The law firm, Watson, Farley & Williams, has announced that it has advised HSH Nordbank AG on the €212.7 million financing of the construction, development and operation of 12 solar power plants in France with a total output capability of 94.78 MW.Set up between June 2012 and May 2013, the financial structuring concerns:

• Solstice: €80.2m  for 7 solar power projects in the Provence-Alpes-Côtes d'Azur and Saône et Loire regions with a total output capacity of 50MW developed by Solairedirect and sponsored by the BlackRock investment fund;
• Ortaffa: €50.9m for 3 solar power projects in the Languedoc-Roussillon region with a total output capacity of 24.9 MW developed by the French subsidiary of a German group;
• The Parc des expositions de Bordeaux: €48.5m for a new solar shelter plant built on the car park of the Parc des expositions de Bordeaux by EDF EN France and with a total output capacity of 12 MW;
• Soptrans:  €33m for a new solar power plant in Le Boulou in the Pyrénées Orientales region on the site of Soptrans, a subsidiary of Geodis STVA, developed by EDF EN France and with a total output capacity of 7.87 MW.

The Watson, Farley & Williams team worked across its Paris and Hamburg offices and was led by finance partners Laurence Martinez-Bellet (WFW Paris) and Thomas Hollenhorst, (WFW Hamburg) who advised on the German law aspects.

They were supported by senior associate Alexia Russell and associate Thomas Lugez (both WFW Paris), and senior associate Alexander Wojtek (WFW Hamburg) on the finance aspects.

Senior associate Laurent Battoue and associates Julien Barba and Florent Segalen (all WFW Paris) advised on the regulatory and real estate issues.

The corporate aspects were handled by partner Vincent Trevisani and associate Clémence Halpern while partner Romain Girtanner and associates Cynthia Gozan and Margot Wilhelm (all WFW Paris) advised on the tax issues.

Source: WFW