Signs of investor confidence?

We often talk about market confidence in our editorial, as we try and gauge investor sentiment to political renewable energy policy.

Sometimes the situation looks bleak and sometimes it’s more promising. Frequently, however, it’s often very hard to tell in the short term.

This wasn’t the case for Vestas this week, though, as the company announced that it has successfully renegotiated its credit facilities to avoid an impending credit squeeze.

In practice, this meant that the firm replaced a Euro 1.3billion credit line with one worth Euro 900million. This enables the firm to secure a cheaper form of borrowing, although it has committed to repaying Euro 250million of the loan by 2015.

So who are the brave institutions that have chosen to continue their relationship with the business? Well, the Nordic and European investment banks, as well as HSBC, RBS, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, Rabobank and UniCredit to name a few.

It’s an interesting development as it proves, despite many concerns that have been voiced by analysts in light of Vestas’ recent financial results, that there are institutions that are willing to lend to the firm.

Of course this doesn’t mean it’s plain sailing, or indeed that investors see a bright future for the business, although it’s fair to point out that Vestas’ shares rose on the news on Monday.

The firm is still subject to the vagaries of wind energy policy in its core markets. It’s perhaps why Chief Executive Officer, Ditlev Engel, was compelled to write a piece in the UK national newspaper, The Guardian, calling for greater political consensus in the UK wind industry.

He’s right of course, and he’s echoing the calls of many.

His comments as to treating the wind industry holistically – both on and offshore were of note. With Vestas behind Siemens in the European offshore turbine market, and keen to secure a deal with Mitsubishi to strengthen its position, Engel’s thoughts on the dangers of being in favour only of offshore wind looked as though the business was nervously protecting its area of interest.

But sometimes, we all perform best under pressure. Any thoughts of writing off the business would certainly be premature.

We often talk about market confidence in our editorial, as we try and gauge investor sentiment to political renewable energy policy.

Sometimes the situation looks bleak and sometimes it’s more promising. Frequently, however, it’s often very hard to tell in the short term.

This wasn’t the case for Vestas this week, though, as the company announced that it has successfully renegotiated its credit facilities to avoid an impending credit squeeze.

In practice, this meant that the firm replaced a Euro 1.3billion credit line with one worth Euro 900million. This enables the firm to secure a cheaper form of borrowing, although it has committed to repaying Euro 250million of the loan by 2015.

So who are the brave institutions that have chosen to continue their relationship with the business? Well, the Nordic and European investment banks, as well as HSBC, RBS, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, Rabobank and UniCredit to name a few.

It’s an interesting development as it proves, despite many concerns that have been voiced by analysts in light of Vestas’ recent financial results, that there are institutions that are willing to lend to the firm.

Of course this doesn’t mean it’s plain sailing, or indeed that investors see a bright future for the business, although it’s fair to point out that Vestas’ shares rose on the news on Monday.

The firm is still subject to the vagaries of wind energy policy in its core markets. It’s perhaps why Chief Executive Officer, Ditlev Engel, was compelled to write a piece in the UK national newspaper, The Guardian, calling for greater political consensus in the UK wind industry.

He’s right of course, and he’s echoing the calls of many.

His comments as to treating the wind industry holistically – both on and offshore were of note. With Vestas behind Siemens in the European offshore turbine market, and keen to secure a deal with Mitsubishi to strengthen its position, Engel’s thoughts on the dangers of being in favour only of offshore wind looked as though the business was nervously protecting its area of interest.

But sometimes, we all perform best under pressure. Any thoughts of writing off the business would certainly be premature.

We often talk about market confidence in our editorial, as we try and gauge investor sentiment to political renewable energy policy.

Sometimes the situation looks bleak and sometimes it’s more promising. Frequently, however, it’s often very hard to tell in the short term.

This wasn’t the case for Vestas this week, though, as the company announced that it has successfully renegotiated its credit facilities to avoid an impending credit squeeze.

In practice, this meant that the firm replaced a Euro 1.3billion credit line with one worth Euro 900million. This enables the firm to secure a cheaper form of borrowing, although it has committed to repaying Euro 250million of the loan by 2015.

So who are the brave institutions that have chosen to continue their relationship with the business? Well, the Nordic and European investment banks, as well as HSBC, RBS, Commerzbank, Societe Generale, Rabobank and UniCredit to name a few.

It’s an interesting development as it proves, despite many concerns that have been voiced by analysts in light of Vestas’ recent financial results, that there are institutions that are willing to lend to the firm.

Of course this doesn’t mean it’s plain sailing, or indeed that investors see a bright future for the business, although it’s fair to point out that Vestas’ shares rose on the news on Monday.

The firm is still subject to the vagaries of wind energy policy in its core markets. It’s perhaps why Chief Executive Officer, Ditlev Engel, was compelled to write a piece in the UK national newspaper, The Guardian, calling for greater political consensus in the UK wind industry.

He’s right of course, and he’s echoing the calls of many.

His comments as to treating the wind industry holistically – both on and offshore were of note. With Vestas behind Siemens in the European offshore turbine market, and keen to secure a deal with Mitsubishi to strengthen its position, Engel’s thoughts on the dangers of being in favour only of offshore wind looked as though the business was nervously protecting its area of interest.

But sometimes, we all perform best under pressure. Any thoughts of writing off the business would certainly be premature.