Banco Santander sells Taralga wind farm

Inversiones Capital Global SA (ICG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander SA, has sold a 90% stake in the 106.8MW Taralga Wind Farm, in Australia, to State Power Investment Corporation of China (SPIC).

Herbert Smith Freehills, IGWT Advisory​ and ANZ Banking Group have advised Banco Santander SA on the deal. SPIC was also the recent purchaser of the Pacific Hydro business, on which Herbert Smith Freehills acted for the vendor, IFM Investors.

SPIC was advised by the SILC Group, ING and King & Wood Mallesons.

The sale of the Taralga Wind Farm follows a competitive trade sale process and caps ICG’s involvement in the Taralga project from its initial development. Herbert Smith Freehills has been involved in all stages of the project, including its construction, offtake arrangements and project financing.

David Ryan commented:

‘We are very pleased to help ICG complete its involvement with the Taralga project and exit in accordance with its stated business model. The Taralga project demonstrates the full service capabilities of Herbert Smith Freehills in the renewable energy sector, covering project development & construction, project financing and structuring & sell-down. It has been a real pleasure working with the ICG team during development of the Taralga project and the course of this transaction.”

Banco Santander hoped to fetch between A$250 million and A$300 million. BlueNRGY LLC owns the remaining 10% stake

The Taralga wind farm is located near New South Wales state’s city of Goulburn. It has a 10-year power purchase agreement to supply EnergyAustralia. The facilities comprises 51 wind turbines, production of electricity began in December last year.

The total project investment was $280 million. It was financed by Santander, CBD Energy, Danish export credit agency EKF, ANZ and the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

In December last year Santander achieved a $2 billion deal with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board in Canada to transfer its portfolio of renewable energy, but the Taralga wind park was excluded from the portfolio because of the clean energy sector crisis in Australia.