A cross-firm team at Burges Salmon has advised iCON Infrastructure Partners II, L.P – iCON Infrastructure LLP’s second fund focused on core infrastructure investments in Europe and North America – and EEA Holdings Ltd on a major investment in the Beckton combined heat and power generation plant in East London.
The iCON team has an established track record of investing in high quality infrastructure assets and this is a landmark transaction as it sees it enter the UK contracted generation space with the acquisition of a 77.5% majority interest in the plant – alongside EEA and 2OC Holdings Ltd.
Due to be operational in the first quarter of 2015, the Beckton plant has a nameplate capacity of 19MW to generate renewable electricity which will be used at the nearby Beckton Sewage Treatment Works and the neighbouring desalination plant operated by Thames Water, plus renewable heat used for the Beckton Gas Pressure Reduction Station operated by National Grid. The plant benefits from a robust and long-term contract structure with counterparties of the highest calibre.
Burges Salmon assembled a multi-disciplinary legal team to advise on a wide range of elements associated with bringing this transaction to fruition. This included providing expertise on renewable energy, regulation and power offtakes, corporate finance, project finance, real estate, planning, construction and tax.
The team was led by corporate finance partner, Dominic Davis, supported by associate AJ Venter. They worked alongside Ross Fairley, Burges Salmon’s head of Renewables, and project finance partner Graham Soar.
Ross Fairley says: “Over the last 10 years we have firmly established ourselves as a firm at the forefront of renewable energy, with particular expertise in advising on UK biomass. It has been a privilege to work alongside iCON and EEA on this substantial transaction and bring all our relevant expertise to bear.”
In 2011 Burges Salmon advised on a £60.5 million deal for Helius Energy which sees it developing, building and operating a major biomass combined heat and power facility on Speyside, northern Scotland, via a joint venture with the Combination of Rothes Distilleries (CoRD) and Rabo Project Equity BV. The venture – called Helius CoRDe – uses a combination of distillery co-products and wood chip to generate 7.2MW of electricity, enough for 9,000 homes.
More recently, Burges Salmon also advised Helius Energy on its placing to raise approximately £6.55 million working capital for its on-going Avonmouth and Southampton biomass projects. Other specific areas of the firm’s biomass expertise include: innovation in fuel supply and offtake contracts; power plant consenting; environmental permitting and energy regulation.
http://www.burges-salmon.com/Sectors/energy_and_utilities/News/10740.as…
