BARCLAYS CAPITAL, the investment banking arm of the British high-street bank, has bought a 15 per cent stake of Mainstream Renewable Power, the wind energy company set up by Airtricity founder Eddie O'Connor, for €20 million.

Mainstream Renewable Power yesterday announced the closing of a €40 million equity fundraising, which comprises the Barclays investment and a €20 million cash injection by directors, management and associates.

This values the start-up company at more than €130 million. Including seed capital of €32 million, the company has raised a total of €72 million to date. It plans a major round of fundraising, expected to be for a minimum of €200 million, later this year and has appointed Dolmen Corporate Finance to handle it.

The company is at "advanced stages" of talks to develop a large-scale wind energy project in the US and recently signed a deal with a Chilean power company to provide up to 240 megawatts of wind energy in the Andes.