Companies: CWP   

City fans expect impressive results from wind turbine-maker Clipper Windpower’s private share raising for its Cap Gen project development portfolio. Wall Street heavyweight Morgan Stanley is advising on the funding, which is hoped to give new backers 49 per cent of Cap Gen, whose portfolio represents 10,000 megawatts of power generation capacity, to institutions and/or industrial buyers.

Company spokesmen do not dismiss analysts’ suggestions that Cap Gen could raise several hundred million pounds and bulls even argue the subsidiary could achieve a value approaching £1 billion. AIM-quoted at present but US-operating, Clipper, which recently won a 300-MW turbine order from BP, owns 72 per cent of Cap Gen, with Spanish energy company Helium holding the other 28 per cent.

Chaired by its American founder James Dehlsen, Clipper hopes the funding will not only accelerate Cap Gen’s own development but also crystallise its value to Clipper. The participation of Helium’s respected management team is already seen as a bonus.

As with many companies in this sector, profits have so far eluded Clipper, which lost £109 million last year. Floated at 190p by Lehman Brothers in 2005, its shares hit 918.5p last May and now trade at 540p, valuing the company at £583 million and offering speculative potential.

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Clipper Windpower (Reg S)	AIM	£230.61m	177.50p	-2.50p
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