A&O is advising the owners of Finnish electricity distribution and heating company Elenia on its sale to a consortium comprising Allianz Capital Partners, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and the State Pension Fund of Finland.

Elenia is the owner and operator of the second largest electricity distribution network in Finland at around 69,000 km in length, with a market share of around 12%. It is being sold by a consortium including 3i Infrastructure, Goldman Sachs Infrastructure Partners and Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company. A&O advised the consortium when it acquired Elenia in January 2012 and since then the business has invested over €600m aimed at increasing weather proofing of the network to improve reliability of electricity supply for customers. The underground cabling rate in Elenia Networks’ distribution area has increased from 23% at the beginning of 2012 to 40% in 2017.

The A&O team comprises Global Infrastructure Group partners Richard Evans, Peter Banks, Conrad Andersen and Tim Conduit.   On this deal, Richard Evans comments; “It has been a privilege and a recognition of the strength in depth of A&O’s Infrastructure practice to have acted for the consortium on the full life cycle of its investment – from initial acquisition, to refinancing and  now to exit.”.