International law firm Norton Rose has advised KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, the international project and export finance bank, on debt funding provided to Barclays Infrastructure Funds (BIF) for the acquisition of Black Hill Wind Farm.
Black Hill Wind Farm is a 28.6MW, 22 turbine wind farm, located between Duns and Longformacus in the Scottish Borders and will form part of BIF’s expanding portfolio of renewable energy investments. The wind farm has been generating renewable energy since February 2007 and generates electricity equivalent to the needs of around 16,000 homes.
Norton Rose advised KfW IPEX-Bank in connection with a term loan facility made available to BIF’s corporate vehicle to fund the acquisition of the Black Hill Wind Farm project company from leading UK renewable energy company RES. Under the agreement RES will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the wind farm as well as the community benefit fund. Financial close was reached on 30 October 2012.
Simon Currie, head of energy at Norton Rose, advised KfW IPEX-Bank, together with associate Conrad Purcell.
Burness LLP advised KfW IPEX-Bank on the Scottish law aspects of the transaction. Pinsent Masons advised BIF and Bond Pearce advised RES.
Norton Rose has advised on over 500 renewable energy projects over the past 12 months, including Salkhit wind farm, Mongolia’s first renewable energy independent power project and multiple renewable projects in rounds one and two of the South African government’s renewables programme. The practice is ranked in Tier 1 for Energy in Natural Resources in the recently published leading legal directory Chambers UK 2013.
