Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Banco Santander on an approximately €90m project financing granted to Altano Energy for the financing of a 107.37 MW portfolio of 11 operational mini hydro plants and one photovoltaic (“PV”) plant currently under development in the Spanish regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. The PV plant is expected to be operational in 2024.
As part of the transaction, WFW has also advised Altano Energy on the signing of a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) for the portfolio with Engie España as well as a representation services agreement with IGNIS.
Banco Santander is a Spanish financial services company with an objective of raising over €120bn in green financing between 2019 and 2025.
Altano Energy is a renewable energy platform, launched in 2021 and backed by Pioneer Point Partners, which is led by a team with over 40 years combined experience in the infrastructure and energy sectors. Its current portfolio comprises over 350 MW of operational, construction stage and development wind, solar PV, hydro and hybrid assets in Iberia.
The WFW Madrid team that advised Banco Santander on the project financing was led by Partner Rodrigo Berasategui, assisted by Counsel Luis González, Senior Associate Antonio Cáneva and Associates Antón Ramil, Elena Castro, Diana Palazón, Isabel Rodríguez de Codes and Paula Pérez.
The WFW Madrid team that advised Altano Energy on the PPA with Engie España and the representation services agreement with IGNIS was led by Partner David Diez assisted by Senior Associate Héctor Suárez.
Rodrigo Berasategui commented: “This was a very complex transaction as we had to plan and incorporate a very innovative structure into the financing agreement, which comprised not only assets using different technologies in different locations, but also in different states of development both operational and in advanced development which required a creative and sophisticated approach. WFW’s deep experience and knowledge of the renewable energy sector and our ability to anticipate all possible outcomes for high-value projects was vital to helping successfully close this transaction. In addition, this is one of the few recent transactions in Spain involving mini-hydro assets. The success of this transaction demonstrates our team’s excellent knowledge of both the renewable energy sector generally and the specifics of different assets within the sector”.
