Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Hokutaku, Japan's largest wind turbine maintenance company, have made an agreement to form a capital alliance as MOL pursues growth in its non-shipping businesses like offshore wind.
The capital alliance entails MOL's acquisition of a majority of the outstanding shares of Hokutaku, the largest third-party wind maintenance company in Japan that is not affiliated with a specific manufacturer or power producer.
MOL aims to contribute to the expansion of the offshore wind industry in Japan and become the partner of choice for developers throughout the offshore wind supply chain, in part by leveraging Hokutaku's experience and know-how in wind power generation maintenance.
Hokutaku and MOL have been pursuing several joint projects in the wind power generation value chain, and plan to take this cooperative relationship to the next stage.
The projects include the establishment of the Hokutaku MOL Wind Energy Investment Limited Partnership done in 2022 with the objective of investing in the offshore wind energy business, which is expected to grow in the future.
Also, the companies decided to invest in a joint human resource development project from the Hokutaku-MOL Wind Power Fund to provide training facilities for the operation, maintenance, and management of offshore wind power generation in Kitakyushu, related to the Kitakyushu-Hibikinada Offshore Wind Farm project.