Beccar Varela instructed on wind energy project finance led by Total Eren

Beccar Varela advised Vientos Los Hércules, a wind farm project in Argentina, on obtaining a $167 million loan from international banks.

Vientos Los Hércules was awarded a power purchase agreement under the Argentine official RenovAr Program, an initiative by the country’s government to foster the use of renewable energy sources.

The wind farm is a project by Total Eren, a renewable energy joint venture between French multinational Total and Eren RE. The company will use proceeds from the loan to build the wind farm in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, with a nominal capacity of 97,2 MW. Turbines will be supplied by Senvion.

Bnaks KfW IPEX and DEG arranged the financing with the features and guarantees of a non-recourse project finance, combining two credit lines: a 16-year loan as an export credit facility granted by KfW IPEX-Bank and guaranteed by Euler Hermes and a 15-year parallel credit facility provided by the German development bank DEG and the Dutch development bank FMO.

KfW IPEX Bank acted as administrative agent and offshore collateral agent, while Citibank was the trustee and local collateral agent.

The international banks instructed a team at Bruchou, Fernández Madero & Lombardi led by partner José María Bazán for local counsel in Argentina. In addition, Watson Farley & Williams in Germany advised the banks under German law, with partner Stefan Kilgus at the helm. Citibank retained lawyers at Tanoira Cassagne Abogados led by partner Alexia Rosenthal.

Beccar Varela advised Los Hercules and Total Eren, with partners Roberto A. Fortunati and Santiago Montezanti fronting the team.

CMS advised the borrowers under German law, with partner Marc Riede on a lead role.