Ashurst has advised a consortium led by Japanese trading conglomerate Itochu on the acquisition of a 22.5 per cent. stake in the German operational offshore wind farm Butendiek. The stake in the wind farm was sold by Danish pension fund administrator PKA who had purchased it in 2013.

The Butendiek offshore wind farm, which was fully commissioned in August 2015, comprises 80 Siemens turbines with a total capacity of 288 MW in the aggregate (capable of supplying around 370,000 households with electricity). The wind farm, which is located 32 km west of the island of Sylt in the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has been developed by wpd. Further investors include Marguerite Fund, Siemens Financial Services, Industriens Pension (IP), CDC Infrastructure and ewz.
 
The sale is still subject to competition authority approval.
 
The Ashurst team was led by Frankfurt-based partners Dr Benedikt von Schorlemer (corporate/M&A) and Dr Maximilian Uibeleisen (projects/renewables) as well as Michael Burns from Ashurst's London office (corporate/M&A). Competition advice was provided by partners Ute Zinsmeister (Munich) and Neil Cuninghame (London), corporate partner Isabelle Lentz provided advice on Luxembourg law (Luxembourg Desk, London), Dr Martin Bünning (Frankfurt) was involved for tax law aspects.

Further team members include: associates Markus Hiebel and Jan van Kisfeld (both corporate), senior associate Holger Mlynek (projects/renewables), counsel Dr Endrik Kramski (finance, all Frankfurt), senior associate Dr Maria Held (competition, Munich) and associate Donald Mackintosh (competition, London) as well as senior associate Paul Witte (Luxembourg Desk, London).

Ashurst is one of the world’s leading international law firms advising on renewables projects. With over 250 dedicated energy and infrastructure lawyers worldwide, the firm can readily assemble teams to provide high-quality advice tailored to clients’ needs. The German team has advised on a number of offshore wind farm projects and transactions, including advising Macquarie Capital on the acquisition and financing of a 49.89 per cent interest in German offshore wind farm Baltic 2 from EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG and European Investment Bank (EIB) in relation to the financing of offshore wind farm Nordergründe.