Home / News / CMS advises on the sale by KKR to AXA and Acciona

CMS advises on the sale by KKR to AXA and Acciona

15 April 2020

International law firm CMS has advised on the acquisition of Atlanta Renewables S.à r.l. – a special purpose vehicle holding a 33% interest in a joint venture with Acciona Energía S.A – from KKR Atlanta Aggregator L.P.

The joint venture, Acciona Energía Internacional (AEI), owns a portfolio of 2.3 GW net generation capacity comprising 52 renewable energy assets (primarily onshore wind and solar). These assets span 6 continents with assets located mainly in OECD countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, India, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, South Africa and the United States.

AXA Infrastructure Equity 3 SAS (AXA) financed the transaction, agreeing to acquire 100% of the issued share capital of Atlanta Renewables and conditional on Acciona Energía S.A acquiring a further 13.33% stake in AEI. The transaction results in Acciona Energia S.A. owning 80% of AEI and AXA owning the remaining 20% - constituting AXA’s first major investment in renewables. 

Kristy Duane, CMS Corporate partner and Co-Head of Infrastructure, comments: “We are delighted to have advised on this significant renewables transaction in difficult market conditions signaling the resilience of the asset class. Our role required the collaboration of CMS colleagues across seven countries, demonstrating both our global sector expertise and ability to deliver on complex cross-border transactions.” 

CMS undertook due diligence on the AEI portfolio of renewable energy assets, negotiated the full suite of transaction documents and led the buy-side team from negotiation of heads of terms through to signing.

The team was headed up by Kristy Duane in London and supported by Konrad Rawicz and Simon Hughes (Corporate); Kabir Garyali (Competition); Toby Commander (EPC); Aaron Fairhurst, Anna Burchner and Jason Todd (Tax). The international team included: Carlos Peña, Diego Muro and Ignacio Cerrato (CMS Spain); Pawel Hermelinski, Sylvain Elias, Arvine Zamani and Angélique Eguether (CMS Luxembourg); Corinne Reinbold (CMS France); Piotr Ciolkowski, Michal Andruszkiewicz and Krzysztof Mrozik (CMS Poland); Luis Fernández and José Antonio Tellez (CMS Mexico); and Yushanta Rungasammy, Gavin Noeth and Nick Wright (CMS South Africa).