Herbert Smith Freehills advises WestWind on equity sell down and joint venture with Shell

Herbert Smith Freehills has acted for WestWind Energy on the sale of a 49% interest in its development business (other than the Golden Plains Wind Farm) to Shell, creating a strategic joint venture between the parties for the potential development of a pipeline of approximately 3 gigawatts of future Australian renewable energy projects.

WestWind is an established wind farm developer in Australia responsible for the development of Mt Mercer, Lal Lal, Moorabool and Golden Plains wind farms. Partnering with Shell will facilitate the acceleration of the development of WestWest Energy’s existing pipeline projects and its pursuit of new development opportunities. The transaction marks a further and significant investment by Shell in the Australian renewable energy industry and its first move into Australian wind power.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partner Neena Aynsley and supported by senior associate Madeleine Miller and solicitor Teresa Sun, with project financing support from partner Gerard Pike.

Neena Aynsley said, “We are so pleased to support WestWind on the establishment of this important and strategic joint venture for the WestWind business. The energy market is nothing if not increasingly dynamic and it is a pleasure to work with such a lovely team on a transaction that is part of our transition to a lower-carbon power generation future.”

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading transactional work in the Australian energy and renewables sector. Other examples include advising:

• OMERS Infrastructure on its acquisition of a 49% interest in the Fotowatio Renewable Ventures Australian renewables business
• RES Australia on the development, project financing and sale of the Dulacca wind farm project
• AGL Energy and the financiers on Powering Australian Renewables Fund’s’ NZ$3.07 billion acquisition of Tilt Renewables
• TasNetworks on development of the Marinus Link electricity interconnector
• The NSW Government on the introduction of renewable energy zones and implementation of the NSW Energy Roadmap