The firm helped create a new joint venture with major funds
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is seeing market momentum in the energy development industry.
The firm recently advised in the creation of a joint venture focused on large-scale renewable energy projects, which will build renewable energy projects with up to 210MW of capacity in the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) in Western Australia.
The global firm advised Synergy in establishing the Bright Energy Investments joint venture with the $43b super Cbus and Dutch funds manager DIF.
Cbus was advised by Clifford Chance, while DIF was counseled by King & Wood Mallesons. Gilbert + Tobin acted for the financiers of the joint venture.
Bright Energy starts its development pipeline with the second stage of the Greenough River Solar Farm and the refurbishing of the Albany Grasmere Wind Farm. The joint venture also has the development rights for the Warradarge Wind Farm, which it has started preparatory work for.
The joint venture ensures that Synery, a Western Australia government-owned utility, will meet its “Large-Scale Renewable Energy Target” (LRET). The LRET was established by the federal government’s Clean Energy Regulator to create a financial incentive for the building and growth of renewable energy power stations.
Partner Simon Reed and senior associate Geoff Kerrigan led the HSF team on the joint-venture arrangements. Partner Andrew McLean with senior associate Owen Alcorn and solicitor Rachael Le Tessier led the project financing of Greenough River Solar Farm. Partner Dan Zador and senior associates Michael D’Agostino and Maja La Rosa led on the construction and offtake arrangements.
Zador said that the deal “capitalised on the market momentum from renewable energy development in the National Electricity Market, but was also tailored to the unique characteristics of the SWIS.”
Macquarie Capital was the financial adviser to Synergy. Deloitte acted on tax and accounting matters for the utility. Ironstone Capital was the financial adviser to DIF. Tetris Capital provided financial advice to Cbus.
