CMS advises GE and Macquarie Group on landmark Nordic onshore wind project

International law firm CMS has advised GE Energy Financial Services (“GE”) and Green Investment Group Limited, part of Macquarie Group (“Macquarie”), as joint sponsors on the acquisition and project financing of 650MW of onshore wind through the Markbygden ETT wind farm in Northern Sweden. The project, acquired from developer Svevind AB, will be the largest single site onshore wind farm in Europe, and is expected to increase Sweden’s installed wind generation by more than 12.5 per cent. Construction of the project has already commenced and it is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019.

CMS’ advice was led, on financing matters, by Energy Finance partner Nicholas Ross-McCall and, on corporate matters, by Corporate partner Nick Blair, with support from Energy partners Munir Hassan and Sarah King. The sponsors were advised on Swedish law elements by a team at Mannheimer Swartling led by Andreas Zettergren and Emma Olnäs Fors.

The CMS team advised the sponsors on all English law aspects of the deal including:

• the bespoke near €500m project financing package involving European Investment Bank, export credit agency Euler Hermes (through the issuance of a political and commercial risk insurance policy), NordLB, KFW-IPEX and HSH Nordbank; and
• acquisition and shareholder arrangements.

Nicholas Ross-McCall comments: “We are delighted and privileged to have advised GE and Macquarie on this complex and landmark transaction, which sets a number of firsts in terms of the financing structure, lender group, WTG technology and project documents.”

Nick Blair comments: “We are delighted to be involved with this landmark transaction, and one of such importance to the Swedish energy system. We wish the project every success.”

Full details on the deal can be found here.