Hogan Lovells advises CEE Group on up to €1.6bn refinancing and repowering for Germany’s largest repowering fund

Hogan Lovells represented asset manager CEE Group on the refinancing and repowering financing for CEE RF9, with financial advisory support provided to CEE Group by Eight Advisory. The transaction refinances existing legacy loans and provides construction and long-term facilities to fund the comprehensive repowering of a portfolio of 29 photovoltaic and onshore wind sites in Germany and France. A consortium of international banks has committed a financing structure of up to €1.6 billion for CEE RF9 — described as Germany’s largest repowering fund. For the first time at this scale, the investment fund financing has been consolidated at portfolio level without requiring additional equity commitments from the fund’s investors. The repowering programme will replace outdated wind turbines and PV modules with next-generation systems to secure at least another 20 years of operation and to almost triple electricity production. The portfolio’s installed capacity is expected to increase from approximately 457 MWp to up to 1.1 GWp, enhancing both environmental performance and long-term profitability. The comprehensive facilities agreement structured and negotiated in the transaction includes a refinancing facility to replace legacy debt, a construction bridge facility to fund repowering works, a debt service reserve facility to ensure liquidity, an LC facility to provide contractual guarantees, a VAT facility to cover value-added tax requirements, and uncommitted accordion options totalling EUR 560 million to provide additional capacity if required. The lending consortium includes CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce), KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, ING Bank (branch of ING DiBa AG), Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) Frankfurt Branch, SMBC Bank EU AG and UniCredit Bank GmbH. Hogan Lovells represented CEE Group with a team composed by: Dr. Carla Luh (Partner, Head of the German Finance practice, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Dr. Alexander Wandt (Counsel, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Julian Schulz (Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Fotios Erifopoulos (Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Gordon Liedel (Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Dr. Maximilian Frystatzki (Senior Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Stipe Bojanic (Counsel, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Kathy Chang (Senior Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Edris Zewari (Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany), Dr. Marzieh Rad (Associate, Infrastructure Finance, Germany); Ariane Mehrshahi (Partner, Finance, Luxembourg), Agnes Merz (Senior Associate, Finance, Luxembourg), Carla Valdés Cortés (Senior Associate, Finance, Luxembourg), Eszter Voros (Associate, Finance, Luxembourg); Romain Marchand (Partner, Finance, Paris), Margot Derumaux (Senior Associate, Finance, Paris), Noémie Lisbonis Boyer (Senior Associate, Finance, Paris), Alexia Legrand (Associate, Finance, Paris), Astrid Layrisse (Senior Associate, Finance, Paris), Camille Jaillant (Associate, Finance, Paris), Jeangély Ampion-Liyono (Associate, Finance, Paris), Josette Mokuba Iklawa (Associate, Finance, Paris); Dr. Tim Heitling (Partner, Due Diligence, Berlin), Dr. Daniel Neudecker (Counsel, Due Diligence, Berlin), Nurelia Kather (Senior Associate, Due Diligence, Berlin), Camillo Gaul (Associate, Due Diligence, Berlin); Sebastian Oebels (Counsel, Hedging, Frankfurt). Eight Advisory represented CEE Group with a team composed by: Thomas Gummert (Partner), Mathias Köhler, Marco Goretzka, Tristan Lizardo Schwarze (Financial Advisory).

Hogan Lovells advises CEE Group on up to €1.6bn refinancing and repowering for Germany’s largest repowering fund

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