Abreu advises Tokyo Gas on wind farm acquisition

Abreu Advogados advised Tokyo Gas, Japan’s largest natural gas company, in its negotiations with OceanWinds (OW), a joint venture between EDP and Engie, and Principle Power Inc / Principle Power Portugal for the acquisition of a 21.2% stake in Windplus, which develops and operates the WindFloat Atlantic project (the world’s first semi-submersible floating offshore wind farm).

The Portuguese law firm advised on the entirety of the two parallel acquisition processes – one relating to the purchase of the shares held by OW (20%) and the other relating to the purchase of the shares held by PPI/PPP (1.2%) – as well as on various other issues relating to the entry of Tokyo Gas into Portugal.

WindFloat Atlantic is the world’s first semi-submersible floating offshore wind farm, with 8.4 MW wind turbines, and is located off the coast of Viana do Castelo in northern Portugal. Tokyo Gas, as part of its “Compass2030” vision, aims to lead the transition to “CO2 Net-Zero” and expand its production capacity from renewable energy sources to 6GW by 2030, both nationally and internationally.

The Abreu Advogados team advising the company was led by partner Armando Martins Ferreira (pictured) and had the support of a multidisciplinary team composed of partner Guilherme Santos Silva, professional partners Ana Manuela Barbosa, Eduardo Peixoto Gomes and Joana Maldonado Reis; associated partners Guilherme Mata da Silva and Isabel Pinheiro Torres, senior associate lawyers António Vidal, Assunção Vassalo and Rui Cardinal Carvalho and associate João Nobre Garcia.

A Baker McKenzie Tokyo team has also advised Tokyo Gas on the transaction, with a team led by Samir Desai, a partner in the finance & projects group, supported by finance & projects group associate Yoshihiro Bartlett-Imadegawa and antitrust & competition group partner Michio Suzuki. A team from Baker’s Madrid office was also involved.