Clifford Chance has advised Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in respect of the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Borkum Riffgrund 2 offshore wind farm project in Germany. The vendor was Danish integrated energy company DONG Energy A/S. The purchase price amounts to approximately EUR 1.170 billion. The transaction is subject to approval by the competition authorities and is expected to be completed later this year.

Borkum Riffgrund 2 is a 450MW offshore wind project in the German North Sea currently being constructed by DONG Energy, a leading developer and operator of offshore wind farms globally. The parties have agreed that DONG Energy will provide operation and maintenance services to Borkum Riffgrund 2 and a route to market for the power production from Borkum Riffgrund 2.

GIP is a leading global, independent private equity infrastructure investment fund. It invests in the energy, transport and water/waste sectors and currently manages approximately USD 40 billion for its investors.

The Clifford Chance team was led by partner Dr. Björn Heinlein (Corporate/Energy&Infrastructure, Düsseldorf) and comprised partner Dr. Florian Mahler (Banking & Capital Markets, Düsseldorf), counsels Dr. Werner Brickwedde (Corporate/M&A) and Dr. Martin Weitenberg (Corporate/Energy&Infrastructure), partner Dr. Mathias Elspaß, associates Dr. Philipp Büsch (both Public Law) and Zaid Mansour (all Corporate/Energy&Infrastructure) – all Düsseldorf, partner Olaf Mertgen (Tax, Frankfurt), partner Marc Besen (Brussels/Düsseldorf) and counsel Dr. Dimitri Slobodenjuk (Düsseldorf, both Antitrust) as well as associates Torben Lührmann (Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf) and Necla Ilhan (Banking & Capital Markets, Frankfurt).

In 2015 Clifford Chance had already advised GIP on the acquisition of a 50% stake in the Gode Wind 1 offshore wind farm project which is also operated from DONG Energy.