Spanish Billionaire Jove Is Said to Weigh Sale of Energy Assets

Inveravante, the investment firm owned by Spanish billionaire Manuel Jove, is considering a sale of its Avantegenera renewable-energy unit amid consolidation in the industry, according to people familiar with the matter.

Inveravante’s clean-energy assets, which include wind, hydraulic and solar power plants in countries such as Spain and Brazil, could fetch 500 million euros ($583 million) to 1 billion euros, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Inveravante is working with Societe Generale SA on the sale of the unit, which may be split by different type of energy and geographies, the people said.

Avantegenera may attract interest from private equity firms, renewable-energy companies and other financial investors, the people said. Still, the sale process is at an early stage and Jove could still decide to keep the unit, the people said.

Representatives for Inveravante, based in A Coruna, Spain and Societe Generale declined to comment.

Foreign investors have been buying renewable assets in Spain amid the country’s economic recovery and a shift toward clean energy. Last year, Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA and Siemens AG agreed to merge businesses to create one of the world’s biggest wind-turbine manufacturers. Cerberus Capital Management, the U.S. private equity firm, is considering a sale of its Spanish renewable-energy company Renovalia Energy Group, which has drawn a number of potential bidders including infrastructure, pension and sovereign wealth funds as well as insurance and energy businesses, people familiar with the matter said in January.

Jove built most of his fortune as a real estate developer during Spain’s property boom, which led to the country’s worst economic crisis in decades. After getting more than 2 billion euros from selling his stake in property business Fadesa Inmobiliaria SA in 2007, Jove set up Inveravante and invested in other industries such as industrial parks, hotels and wineries.

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