Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (“CIP”) and Arjun Infrastructure Partners (“Arjun”) on a €383.5m green loan granted for the refinancing of their Monegros portfolio, comprising 12 operational wind farms with a total aggregate capacity of 487 MW located in Aragon, Spain. The lenders are a banking syndicate consisting of ABN, BBVA, BNP, Rabobank, Caixabank, Sabadell and Bankinter.
CIP is the world’s largest fund manager dedicated to investing in greenfield renewable energy projects. Its funds focus on investments in offshore and onshore wind – of which it is a world leader – solar photovoltaics, biomass and energy from waste, transmission and distribution, spare capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy and Power-to-X. CIP currently manages 12 funds and has raised approximately €29bn to date from more than 160 international institutional investors for energy and associated infrastructure investments.
Arjun Infrastructure Partners is an independent asset management firm dedicated to identifying, executing, and managing mid-market infrastructure investments. Founded in 2015, Arjun currently manages €5.7+bn capital on behalf of leading institutional investors, including through its Infrastructure Alliance Europe fund. It invests in real infrastructure assets across sectors, including wind and solar farms, energy distribution, water, rail and digital fibre. Monegros became part of Arjun’s portfolio in 2021.
The WFW Madrid Finance team that advised CIP and Arjun was led by Partner Jose María Anarte, supported by Senior Associate Jacobo Hermidas and Associates María Heredero and Sara Estradera. Partner David Díez and Senior Associate Lidia Fernández provided regulatory advice, with Senior Associate Javier Ruffín and Associate Julia Valiente advising on corporate matters. Tax expertise was provided by Partner Luis Soto and senior associate Javier Gabiña. Financial Markets & Products Partner Rob McBride and Associate Kristina Buckberry offered English law advice.
Jose María commented: “It was an honour to advise CIP and Arjun on another important portfolio financing. This is one of the most important renewables financings so far this year, not only because of its size, but also given how it will positively impact Spain’s energy transition”.
Florian Küster, Partner at CIP, added: “We would like to thank all parties involved, including both the lenders and advisors, on successfully completing this transaction. Closing this loan marks another important milestone for Monegros, which has generated attractive and stable long-term returns for our investors and is contributing significantly to Spain’s energy transition”.
Julian Skinner, Head of Asset Management at Arjun, said: “We are delighted to have successfully completed this transaction with a strong pool of banks together with our advisors and our long-standing partner CIP. Thank you to all those involved, and we look forward to future collaborations as we work to facilitate the realisation of Europe’s clean energy goals”.
Astris Finance acted as financial advisor to CIP and Arjun, with Chatham Financial taking on the role of hedging and derivatives advisor.
