International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised CPP Investment Board (CPPIB) as part of a consortium which also included Allianz Capital Partners and Infinity Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, on the acquisition of a 24.1% stake in the Gassled Joint Venture (Gassled) from Statoil ASA. The total value of the transaction was NOK 17.35 billion (approximately €2.2 billion).

Established in 2003, Gassled is an unincorporated joint venture which owns the majority of the gas transport infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. It is a core infrastructure asset and a strategic asset in the Northwestern Europe energy landscape. Gassled is expected to benefit from the growth in European gas demand and Norway’s long term position as a key supplier of gas to Europe. 

The Freshfields team was led by corporate partners David Higgins and Oliver Lazenby, with support from finance partner Peter Hall, corporate senior associate Richard Thexton and competition senior associate Dan Burton. 

Commenting on the deal, Oliver Lazenby said: ‘We are delighted to have advised our longstanding client CPPIB on the successful completion of the Gassled transaction. The deal provides further evidence of the attractiveness of major European infrastructure to international financial investors, and comes at a time when we are seeing increasing demand for multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional advice in complex consortium deals – something that we have recognised with the recent launch of our Global Financial Investor Group’.