Linklaters advises Ørsted on its divestment of 50% of Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm

Linklaters has advised global leader in offshore wind power, Ørsted, on its divestment of a 50% stake in its 1.3 GW Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm to a consortium comprising AXA IM Alts and Crédit Agricole Assurances. AXA IM Alts and Crédit Agricole Assurances will then each own 25% of the project. The investors’ 50% stake in Hornsea 2 will be funded through a combination of equity and a senior multi-tranche staple financing package provided by 30 banks and including a covered tranche guaranteed by EKF, Denmark’s export credit agency. The financing package was originated and structured by Ørsted.

The Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm, which is located 100km off the Yorkshire coast, became operational in August 2022 and is currently the world’s largest offshore wind farm in operation. It can generate enough electricity to power about 1.3 million homes or a city the size of Manchester and is a key project supporting the UK government’s objective of achieving 40GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030.

Ørsted will provide long-term operations and maintenance services to the wind farm as well as providing balancing services and a long-term route to market for the renewable electricity generated from the Hornsea 2 Offshore Wind Farm.

Linklaters’ cross-practice team was led by partners Richard Ginks and Maryam Adamji and by managing associates Albert Yu and Alistair Fraser. Key team members included partners Michael Honan, Elisabeth Johnson and Natura Gracia, managing associates Asha Joy, Madeline Armitage, Mark Daniel, Lucinda Richmond-Wigg and Eduardo Barrachina and associates Dan Hilbert, Neel Trivedi and Hadiah Amirullah.

Linklaters has market-leading expertise across geographies and sectors to advise clients on the full spectrum of climate and sustainability-related mandates – from wind and solar, to hydrogen, batteries and storage, green and sustainability-linked finance.