BM advises Iberdrola on the purchase of Polish wind farm portfolio

Baker McKenzie has counselled Iberdrola Renovables on the purchase of Poland wind farms from the China-CEE Fund I

The China-CEE Fund I, whose investment advisor is CEE Equity Partners, agreed to sell its entire portfolio of wind farms in Poland on March 26, 2021, to Iberdrola Renovables. This way Iberdrola acquires 100% of the Polish wind farm portfolio owned by the fund, whose investment advisor is CEE Equity Partners. It comprises 2 assets in the green certificate regime – wind farms Korytnica and Zopowy – and a third which is under construction and will operate with a 10-year commercial Power Purchase Agreement with private counterparty.

The Korytnica wind farm (Korytnica 1) with a capacity of 82.5 MW, located 60 km northeast of Warsaw, is based on 3.3 MW V126 wind turbines manufactured by Vestas. Korytnica is one of the largest wind farms in Poland, which provides energy, among others, to Warsaw. The Zopowy wind farm, located in the Głubczyce commune in the Opolskie Voivodeship, consists of 15 Gamesa G90 turbines with a capacity of 30 MW. The power plant under construction (Korytnica 2) has a capacity of 50.4 MW and is located next to the Korytnica wind farm, with which it shares part of the electrical and civil works infrastructure.

The fund acquired the rights to the project, developed and built the Korytnica 1 wind farm in 2015, and is currently building the Korytnica 2 power plant nearby. The Zopowy wind farm, on the other hand, was purchased by the fund in 2015 from Gamesa, a wind turbine producer (currently owned by Siemens) as part of a turnkey transaction.

The contract was signed on March 26, 2021, and the closing of the transaction is planned for the second quarter of 2021, after obtaining the consent of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) and meeting certain technical conditions.

The fund was supported in its sale process by its banker Rothschild & Co and Dentons acting as its Legal advisor. GreenArt Asset Management provided and coordinated the technical support to the fund, throughout the process.

On the other hand, Baker McKenzie acted as the Legal advisor to Iberdrola with a team led by partner Antonio Morales (pictured left), together with associate Manuel Somacarrera (pictured right) working closely with Baker McKenzie’s local team in the Warsaw office, led by counsel Michal Piekarski.