Linklaters has advised Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited, whose shareholders are SSE and RWE, on the successful disposal of the Greater Gabbard transmission assets to Greater Gabbard OFTO plc, a consortium of Balfour Beatty Investments, Equitix and AMP Capital Investors.

The wind farm, comprising 140 Siemens 3.6MW wind turbine generators off the Suffolk coast which became fully operational in September 2012, is the second largest operational offshore wind farm in the world and has a generating capacity of up to 504MW which is enough to power over half a million homes.

Linklaters has also advised, or is currently advising, on the acquisition and financing of the offshore transmission assets connecting each of the Robin Rigg, Gunfleet Sands, Barrow, Ormonde and Lincs wind farms to the onshore distribution network. This deal further reinforces the firm’s market-leading reputation in the transmission and wider energy sector.

The Linklaters team was led by Energy & Infrastructure partners, Richard Coar and Stuart Rowson.

Richard Coar said:

“We are delighted to have been involved in such a significant deal in the offshore transmission sector; being both the first transaction of its type to have been bond financed and one of the largest to have closed to date. We have been involved in the Greater Gabbard transaction since 2007, so it is very satisfying to have been able to assist Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Limited on the sale of its transmission assets. This transaction underlines the continued interest of investors in this asset class and we hope to be able to assist in closing further OFTO transactions in the near future.”