Law firm Addleshaw Goddard has advised a syndicate of lenders on the project financing of the acquisition of the Walney Extension wind farm's transmission assets. The 659 MW Walney Extension offshore wind farm, located in the Irish Sea, is one of the world's largest operational offshore wind farms, generating clean electricity for nearly 600,000 homes.

AG has now successfully advised the lenders to Diamond Transmission Partners (DTP) on four OFTO projects in two years (Burbo Bank Extension, Race Bank, Galloper and Walney Extension), with the senior debt totalling over £1.3 billion across the four projects, adding to its unrivalled experience in the OFTO/renewable energy space.

The Walney Extension transaction was part of Tender Round 5 of Ofgem's OFTO programme, with a transfer value of £447 million. Walney Extension Limited, a joint venture owned by Ørsted and Danish pension funds, sold the transmission assets, comprising of onshore and offshore substations, and export cables, to DTP, a consortium comprising HICL Infrastructure, Chubu Electric Power Co. and Diamond Transmission Corporation - a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation.

Oliver Carruthers, Lead Partner on the transaction said:

"We have enjoyed building a winning partnership with DTP, its lenders and other advisers over the last few years and look forward to this continuing as offshore wind goes from strength to strength. Our market leading renewable energy practice is active in all sectors and we anticipate busy times ahead for our growing team as the green agenda plays an ever more significant role in many governments' plans."

The firm's Infrastructure, Projects and Energy practice was recently boosted by the arrival of Martin Stewart-Smith in London and Suzanne Moir in Edinburgh. The new hires form part of a clearly defined strategy to build on a strong UK base and develop internationally. AG's has added eight new partners in IPE in the past eighteen months including Alex Sarac and John Podgore in Dubai, Vivien Yang in Hong Kong and Ton van Den Bosch in Singapore.