Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) on its new solar farm at Moree in northern New South Wales, which is the first merchant financed project ever undertaken in Australia.
Herbert Smith Freehills advised FRV on all aspects of the transaction including engineering, procurement and construction, project financing and land access arrangements.
Berlin—The global law firm Dentons advised NEIF Merinda Windpark GmbH & Co. KG (NEIF) on the refi-nancing of an onshore wind farm portfolio in Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt.
The portfolio comprises three wind farms (Buddenstedt, Helmstedt and Schnellin) with a total of 19 wind turbines and an overall power production capacity of 38 megawatt; they have been in operation for about ten years. In 2009 they were purchased by NEIF being a portfolio vehicle of the Dutch NIBC European Infrastructure Fund I C.V.
Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised a syndicate of lenders on four limited-recourse facilities totalling US$787 million to part finance the procurement of four 174,400m3 LNG vessels to be built by Hudong-Zhonghua in China.
Ashurst advised Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank on the financing of the acquisition of ten Stadler FLIRT II electrical multiple units. Crédit Agricole CIB provided a subsidiary of BeNEX GmbH, a Hamburg-based holding company for rail and bus transport, with circa €27 million for the purchase of the previously leased trains.
Amsterdam - On 25 July 2014, Westermeerwind B.V. reached financial close for the turn key construction of the Westermeerwind wind farm (144 MW) in the IJsselmeer, The Netherlands. A group of banks led by ING and Rabobank in the role of structuring banks acted as financiers of the Westermeerwind wind farm in the Noordoostpolder. In addition to ING and Rabobank, ASN Bank and Triodos Bank were also is involved and Danish export credit agency EKF guarantees part of the financing. The total funding comprises approximately EUR 320m.
Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised KIRKBI Invest A/S on the development of a new LEGOLAND theme park in Nagoya, Japan. The project is estimated to cost US$320 million and is scheduled to open in 2017. KIRKBI will help finance the development of the park which will then be leased to and operated by Merlin Entertainments, which also runs LEGOLAND parks in Denmark, UK, Germany, US and Malaysia. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will provide debt financing.
Linklaters advises Natixis on the first European Project Bond in the telecoms sector and the first use of EIB’s PBCE instrument in France
Linklaters has successfully advised Natixis as arranger and lead underwriter in connection with the structuring, issuance and placement of the first European Project Bond in the telecoms sector. The €189 million amortising bonds are to be rated Baa2 by Moody’s and listed on Euronext Paris.
Watson, Farley & Williams (“WFW”), has advised Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“Crédit Agricole”) on a US$239,600,000 term loan facility to subsidiaries of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, LP to finance the purchase of 10 new vessels. Two of the 5,400 TEU container vessels have already been delivered, while the rest are being built by Hanjin Heavy Industries Corporation Philippines and will be delivered by the first half of 2015.
World leader in nuclear power Areva has just finalised a limited recourse financing for SET (Société d'Enrichissement du Tricastin), which owns and runs the Georges Besse 2 uranium enrichment plant in Tricastin, southwest France, the first centrifuge-base enrichment plant in France.
Dentons advises SMBC in the context of the AOT-LOA of the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. On 7 July the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety signed a hire agreement with an option to purchase (LOA) with a project company called PPP PRISME.