Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises Rabobank and EKF on bespoke EKF-backed project financing of the 163.4MW Kråktorpet onshore wind farms in Sweden

A joint team from the Amsterdam and Düsseldorf offices of international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A. and the lenders on the EKF-backed project financing of the 163.4MW Kråktorpet (Big Zlatan) onshore wind farms in Sweden.

This transaction marks one the first project financings for onshore wind farms with bespoke EKF guarantee structures in Sweden co developed by Rabobank and EKF, and some of the first international project financings involving Dutch-law governed finance documents.

Aquila Capital acquired the rights to develop the Kråktorpet wind farm from developer Eolus Vind in December 2017, who will also continue act as construction manager. The project, comprising 43 3.8MW Vestas V136 turbines, will be located between 400 – 450 meters above sea level in forest areas in Sundsvall municipality.

On the project financing of the wind farm, Rabobank acted as Mandated Lead Arranger, Facility Agent, Security Agent and VAT Lender, and EKF Danmarks Eksportkredit, the Danish Export Credit Agency, acted as guarantor to the EKF Lenders.

The core Clifford Chance team in Amsterdam consisted of Hein Tonnaer, Liesbeth Buiter, Philip Walsh, Lotte de Bruin, Tara Kok, Pieter van Welzen, Alexander Freund and Mike Niekoop together with support from Florian Mahler and Bahar Rahimyar in Düsseldorf.