Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”), has advised Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A. (“BNL S.p.A.”) on the review of the original €23.8 million project finance facility agreement and the related financial documentation for Difesa Wind S.r.l.. The facility financed the construction, development, management and maintenance of a 16 MW wind farm in the Apulia Region of Southern Italy.

Most notably, WFW advised on the alteration of the contractual arrangements from a non-recourse project finance to a corporate recourse-style transaction.

We advised the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the financial arrangements for the bioproduct mill to be constructed by Metsä Fibre in Äänekoski, Finland. Valued in total at EUR 1.2 billion, the investment project is the largest ever carried out by the forest industry in Finland. In addition to the EIB, six commercial banks, Finnvera plc, the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board (EKN) and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation are also participating in the financial arrangements.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”), has advised Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. and MPS Capital Services S.p.A. on the transfer to BNL S.p.A. of their loans and ancillary rights deriving from an original project finance facility agreement of €23.8 million. The purpose of the original loans was for the construction and maintenance of a 16 MW wind farm in the Apulia Region of Southern Italy.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has acted as lead counsel to advise The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (“ICBC”) on financing the EXMAR group in respect of its construction and acquisition of the world’s first floating liquefaction and storage unit for natural gas (“FLNG”) presently being built by China shipbuilders Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industry Co., Ltd and Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd.

DLA Piper has advised the Metro de Lima Linea 2 consortium on the US$1.15 billion bond financing for the construction of the first underground metro line in Lima, Peru.

Clifford Chance advised KfW IPEX-Bank on the financing of a state-of-the-art silicon metal production plant in Húsavík in the north of Iceland.

The credit amounts to a total volume of approximately US-$194 million (approximately EUR170 million) and has a 15 year-term. The financing structure includes a Hermes cover and untied loan guarantees under Germany’s UFK programme.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised a consortium of international banks on the € 1.275 billion financing of the “Veja Mate” offshore wind farm located in the German North Sea. The consortium consisted of the mandated lead arrangers Banco Santander, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, KFW IPEX-Bank, Natixis and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. KfW and the Dutch export credit agency EKF also participated in the financing.

Highland Group Holdings Ltd., Siemens Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure II, a fund managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners arranged successfully the financing of Veja Mate offshore wind farm project, for a total project investment of EUR1.9billion. Once finished, the Veja Mate offshore wind farm will consist of 67 Siemens wind turbines with a total capacity of 400 Megawatt (MW).

Macfarlanes has advised Alufer Mining Limited (“Alufer”) on closing a $10m senior secured bridge facility with leading mining investment fund Pala Investments Limited (“Pala”).

Alufer is a bauxite and exploration and development company with a portfolio of assets in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.  The Bel Air Bauxite Project is located north of Guinea’s capital, Conakry, and the facility will be used to fund the Bel Air Bauxite Project to pre-construction stage.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the project company on reaching financial close for a 240MW wind farm to be developed at Ararat in west Victoria. The wind farm will have a capital value of approximately A$450 million and is expected to produce enough electricity for approximately 123,000 homes. A GE/Downer consortium is the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contractor.