The project is set to produce enough electricity to power over 60,000 homes and process more than 400,000 tonnes of waste
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Gilbert + Tobin (G+T) have pitched in on ACCIONA’s acquisition of the Kwinana Waste-to-Energy project in WA.
HSF guided a syndicate of international lenders on a sustainability-linked loan for the project’s acquisition, development, and operation. Meanwhile, G+T assisted ACCIONA.
The acquisition was finalised following an agreement with Macquarie Capital and Dutch Infrastructure Fund. Upon completion, the Kwinana project is set to generate 36MW of electricity, enough to supply power to up to 65,000 homes, and is anticipated to process over 400,000 tonnes of waste each year.
The syndicate advised by HSF included Banco de Sabadell, BBVA, CaixaBank, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Rabobank, and Royal Bank of Canada. The sustainability-linked loan covers sustainability targets for the ACCIONA group and connects the interest rate payable with circular economy targets at the plant.
The loan was launched as part of the ACCIONA Sustainable Impact Financing Framework and complies with the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles of the Loan Market Association. BBVA and Intesa Sanpaolo were the joint sustainability coordinators for the deal, while NAB served as the facility agent on behalf of the lenders.
"We are seeing increasing appetite from international financial institutions for exposure to sustainable conscious financings in the Australian market and this financing builds on that trend", HSF lead partner Gerard Pike said.
Pike received support from senior associate Matthew Selth and solicitors Sara Ejtemai, Maria Nomikoudis, and David Lim in Australia. Advice on Spanish law aspects of the transaction was provided by the firm’s Madrid team, led by partner Armando Garcia-Mendoza with support from associate Jose Maria Faz.
The G+T team, under the leadership of energy and infrastructure head Alexander Danne, helped ACCIONA to navigate the asset and restructuring aspects of the transaction. The team comprised restructuring and insolvency partners Peter Bowden and Anna Schwartz; energy and infrastructure partner Peter Doyle; special counsels Alexandra Whitby and Roy Groom; consultant Rohit Venkat; and lawyers Stephanie Rowan, Michal Magat, Adrienne Mallinson, Tom Gardner, Cameron Adair, Eugene Teo and Dylan Gaymer.
