CMS advises consortium on acquisition of interest in world’s largest offshore windfarm

International law firm CMS has advised a consortium comprised of GLIL Infrastructure and Octopus Energy Group on its agreement to acquire a 12.5% interest in the Hornsea One Offshore Wind Farm from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The acquisition is subject to regulatory and lender consent and is expected to complete later this year. 

Located off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea One is the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world, comprising of 174 turbines, each 190m tall with a combined total capacity of 1.2 GW. It is operated by Ørsted and has been operational since 2020. Hornsea 1 benefits from an inflation-linked Contract-for-Difference (CfD) subsidy.

GLIL Infrastructure is a £3.6 billion infrastructure fund backed by Local Pensions Partnership and Northern LGPS. Octopus Energy Generation, one of Europe’s largest investors in renewable energy, manages more than £4.4bn of renewable energy assets.

This is the fourth disposal by GIP of its interest in Hornsea One. Equitix and The Renewables Infrastructure Group agreed to acquire two separate interests of 12.5% each earlier this year, advised by a separate CMS team led by Danielle Heath. Greencoat UK Wind also agreed to acquire an interest of 12.5%.

The CMS team led by Charles Currier alongside James Day, Georga Ballard, Fred Cruz and Louise Marchington (Corporate). Wider support was provided by Jacqueline Vallat, Jean-Francois Willems and Claire Barraclough (Competition); Munir Hassan, Sabrina Polito and Freddie May (EPC); Nicholas Ross-McCall and Hannah Merrick (Finance); Sally Badham, Katy Abrahams, George Williams and Alana Barker (Real Estate); and Nick Burt and Philip Reid (Tax).