Linklaters has advised BlackRock’s Real Assets division on the sale of a portfolio of five operating wind farms and one operating solar project located across the UK to Equitix Investment Management Limited. The transaction closed on 1 February 2018.

This marks the second completed sale in the past three months for BlackRock’s Renewable Power platform in Europe and is the latest addition to Equitix’s considerable capabilities in the renewable energy sector. The portfolio being sold became operational between 2010 and 2015.

The original European portfolio of BlackRock’s renewable power assets consisted of assets in France, Ireland, Sweden and the UK. The Irish assets in the portfolio were sold to Greencoat Renewables in December 2018. Linklaters has advised BlackRock on the Irish as well as the UK sale.

The team was led by Corporate partners Chris Staples and Michael Honan and supported by Managing Associate Parag Sayta.

The transaction is the latest in a series of European renewables transactions that Linklaters has been involved in over the past year, both on the M&A and project financing side. Linklaters has previously advised Innogy on the £2bn financing and development of the 860MW Triton Knoll offshore wind farm and the subsequent sale of a 41% stake in the wind farm to a Japanese consortium. The firm also advised a group of fifteen commercial lenders and an institutional investor in relation to the £1.4 billion refinancing of the 353MW Galloper Offshore Wind Farm located off the coast of Suffolk, United Kingdom.