Croatia: Schoenherr advises Mirova and RP Global on sale and refinancing of onshore wind farms in Croatia

Before the closing of this transaction, Privredna Banka Zagreb d.d., a member of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, refinanced loans provided by the IFC and UniCredit. Schoenherr acted as lead counsel to Mirova and RP Global on both the sale and refinancing transactions.

Mirova has been committed to the energy transition and local renewable energy production for 20 years. Danilo and Rudine, which are among the largest wind farms in Croatia, were Mirova's first investments in the country, where the electricity mix is composed of 40 % fossil fuels (mainly oil and gas). Since their commissioning in 2014 and 2016, the Danilo and Rudine wind farms have produced on average more than 165 GWh of green electricity each year, saving the equivalent of more than 25,000 tons of CO2 per year and providing electricity to more than 40,000 people in Croatia.

RP Global, a leading renewable energy developer and investor, which initially developed and built Danilo and Rudine, is currently developing a greenfield pipeline of some 350 MW of wind and solar projects in Croatia, making this country one of RP Global's important markets in the region. This pipeline will be the basis for future long-term partnerships with best-in-class investors such as Professio Energia and Mirova. In addition, RP Global’s Croatian team will continue to provide operation and maintenance services for the wind farms under a service agreement with Professio Energia.

Professio Energia is the first Croatian public listed (Zagreb Stock Exchange) pure play renewables company owned by some of the largest Croatian institutional investors: Erste pension fund, PBZ CO pension fund and Croatia osiguranje Plc. Including Danilo and Rudine, assets owned by Professio Energia produce more than 300 GWh of green electricity each year.

The Schoenherr team advising on this transaction included Luka Lopičić, Ivan Einwalter, Krešimira Krušlin, Ozren Kobsa, Petra Šantić, Ksenija Šourek and Alan Vučkovečki.

Professio Energia was advised by Kovačević Prpić Simeunović, Privredna Banka Zagreb by CMS, and IFC and UniCredit by White & Case and Ostermann & Partners.