Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised DONG Energy (“DONG Energy”) on its sale of a 50% stake in the 258 MW Burbo Bank Extension UK offshore wind farm project to Danish pension provider PKA and KIRKBI A/S, parent company of the LEGO Group. This is PKA’s fifth investment in an offshore wind farm, three of which are with DONG Energy.

Each investor will obtain a 25% ownership interest in the project. The total purchase price amounts to approximately £660m (DKK 6.6bn) to be paid in the period 2016-2017.

Burbo Bank Extension, which will consist of 32 turbines, will be constructed by DONG Energy and is expected to be fully commissioned in the first half of 2017. It will be the first large-scale wind farm to deploy the new MHI Vestas 8.0 MW turbine, and will be able to supply CO2-free power equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 230,000 households.

DONG Energy will provide operation and maintenance services to Burbo Bank Extension under a long-term O&M agreement. It will also be responsible for the sale and delivery to market of the power generated by PKA and KIRKBI A/S’s 50% ownership share.

The WFW team advising DONG Energy was led by London partner and Global Head of the Energy & Infrastructure sector Evan Stergoulis, assisted by corporate partner Ravinder Sandhu, real estate partner Simon Folley and tax partner Tom Jarvis. They were supported by Energy & Infrastructure senior associates Jon Thursby, Joe Hesketh and Helen Forsey, associates Natalie Georgiou (Energy & Infrastructure), Craig Bruce (Energy & Infrastructure), Tom Harrison-Cripps (Energy & Infrastructure), Jessica Lever (Energy & Infrastructure) Danny Perera (Corporate) and Rob Firth (Tax), and trainees Chloe Goodwin and Christian Anthony.

Evan commented: “We are delighted to have helped our long-standing client DONG Energy further its market-leading partnership model through this divestment to the LEGO Group and PKA, with whom DONG Energy already enjoys a highly successful partnership on other offshore wind projects”.