Renewable energy millions ‘taken out of Wales and invested in Scotland’

Martin Shipton

Many millions of pounds taken out of a renewable energy company that plans to build a network of wind farms across Wales have been reinvested in unrelated businesses in Scotland, we can reveal.

Earlier this week we reported how Bute Energy principals had received payments totalling £58m after the value of the company’s projects had been upgraded in anticipation of their future profitability. We also revealed that the company was making staff redundant.

A forensic accountant who does not wish to be identified has now produced an investigative dossier which outlines how fresh investments have been made in Scotland and claims there are grounds for regulators to launch investigations.

The dossier, which has been passed to Nation.Cymru, states: “This dossier provides a forensic evaluation of the divergence between the public-facing infrastructure commitments of Bute Energy and the internal financial operations of the Windward Energy Group [Bute’s parent company].

“Analysis indicates a ‘speculate-and-anchor’ model, wherein speculative energy development in Wales has served as the primary mechanism for generating liquidity subsequently anchored in tangible Scottish industrial assets.

“In September 2023, the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP), representing the local government pension schemes of eight Welsh councils, announced a £68m investment into the group’s onshore wind portfolio. This influx of public-sector capital followed a £60m ‘call option’ payment from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

“Forensic analysis of Windward Energy Limited reveals that following these capital inflows, approximately £58m was extracted as personal dividends by the four principal directors. While the core Welsh operating entities announced staff redundancies in May 2026, the extracted liquidity was utilised to capitalise a high-value portfolio of Scottish industrial real estate.”

The dossier goes on to claim that the extraction of nearly £60m from a loss-making development group was facilitated through “aggressive accounting and legal manoeuvres designed to facilitate cash distributions”

It continues: “The group, audited by KPMG, transitioned to ‘Fair Value’ accounting, reporting a subsidiary valuation uplift of £190m. This figure was derived from ‘Level 3’ inputs, representing the highest degree of reporting subjectivity. The valuation is based on directors’ internal projections of future cash flows from wind parks that currently lack final planning approval or grid connection agreements.

“A primary forensic concern is the apparent lack of professional scepticism regarding the ‘future cash flow’ models used to justify this uplift. While the directors ‘cashed out’ based on these optimistic projections, Welsh pensioners (via the WPP) remain joint investors in projects carrying the full weight of planning and delivery risk.”

Deferred Share Scheme

The dossier goes on to describe the accounting mechanism used to justify the uplift in value of the projects: “As the group lacked distributable reserves (actualised profit), the directors utilised a Deferred Share Scheme. By issuing and subsequently cancelling deferred shares against the paper revaluation, the group ‘created’ the legal reserves necessary to justify the cash payout. This effectively allowed development capital to be recharacterised as personal profit.

“In January 2025, the group utilised a court order under Section 1096 of the Companies Act 2006 to ‘rectify’ the public register. This action removed historical filings related to an initial, legally deficient attempt at dividend extraction. Consequently, the public record now lacks the administrative trail of these earlier manoeuvres, masking the aggressive hollowing out of the company’s regional capital base.”

The dossier then outlines what it describes as a “community benefit disparity”, stating: “While communities in Mid Wales were promised modest ‘community benefit funds’ (typically in the thousands of pounds), the group’s principals were executing personal payouts in the tens of millions. This disparity represents a fundamental deviation from the ‘social licence’ ostensibly required for large-scale regional infrastructure projects.”

Scottish investments

Next, the dossier lists investments in Scotland made by the company’s principals: “The forensic trail confirms that capital generated through Welsh development has been used to capitalise a network of entities focused on Scottish property, detached from Welsh operating risks.”

* LSG Capital Ltd. Principals Lawson Steele and Stuart George. Incorporated in January 2024; manages a £9.28m dividend share anchored in Scottish commercial real estate;

* Windward Eurocentral MD. Principal Oliver Millican. Holds a 127,000 sq ft logistics hub in Glasgow, utilised as collateral for private bank financing;

* Windward Badentoy Ltd. Principal Oliver Millican .Holds multiple industrial storage facilities near Aberdeen.

* Windward Titan Ltd. Principal Oliver Millican. Asset recently sold to the Lothian Pension Fund for a reported 100% profit.

* Torra Forestry. Principal Oliver Millican, A £5m acquisition of commercial timberland in Scotland (December 2025), providing a physical anchor for extracted capital.

The dossier concludes with three draft letters to the Insolvency Service, Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and the Serious Fraud Office.

Investigation

The draft letter to the Insolvency Service states: “I am writing to formally request an investigation into the conduct of the directors of Windward Energy Limited regarding capital reductions and dividend distributions totalling £58m. I am concerned that these distributions were made based on a £190m ‘fair value’ revaluation of speculative assets, whilst the company was making staff redundant in May 2026.

“I am gravely concerned that these distributions were made to the detriment of creditors and the Welsh local government pension members whose capital was invested just prior to this extraction. I urge you to investigate if this constitutes a breach of the Companies Act 2006 regarding the protection of the group’s capital base.”

The draft letter to PEDW states: “I wish to submit evidence regarding the financial integrity of Bute Energy and Green GEN Cymru. Forensic data reveals that whilst the group seeks permissions for national infrastructure in Wales, its principals have already extracted nearly £60m of capital—including capital invested by the Wales Pension Partnership—for reinvestment in Scottish real estate. I believe the applicant is operating as a speculative extraction vehicle rather than a long-term partner. I urge the Inspectorate to consider this ‘capital flight’ and the simultaneous hollowing out of the Welsh workforce when assessing the applicant’s suitability for projects of national importance.”

‘Potential criminal activity’

The draft letter to the Serious Fraud Office states: “I am referring the Windward Energy Group for investigation into potential criminal activity under the Fraud Act 2006 and Section 993 of the Companies Act 2006 (Fraudulent Trading).

“I believe there is a compelling basis to investigate whether Welsh interests, and specifically the Wales Pension Partnership, have been defrauded through a coordinated programme of financial misrepresentation. The group secured a £68m public pension investment based on a promise of regional growth, whilst simultaneously utilising subjective fair-value revaluations and register deletions to conceal the extraction of £58m for private property interests in Scotland.”

Jenny Chryss, of the campaign group Re-THINK, which opposes Bute Energy’s wind farm plans, said: “On arriving in Wales, Bute Energy immediately set about establishing itself as a “Welsh” business, investing in Wales. As such it was soon being lauded by politicians in the Senedd. The former First Minister Eluned Morgan became a cheerleader, encouraged no doubt by the promise of many millions of pounds flowing into Welsh coffers. So, it beggars belief to learn that as soon as they’d trousered their now infamous dividends, Messrs Millican, George and Steele set about investing heavily in commercial property and forestry, not in Wales but in Scotland.

“Their Scottish purchases – including warehouses, luxury serviced apartments in Edinburgh and a forestry business – clearly demonstrate where their hearts, and their pockets truly lie. I’m just hoping this doesn’t come as too much of a shock to those investors such as the Wales Pension Partnership which went into the Bute Energy deal with a stated aim of investing locally.”

A spokesperson for Bute Energy said: “The company operates in accordance with all relevant legal, regulatory and statutory obligations and, in the circumstances, we do not intend to comment further.”