Watson Farley & Williams (‘WFW’) advised NeXtWind, Germany’s leading provider of optimised energy hubs using existing onshore wind farms, on the acquisition of twelve wind farms in that country as well as a wind farm development project in Schleswig-Holstein comprising five wind turbines with an expected combined output of 28.5 MW.
The twelve wind farms’ current generating capacity of 140 MW will be expanded by NeXtWind to well over 300 MW through repowering and further improvements. The Berlin-based company thus increases its total renewable energy repowering capacity to 1,400 MW. NeXtWind is acquiring the wind farms in a share deal from Nadara, one of Europe’s largest independent power producers (IPPs) from onshore wind farms. The Schleswig-Holstein project is being acquired from north German onshore wind developer PNE AG.
With offices in Berlin and London, NeXtWind is a leading renewable energy provider with 80+ employees and a total financing base of US$750m.
The WFW international Corporate and M&A team that advised Nextwind was led by Hamburg Partners Dr Wolfram Böge and Dr Malte Jordan. WFW teams from London, Paris, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich worked together on the transaction, along with local counsels from Luxembourg, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Managing Associates Christian R. Schindler and Sebastian Olbertz, as well as Associates Marian Henkes, Tilda Hall (secondee from Vinge), Lea Alexandra Heick, Albert Merck, Andreas Urdl, Philipp Vogl, Moritz von Baumbach and Dr Hasan Isik advised on corporate and project contracts. Hamburg Partner Verena Scheibe and Senior Associate Manuel Rustler advised on tax law. Hamburg Partner Dr Sebastian Baum led the real estate team with Senior Associate Julia von der Blumensaat, Associate Josephina Knauf and Transaction Lawyers Stefanie Igl and Tetiana Arkhipova.
Hamburg Partners Dr F. Maximilian Boemke and Dr Christine Bader, with Associates Dr Philipp Kleiner, Dr Ruwen Fritsche und Wiebke Westermann advised on regulatory issues. Partner Thomas Hollenhorst, supported by Senior Associate Roman Schneider and Associate Stefan Riedmeyer provided financing expertise. Employment law expertise was contributed by Partner Dr Andreas Wiegreffe and Associate Julia Grolla, with Partner Stefan Hoffmann and Associate Jamil Shbeata advising on procedural law matters.
The WFW London team, led by Partner Andy Savage, including Senior Associate Florence Childs, and Associate Megha Vijh, advised on English law. The WFW Paris team, led by Partners Thomas Rabain and Laurent Battoue, including associate Chloé Léonard, provided support on French law aspects.
For Luxembourg and Dutch aspects, WFW worked together with teams from AKD N.V.
Wolfram commented: “These acquisitions are a further step forward in Germany’s energy transition. With the additional capacity equivalent to 1.5 nuclear power plant reactors, NeXtWind will be able to supply around one million households in Germany with green electricity in the future. The transactions underline our strength as a leading law firm supporting sustainable energy projects”.
