Two wind farm projects in which Gleiss Lutz was involved – “Meerwind” and “Global Tech I” – have recently won international awards:
On 9 February 2012 Project Finance Magazine chose the realization of the offshore wind farm “Meerwind” as its “European Offshore Wind Deal of the Year 2011”. The wind farm, which lies approximately 30 km northeast of Helgoland, is the first to be financed under KfW’s offshore wind programme as well as the first fully privately-sponsored offshore wind farm project. Gleiss Lutz has provided the private equity investor Blackstone with comprehensive advice since Blackstone’s first investment in the project in 2008, ranging from the conclusion of the joint venture agreements establishing the project company to the development and financing of the wind farm. The team of Gleiss Lutz lawyers was led by Dr. Jan Bauer (corporate/M&A), Dr. Helge Kortz (banking/finance) and Dr. Cornelia Topf (corporate/M&A, all Frankfurt).
The offshore project “Global Tech I” was named as “Wind Deal of the Year” at the Project Finance International Awards 2011 held at the end of January. The 400 megawatts wind farm, currently being erected 110 km northwest of Cuxhaven, is the only offshore wind project with borrowed capital of more than € 1bn. Gleiss Lutz has advised on the project since the beginning of 2008, initially assisting the shareholder Windreich AG with the sale of shares in the project company Global Tech I Offshore Wind GmbH. It then subsequently also advised the project company on the realisation of the project, in particular on the raising of equity capital and the conclusion of all the project agreements. The Gleiss Lutz team was led by Dr. Marcus Dannecker (partner, project development, Stuttgart) and Dr. Tim Weber (partner, project agreements, Frankfurt).
Gleiss Lutz’ energy team regularly advises on the development of offshore wind farm projects and related transactions. Gleiss Lutz was most recently also involved in the “Nördlicher Grund”, “Deutsche Bucht”, “DanTysk” and “MEG I” projects.
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