Linklaters has advised the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and 16 commercial banks, as lenders, on all aspects of the financing of the Iles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier offshore wind farm.

The project involves the construction and installation of a wind farm located 11 km off the island of Yeu and 16 km off the island of Noirmoutier. Upon its commissioning, scheduled in the second half of 2025, it will generate the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of nearly 800,000 people, covering the Vendée French department’s population.

The project is developed by Ocean Winds (a 50-50 joint venture owned by ENGIE and EDP Renewables), Sumitomo Corporation, Banque des Territoires and Vendée Energie, all shareholders of the company Eoliennes en Mer des îles d’Yeu et de Noirmoutier (EMYN).

The Iles d’Yeu and Noirmoutier wind farm is an investment of approximately €2.5 billion. It will mainly be financed by non-recourse debt, made available by JBIC and a syndicate of 16 commercial lenders. Upon completion, the electricity generated by the project will be sold to Électricité de France (EDF) for 20 years.

This is the fourth offshore wind farm project after Courseulles-sur-Mer, Fécamp and Saint-Nazaire on which Linklaters also acted as lenders’ counsel.

François April, Head of Linklaters’ Renewables team in Paris, comments:

“We are extremely pleased to have been able to support the sponsors and the lenders on this ground breaking transaction involving multi-sourced financing in a fast changing market. Congratulations to the sponsors and our clients, JBIC and the commercial lenders, for getting this transaction over the line.”

John Maxwell, Head of Linklaters’ Asia Energy and Infrastructure team, also comments:  

“We would particularly like to congratulate our long-standing client, JBIC, on their first offshore wind financing in France.  This follows our earlier involvement on both of their UK offshore wind financings, and is further evidence of JBIC’s increasing global importance as a provider of finance for complex, large-scale offshore wind financings.”

The Linklaters Paris team advising all lenders was led by Energy and Infrastructure partner François April, and included partner Pierre Guillot, counsel Samuel Bordeleau, managing associates Noémie Lisbonis Boyer, Pauline Portos and Arani Chakrabarty, associates Sandra Hoballah Campus, Youssef Berrada, Hennie Lui, Raphaël Papon, trainees Noufissa Bennis Nechba, Orphée Janaud and Alexandre Mouchès as well as Tax partner Cyril Boussion, associates Lucille Cazala and Philippe Ludwig, and Antitrust and Foreign Investment counsel Nicolas Zacharie. The team in charge of hedging aspects consisted of Capital Markets counsel Rhian Roberts, associates Samuel Monteith, Megan Gosling and Zan Chua, trainees Luke Wilson and Stephen Bhasera, in London. Energy and Infrastructure partner John Maxwell, senior associates Charlie Bown and Mamoru Ikeda, and associate Nana Shiori, in Tokyo, worked on the Japanese aspects of the transaction, and Banking associate Francisco Ruiz in Madrid, and Capital Markets/Banking associate Mehmet Aktas, in Luxembourg, respectively worked on aspects of Spanish and Luxembourg law.