Everoze advises ING on the first wind farm in Var (83) French department

Published September 2019

Everoze was delighted to advise ING Wholesale Banking on the technical side for the debt financing of the 48.4MW French onshore Maestral wind farm. The wind farm was developed by Eco Delta, is the biggest in Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region and the first to be installed in the Var department. Eco Delta was supported by M&A and financial advisor Envinergy for the coordination of that financing process. The project consists of 22 Vestas turbines of 2.2MW each and will be connected to the 225kV transportation network through Eco Delta private substation.

Everoze’s scope of work included full energy yield assessment alongside a technical review of consenting issues, land rights, grid, tariff, technology and design, structural and environmental suitability, construction and operation contracts, construction program and financial model inputs. Everoze employed its industry leading Due Diligence on Demand process, ensuring a robust risk assessment, smooth communication and continuous identification of open or risk items. Through the process, efficient mitigation measures were discussed and agreed between the parties, allowing the technical risk profile of the project to reach an acceptable level.

Olaf Beyme, Head of Renewables & Power Germany at ING indicates: “It has been a pleasure to work with Arnaud and his team at Everoze. Their service-orientation, responsiveness and in-depth industry knowledge was crucial for the success of this transaction.”

Andrea Jouven, CEO of Eco Delta adds: “We are particularly happy to have been able to work with Everoze’s team as technical advisor for the project financing of Maestral. Their speed of action, their expertise and their professionalism allowed us to achieve this transaction in time.”

Eric Reisse, Partner at Envinergy : “Our role was to advise Eco-delta on the implementation of junior and senior loans and to select the lender. As part of this, Envinergy also advised Eco-delta on the selection of the lender’s technical advisor. Everoze brought its professionalism and solution-centric approach to the lender throughout the process.”

While the project closing occurred in August 2019, project commissioning is scheduled for September 2020. During this period, Everoze will support the lender with construction monitoring work including desktop review, site visits and wind turbine inspections at take-over. Everoze’s work has been led by French partner Arnaud Thomé supported by a broader project team including Maud Vachon, Alexander Klein and Brieuc Pey. For more details, ING project financing press release is available here.

ING, teaming up with French-based transaction advisor Envinergy, will also support Eco Delta with the later sale of the wind farm.