Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (“RBS”) on the construction financing of 16 solar PV plants located in England and Northern Ireland currently under development by sponsor Lightsource Renewable Energy Holdings Limited. RBS provided senior financing for the transaction. AMP capital provided mezzanine financing for the transaction.

WFW advised on all senior finance aspects and due diligence work streams relating to the matter.

Clifford Chance is advising Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) on its multi-billion Clean Fuels Project, the first time that KNPC has sought to access debt markets.

Financing of the first phase of the project is expected to close with local banks in early April 2016 where the mandated lead arrangers include National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Kuwait Finance House, on the conventional and Islamic finance tranches respectively. Future phases are expected to be open to international banks and export credit agencies.

Jones Day represented CaixaBank S.A. in connection with the €18 million (US$19.7 million) project financing for the development, construction, and exploitation of new office buildings in Barcelona, Spain developed by Grupo Castellví, Stoneweg, and Global Danbury.

For additional information about this matter, please contact: Javier López Antón
Client(s): CaixaBank S.A.
Practice(s): Banking & Finance, Projects & Infrastructure, Real Estate
Office(s): Madrid

We assisted Kilpilahti Power Plant Limited (KPP), a joint venture of Neste, Veolia and Borealis, in its major project financing arrangement in which KPP will build a new 450 MW power plant in Kilpilahti, Porvoo.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised leading non-bank lender Pepper Group Limited (ASX:PEP) on a whole loan sale transaction in Australia comprising a portfolio of A$400m residential mortgage loans.

This is the first whole loan sale transaction conducted by Pepper in 2016 and is strategically significant in facilitating the diversification of Pepper’s sources of funding outside of its regular securitisation programs.

Linklaters advised Natixis and Caisse d'Epargne et de Prévoyance Provence-Alpes-Corse (CEPAC) as mandated lead arrangers and lenders and Natixis as agent and hedging bank in relation to the refinancing of a portfolio of 15 rooftop photovoltaic power plants located on hypermarkets in the south of France, with an aggregated installed capacity of 31.17 MWp. The plants are co-owned by the DIF Infrastructure II investment fund and GreenYellow.

Clifford Chance has advised COFCO International Limited, a subsidiary of COFCO Corporation, on the successful closing of its acquisition (including through its affiliates) of the remaining 49% stake in global agricultural trading and processing platform Noble Agri Limited from Singapore-listed Noble Group Limited for US$750 million. Following the closing of the acquisition, Noble Agri Limited will be renamed as COFCO Agri Ltd. and will serve as the principal international origination platform for COFCO group.

Clifford Chance advised Dhuruma Electricity Company, whose sponsors are ENGIE, Saudi Electricity Company, Sojitz Corporation and Al Jomaih Holding Company, on the refinancing of facilities in excess of US$1 billion, which reached financial close on 1 March 2016.

The refinancing facilities were provided on a combined conventional and Islamic basis, with the two classes of financiers sharing the transaction security package.

White & Case LLP has advised the commercial lenders, Islamic financiers and Export-Import Bank of the United States on the refinancing of the Riyadh PP11 Independent Power Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

PP11 is a gas-fired independent power project which achieved commercial operation in 2013. The refinancing of the international commercial bank facility and Islamic finance facilities, combined with the existing financing from Export-Import Bank of the United States (which was not re-financed), totals approximately US$1.45 billion.