Investment firm acquires onshore wind turbines

Clean energy investor Blackfinch Investments and Santander have completed the acquisition and project funding for two additional onshore wind turbines near Hull.

The turbines, each with a 500kW generation capacity, were acquired through Blackfinch’s renewable energy investment entity, Sedgwick Trading.

The deal forms part of Blackfinch’s growth plans in the UK and continued investment in operational wind assets, this being Sedgwick’s third wind project acquisition in the past year.

TLT Solicitors have also worked on the deal, handling all legal aspects of the corporate acquisition and the provision of debt funding by Santander. The team also prepared and negotiated the agreements for the supply of electricity by private wire from one of the wind turbines, including associated grid sharing arrangements.

Katie Bagshaw, director, infrastructure and renewable energy at Santander, said: “We are excited to work with TLT again and support Blackfinch with the further expansion of its clean energy portfolio in the UK. The continued growth of this portfolio and the performance of the sites to date demonstrate that this is a buoyant market, and we are looking forward to realising further opportunities to support the growing clean energy market next year.”

Gary Roscoe, banking partner at TLT, added: “This deal is a further example of the continued buoyancy we are seeing in the M&A and debt finance markets for renewable projects given their long-term, stable returns and clean energy credentials.

“We are delighted to have worked with Blackfinch and Santander once again to complete this deal and ensure that this project continues to deliver operationally and strategically for them.”

The TLT team included Maral Nafar and Gary Roscoe (banking), Nick Rains (corporate), Matthew Grimwood (real estate) Nick Pincott (projects, infrastructure and construction) and Stuart Urquhart (commercial).

Guy Lavarack, investment director at Blackfinch Investments, said: “This is the seventh deal we have worked on with Santander and TLT – the approach works really well and is helping us to achieve our growth ambitions in the UK.

“The TLT team has worked really hard over the last few weeks to help us achieve this success, project managing everything so diligently and with great patience and stamina. We are grateful as ever for their sound advice and for coming up with the best solutions for our business.”