DGAP-News

Project financing completed - Veja Mate offshore wind farm to start construction

DGAP-News: Veja Mate / Key word(s): Mergers & Acquisitions/Financing
Project financing completed - Veja Mate offshore wind farm to start
construction

30.06.2015 / 07:45

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Hamburg, 30 June 2015 -Highland Group Holdings Ltd. [HGHL], Siemens
Financial Services and Copenhagen Infrastructure II, a fund managed by
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners are pleased to announce that they
arranged the successful financing of the 400 MW Veja Mate offshore wind
farm project, for a total project investment of EUR 1.9 billion.

The Veja Mate offshore wind farm will operate 95 km North West from the
island of Borkum and will be connected to the power grid via the existing
BorWin 2 offshore sub-station managed by TenneT, the grid operator. With a
production of roughly 1.6 TWh per year, the offshore wind farm will be
amongst the largest in the world, meeting the annual electricity needs of
approximately one million people.

The project, which was acquired in September 2014 by investment firm
Highland Group Holdings Ltd, is now owned by a consortium including
Highland, Copenhagen Infrastructure II, a fund managed by Copenhagen
Infrastructure Partners, and Siemens Financial Services. The three parties
will contribute the total equity requirements of the project, in the form
of share capital and mezzanine loans.

A "non-recourse" financing in an amount of EUR 1,275 million, the largest
of its kind in Germany to date, was signed with a consortium of 8 financial
institutions, including the KfW programme for offshore wind, Danish export
credit agency Eksport Kredit Funden and 6 mandated lead arrangers:
Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, Natixis, Santander and SMBC. The
debt amount represents 67% of the investment budget and has a maturity of
12 years post-construction of the wind farm, matching the duration of the
elevated tariff the project is entitled to under the existing German law
for renewable energy.

"We are very pleased to see Veja Mate reach financial close less than a
year after its acquisition. This underlines the quality of the work done by
the project team and the strength of the German regulatory framework for
offshore wind. We are very pleased to have been joined by two highly
experienced parties in the sector and look forward to working with them to
ensure the project is built to highest standards," said Lord Laidlaw of
Rothiemay, owner of Highland Group Holdings Ltd.

Wolfgang Bischoff, Head of EMEA Energy Finance at Siemens Financial