Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised the lenders on the contractual arrangements related to a €28,220,000 medium-term syndicated loan for Fri-El Green Power (“Fri-El”), one of the most important Italian companies active in the production and sale of electricity from renewable sources.

The transaction was coordinated by Mazars, who served as financial advisor to a syndicate of banks including UniCredit as agent bank, global coordinator and bookrunner, Banca Popolare di Milano, Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Banca Popolare di Sondrio and Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano.

The funding will be used by Fri-El Group to refinance an existing loan taken out at the end of 2013 with the same group of banks (in addition to Unipol Banca and MPS). The new facility significantly reduces Fri-El’s financial liability by extending the duration and slightly increasing the level of debt outstanding, in line with current market trends.

The WFW Italy team was led by finance partner Pierpaolo Mastromarini, assisted by associate Michele Arruzzolo.

Fri-El was advised by its in house legal team, including Head of Legal Affairs for Finance and M&A, Herbert Gelisio, on the contractual matters. Head of Finance Patrick Pircher, together with Mazars and UniCredit, followed and coordinated the entire financing transaction.

The Fri-El Group owns 21 wind farms, 20 biogas plants, a liquid biomass plant, solid biomass plant and two hydropower plants, with a total installed capacity of approximately 360 MW. Energy production, entirely from renewable sources, will exceed 1,000 GWh in 2015.