Watson Farley & Williams LLP (“WFW“) has advised Commerz Real AG (“Commerz Real”) on a further German wind farm portfolio acquisition via its “CR Institutional Renewable Energies” closed-end special fund launched in autumn 2016.
Located in Germany’s Brandenburg region, the portfolio has a total installed capacity of 24 MW, comprising the three turbine Wustermark I and four turbine Schenkendöbern I wind farms. Both wind farms started operating in 2016.
Commerz Real is a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second largest bank with €31bn assets under management. As an asset manager for tangible assets, Commerz Real focusses on investment products in the real estate, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors.
The seller, UKA Umweltgerechte Kraftanlagen (“UKA”), is a leading German wind farm developer based in Meißen in the Free State of Saxony and will continue to provide the wind farms’ technical management.
For Commerz Real, this is their second successful wind farm transaction with UKA Group following their acquisition of the Duben-Süd and Karche II projects in 2017. WFW also advised Commerz Real on this transaction.
The WFW Hamburg team advising Commerz Real was led by Corporate Partner and Germany Practice Head Dr Marcus Bechtel and Tax Partner Verena Scheibe. They were supported by Partners Dr Christine Bader (Regulatory), Eckrolf Berg (Real Estate), Dr Malte Jordan and Stefan Hoffmann (Corporate/Energy). Managing Associates Nicolaj Faigle (Tax) and Malte Koch (Corporate/Energy), Senior Associate Ursula Staab (Corporate/Energy), Associates Sandra Figgen, Christian R. Schindler (both Corporate/Energy), Eva-Maria Christiansen and Christine Uwase (both Regulatory) as well as Transaction Lawyer Cathrin Gelhaus (Real Estate) also assisted.
Marcus commented: “We are very pleased to have advised Commerz Real on another acquisition in the German wind sector. This mandate demonstrates the excellent reputation of our practice regarding the implementation of energy projects in Germany, as well as our close and professional cooperation with the Commerz Real Team”.