Clifford Chance advises VARO Energy on its first green loan and on a $3.33 billion financing in oversubscribed debt round

Clifford Chance advises VARO Energy on its first green loan and on a US$3.33 billion financing in oversubscribed debt round

28 July 2023

Jackie Jones, , Titus de Vries, Lisa Ye, Genia Baardman, Lounia Czupper, Philippe Baert, Florian Mahler, Isabel van Bremen, Philip Rosak, Marius Fritz, Sophie Laporte, Antonio Sánchez-Cirujano, Paget Dare Bryan
Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid

Clifford Chance advises VARO Energy on its first green loan and on a US$3.33 billion financing in oversubscribed debt round

International law firm Clifford Chance together with Swiss law firm Lenz & Staehelin has advised its longstanding client VARO Energy on a US$1.13 billion term loan, including a US$165 million green loan, US$2.2 billion secured multicurrency revolving borrowing base facility and a US$710 million ancillary guarantee facility.

The US$165 million green loan, which follows the guidelines set by the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles, is the first in VARO's history. It is part of the wider term loan financing and will partly refinance VARO’s acquisiton of the Bio Energy Coevorden biogas plant. The financing is an important step for Varo Energy towards realising the ONE VARO Transformation Strategy which will support the scaling and development of five growth pillars: biofuels, biogas, e-mobility, nature-based carbon removals, and hydrogen. Read more about the transaction here and here.

SMBC Group acted as the documentation agent and ING Bank N.V. acted as sustainability coordinator for the term loan and revolving facility. ING Bank N.V. acted as the documentation agent for the borrowing base facility. Euler Hermes S.A. (trading as Allianz Trade) acted as the documentation agent for the ancillary guarantee facility.

This transaction builds on Clifford Chance's market-leading experience in the trade and commodities finance sector and its expertise in sustainable finance, as well as further deepening its longstanding relationship with VARO Energy.

The cross-border Clifford Chance team was led out of Amsterdam by Jackie Jones and further consisted of Priyanka Paunrana and Annie McLean in Amsterdam with Dutch law support led by Titus de Vries, Lisa Ye, Maurice Oesterhelt, Genia Baardman, Belgian law support from Lounia Czupper, Philippe Baert, Yonathan Tison and Sonia Belhassen, German law support led by Florian Mahler, Isabel van Bremen, Philip Rosak, Marius Fritz and Cornelia Lambert, French law support from Sophie Laporte, Spanish law support from Antonio Sánchez-Cirujano and María González and further support from Paget Dare Bryan (London).