Herbert Smith Freehills has advised on the Hallett Hill No. 2 Wind Farm’s successful launch of a $A205m issue in the US Private Placement (USPP) market - the first Australian wind farm to issue in the USPP market.

Hallett Hill is a 71MW, 34 turbine wind farm located in mid-north South Australia. It has been operational since 2009 and is wholly owned by the Energy Infrastructure Trust (EIT), which is managed by Australian funds manager Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG).

The USPP issuance comprises two 12-year tranches of notes for US$99 million and A$76 million. As part of the transaction, cross currency swaps were entered into to convert the USD notes into AUD. The issue was heavily oversubscribed with strong appetite from investors. Australian wind farms have traditionally been financed with “mini-perm” limited recourse debt from Australian and international commercial banks.

Funds from the USPP issuance will be used to refinance Hallett Hill’s current senior debt facility.

Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partners Gerard Pike and Joel Rennie, who were assisted by senior associates Ged Cochrane and Miles Wadley, and solicitor Celine Yim.

Gerard Pike said: “We are very pleased to be involved in another ground breaking transaction in the Australian large-scale renewables financing market and are very pleased that ICG, EIT and BNP Paribas and National Australia Bank as joint placement agents have achieved a very successful outcome”.

Herbert Smith Freehills acted as Australian legal counsel to the investors and advised the swap banks and existing lenders. Chapman & Cutler were US legal advisor to the investors. Sidley Austin and Allens advised the issuer.

Herbert Smith Freehills has significant experience in advising on Australian domestic and international wind farm project financings. The firm has also recently advised:

  * ICG on the refinancing of the Wattle Point Wind Farm in South Australia;
  * Energy Development Corporation on its US$315 million financing of the 150 MW Burgos Wind Farm Project – the first wind farm project financing to reach financial close in the Philippines; and
  * Standard Bank Group and CfC Stanbic Bank on the project financing of the US$150 million Kinangop wind farm development in Kenya.