Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Crédit Agricole Group, Bpifrance and Caisse d’Epargne CEPAC as arrangers and lenders on the €300m refinancing of three renewables portfolios comprising of 12 wind farms and one solar plant with a total capacity of 200 MW.
The project sponsors were Valeco, investment fund Mirova and GEG (Gaz Electricité de Grenoble), with Astris Finance acting as their financial adviser. The transaction will allow Valeco to launch and finance new energy transition projects.
Now part of Germany’s EnBW Group, Valeco has been a major player in the renewable energy sector for over 20 years. With 2,000 MW of project currently in development, it specialises in developing, financing, building, operating and maintaining renewable energy production plants in France and internationally.
The multidisciplinary WFW Paris team was led by Finance Partner Philippe Wolanski and Public Law/Regulatory Partner Laurent Battoue, along with Partners Romain Girtanner on tax matters, Thomas Rabain on the corporate law and Cyrille Gogny-Goubert on the real estate aspects of the transaction.
They were supported by Senior Associates Julie-Anne Thiebaut (Finance), Hélène Ibos (Tax) and Antoine Bois-Minot (Regulatory/Public Law), Associates Diana Harapu (Finance), Anthony Pilon, Simon Dumontel and Marine Yzquierdo (Regulatory and Projects), Kodou Diouf (Real Estate), Mohamed Douib (Corporate) and Trainee François de Geofroy.
The sponsors were advised by a team from Linklaters LLP (Paris) led by Partners François April and Cyril Boussion, assisted by Managing Associate Romain Marchand and Associates Mylinh Pham, Nicolas Le Guernic, Philippe Ludwig and Trainee Paulien Lauwers.
