International law firm CMS has advised Brookfield Renewable Partners (“Brookfield Renewable”), on its definitive agreement with KKR to form a 50/50 joint venture to acquire X-Elio, one of the world’s largest independent solar platforms. As part of the transaction, Brookfield Renewable will acquire Acek’s 20% stake and 30% of KKR’s stake in X-Elio for a total commitment in the range of $500 million.
Brookfield Renewable operates one of the world’s largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms and is the flagship listed renewable power company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $365 billion of assets under management. Its portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, and totals over 17,000 megawatts of installed capacity and an 8,000 megawatt development pipeline.
The investment by Brookfield Renewable into Spanish-headquartered X-Elio will see its solar capabilities expanded to include global solar development, and offers another meaningful growth lever for the business. X-Elio is one of the largest independent solar platforms globally with 273 megawatts of operating capacity, 1,413 megawatts under construction and a broader 4,800 megawatt development pipeline across major solar markets including Spain, the United States, Mexico, Chile and Japan.
London partner and Co-Head of the UK Corporate group, Charles Currier, led the multi-jurisdictional CMS team, which comprised teams from across the UK, Spain, Mexico and Luxembourg.
Charles Currier comments: “We are delighted to have supported Brookfield on this strategic partnership with KKR, which provides significant growth potential for our client and expands its global solar capabilities. This deal further underscores CMS’ pre-eminence in the European renewables market, and follows our recognition by Inspiratia as the no 1 legal adviser for renewables transactions across Europe."
The CMS core team also included Michael Carroll, Alice Frydl, Ben McParland, Dan Weston and Brynn Horner (Corporate); Thomas Forman (EPC); Kabir Garyali (TMIC); and Aaron Fairhurst, Jason Todd and Phil Reid (Tax) in London, with assistance from Maria Guinot, Rafael Saez, Carlos Tallon and David Porras Cabellos in Spain; Luis Fernandez, José Antonio Tellez, Giancarlo Schievenini, Cesar Lechuga, Sofia Taracena in Mexico; and Mélody Brunot in Luxembourg.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.
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