King & Wood Mallesons has advised GCG Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund GmbH & Co. KG (“REIF”), a fund advised by Munich-based Goodyields Capital GmbH, on a portfolio financing of onshore wind and solar PV assets, both existing and under construction, located in France, Italy and Sweden. The financing was granted by a German pension fund and was structured to best serve the interests of REIF’s institutional investors.
“Through this innovatively created financing instrument, REIF will be able to continue following its growth strategy”, explains Clemens Niedner, Finance partner with King & Wood Mallesons, commenting on this transaction. The financing documentation was drafted in such a way that typical credit processes such as collateral provision or payment procedures could be simplified considerably by using a group-perspective taking into all project companies.
The King & Wood Mallesons team was led by partner Clemens Niedner and also included counsel Ulf Gosejacob and associate Dr. Michael Beyer (all Financing, Frankfurt), supported by Paris colleagues Olivier Vermeulen (partner) and Margaux Baratte (associate) as well as partner Ettore Scandale and counsel Stefano Dettoni based in Milan. All Swedish aspects of the transaction were handled by Vinge, correspondent counsel in Malmo.
Goodyields Capital’s Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund’s portfolio is currently comprised of four projects across three core European countries, including wind farms in France and Sweden as well as PV assets in Northern Italy. By securing debt finance for the entire portfolio, Goodyields Capital not only could reduce transaction costs significantly, but also was able to extend the term of the loan as well as to keep the level of interest rates low. Goodyields Capital GmbH is a Munich-based fund manager entirely focusing on investing in renewable energy infrastructure assets.
“We are very pleased with the terms and conditions of the financing as well as the speed and professionalism of our counterparty. Many features of the loan, such as tenor, grace period, repayment structure or collateralisation were structured such that the main goals of our institutional investors could be met - early returns from the investments and stable cash flow over the fund’s life time”, says Ralph Seraphim, Managing Partner of Goodyields Capital. “Despite the intentionally moderate leverage of the project portfolio of below 50%, we are confident to achieve a net return of 7% IRR p.a. for REIF’s investors, perfectly in line with our targets”, adds Marc Wallenstein, Partner of Goodyields Capital.
