Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Greencoat UK Wind plc (Greencoat), the London-listed renewable infrastructure fund, and Swiss Life Funds (Luxembourg) Global Infrastructure Opportunities S.C.A. (SLFL GIO), a fund managed by Swiss Life Asset Managers, on the acquisition of Drone Hill, North Rhins, Sixpenny Wood and Yelvertoft Wind Farms from subsidiaries of The AES Corporation (AES), a global power company.
The acquisitions have been made through a joint holding company of which Greencoat owns 51.6% and SLFL GIO owns 48.4%.
Drone Hill Wind Farm is located west of Eyemouth in the Borders and has a total capacity of 28.6 MW, a forecast net load factor of 23.7% and has been operational since August 2012.
North Rhins Wind Farm is located on the North Rhins peninsula, west of Stranraer in Dumfries and Galloway and has a total capacity of 22.0 MW, a forecast net load factor of 37.8% and has been operational since December 2009.
Sixpenny Wood Wind Farm is located near Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire and has a total capacity of 20.5 MW, a forecast net load factor of 31.0% and has been operational since July 2013.
Yelvertoft Wind Farm is located east of Rugby in Northamptonshire and has a total capacity of 16.4 MW, a forecast net load factor of 28.6% and has been operational since July 2013.
All four wind farms were developed and constructed by AES and receive 1 ROC per MWh.
As a result of this acquisition, Greencoat will have a net generating capacity of 271.5 MW.
The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by corporate, M&A and securities partner, Stephen Rigby, and included Keith Law, Andrew Davies, Joshua Temkin and Nichola Johnson (corporate), Simon Currie, Helen Winward, Conor Boyle and Thomas Wood (banking) and Andrew Hedges and Suncica Miletic (projects). A separate Norton Rose Fulbright team, led by banking partner Tomas Gärdfors, primarily assisted by Mark Dennison, Nazli Okusluk and Leonie Timmers, advised the outgoing lenders NIBC, ING Bank and Barclays.
In July 2014, Norton Rose Fulbright advised Greencoat on its acquisition of the 18.4MW Kildrummy Wind Farm located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, for approximately £43.3 million from BayWa r.e. renewable energy GmbH (BayWa), a subsidiary of the BayWa Group (the German listed agriculture, building materials and energy group).
