Business Opinion/John McManus:Eddie O'Connor is not the only one with mixed feelings about the sale of Airtricity to Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) for €1.83 billion.
But while O'Connor may be wondering what might have been if he had had more time to put together his own bid, the small investors in 51 per cent-shareholder NTR have a different bone to pick.
They might quite rightly question whether NTR is still the company they thought it was when they bought their shares. Rightly or wrongly, much of the interest in NTR in recent years has centred on its stake in Airtricity, particularly when it became clear NTR was exiting the roads and toll bridges business. For many, investing in NTR was proxy for the alternative energy sector.
From their perspective, the decision to sell out of Airtricity is not - on face value - good news. Even if NTR was to plough the proceeds of the Airtricity deal back into the alternative energy sector, it would be hard pressed to find better value, particularly in wind energy. Given the competition for decent assets in this market, it is the equivalent of trading up in a rising housing market.
It is much more likely that NTR, if it re-enters the sector, will do so in a more unproven and high-risk areas, such as wave power, with a view to repeating its success in wind energy.
While there is a logic to this, it is a logic that is more appropriate to an alternative energy venture fund, such as UK fund Ecofin, which doubled its money in Airtricity in the space of 17 months.
NTR is a different beast. It positions itself as a long-term backer of entrepreneurs and start-ups and takes a hands-on role in the companies it backs.
Which brings us back to the question its shareholders could reasonably ask: why then did it sell out of the wind energy just as it was coming of age?
There are two schools of thought. One is that it was made an offer it could not refuse and reluctantly accepted. The second is that NTR saw a bubble forming and decided to get out . The former appears to be the case, but the latter cannot be discounted.
The perceived wisdom is that it became clear early last year that Airtricity would have to raise about €1.5 billion to roll out the wind farms in its pipeline. It set out to raise €1 billion of this in the US by seeking a joint-venture partner for its US business.
It also sought expressions of interest for the entire business, and these blew the company away. The reason for this was that the offers for the entire US business were coming from industry players, while the joint-venture partners were almost all finance houses.
The industry players were - and still are - prepared to pay up for alternative energy assets, while the finance houses are battening down the hatches given the market turmoil.
The price paid for the US business led to Airtricity taking stock of the entire business, which led to the sale to SSE.
While this is undoubtedly how events unfolded, it does not mean there is not a bubble in alternative energy. Indeed, the willingness of big utilities to pay premiums for these assets would argue to the contrary.
Historically, utilities are not good at managing start-ups, but they have the balance sheets and the skills to manage big projects.
By buying Airtricity, SSE and Eon (the buyer of the US business) have squared this circle. It is hard though to avoid the uneasy feeling that part of their new-found enthusiasm has to do with the need to "go green" and that they are jumping into a sector they have until now viewed with justified scepticism.
There is much to be sceptical about with wind energy, not least in the Irish market, where the future of the sector depends in part on the ability of the Green coalition partners to force through changes and investment in the electricity network. No doubt similar risks are lurking under the surface in the other markets in which Airtricity operates and played some part in the decision of Moody's and Standard & Poor's to put SSE on credit watch, noting that Airtricity is a development business and yet to make a profit.
Bubble or not, NTR was right to get out of wind energy, but those looking for exposure to the alternative energy sector may have look elsewhere.
