RWE invests $8.8 billion in Q1 to boost green portfolio

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - RWE invested 8 billion euros ($8.8 billion) in the first quarter, mainly driven by acquisitions to boost its renewables business, the company said on Thursday.

"We have the financial resources to continue investing strongly in organic growth this year. Our project pipeline is well filled, and the forthcoming auctions open up further attractive opportunities for us," finance chief Michael Mueller said.

Investments in the same period last year were at 0.6 billion euros, said the group, which pre-released strong first-quarter results last month.

First-quarter investments were mainly driven by RWE's 6.3 billion euro acquisition of the clean energy division of Con Edison, the group said, adding that RWE's green portfolio grew by 7 gigawatts in the first quarter year-on-year.

($1 = 0.9084 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Editing by Friederike Heine)