the company said, “Together with the strengthening of Ørsted’s balance sheet and the finalisation of its divestment programme, the transaction also contributes to delivering on Ørsted’s strategic priority of refocusing on offshore wind in its core European markets, where a significant amount of capacity is expected to be tendered in the coming years.”
Ørsted chief financial officer Trond Westlie said, “Ørsted’s European onshore business has developed a very solid pipeline and project portfolio. I am very satisfied that we have found a new owner of that business in CIP, as we have decided to concentrate our efforts on offshore wind in our core European markets. The divestment of our European onshore platform finalises the divestment programme that we laid out, we have substantially strengthened Ørsted’s financial position.”
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