Global Norton Rose Fulbright team advises Société Générale on €520 million green financing of Wind Turbine Installation Vessels

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Société Générale as Mandated Lead Arranger and Agent, along with a syndicate of banks, in relation to two Green Loan Facilities for Cadeler A/S (Cadeler) totalling approximately €520 million for the financing of two state-of-the-art newbuild Wind Turbine Installation Vessels under construction in the Republic of Korea.

The syndicate of banks also included Crédit Agricole CIB, CIC New York and Korea Development Bank.

Cadeler is a global offshore wind farm construction, maintenance, and installation company, based in Denmark and listed on the Olso and New York Stock Exchange.

The facilities were partly ECA-backed by Export Finance Norway (Eksfin) and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) and included a direct loan from Korea Eximbank (KEXIM). Both facilities were sustainability-linked and included approximately €100 million of ancillary guarantee facilities to assist Cadeler with the vessels’ operational activities.

This deal represents the third successful green financing for Cadeler that Norton Rose Fulbright has advised on within the last twelve months, following the firm’s work advising the mandated lead arranger, co-ordinator and bookrunner, and related bank syndicates on a €1.1 billion green financings package and its advice on delivering the financing of a €50 million unsecured green loan facility received by Cadeler.

The Norton Rose Fulbright global asset finance team advising on this deal was led by the firm’s Co-Head of Asset Finance Yianni Cheilas with support from senior associates Nicholas Papadopoulos and Alexis Remoundos and associate Jennifer Carr. The team was also supported by finance partner Neha Khosla, counsel James Tong and associate Jack Zheng on related finance aspects. New York-based Partner Brian Devine advised on Marshall Islands law matters.

Yianni Cheilas said:

“The continued growth of green and sustainability-linked loans for offshore projects of this scale supported by a diverse range of export credit agencies is a positive trend for international energy transition ambitions and we were delighted to advise our clients on this signification transaction.”

Norton Rose Fulbright provides the full range of legal services to the global shipping and offshore industry, including banks, lessors, brokers, owners and operators worldwide. Its lawyers advise on all aspects of shipping and offshore transactions, including complex finance and leasing deals, mergers and acquisitions, ship sales and acquisitions, charter transactions and other commercial shipping matters.