Our Corporate Energy team has advised Brockwell Energy Limited (Brockwell) on the sale of Westfield Energy Recovery Limited (WERL) to Equitix, a global investor, developer and long-term fund manager of core infrastructure assets.
WERL is the owner of the Westfield Energy Recovery Facility, an Energy-from-Waste (EfW) plant in Fife, Scotland, currently under construction with Swiss-based EPC contractor Hitachi Zosen Inova. The Westfield EfW will process around 240,000 tonnes of non-recyclable residual waste per year diverting this from landfill and generating over 23MW of baseload, low carbon electricity. Located on the former Westfield surface coal mine, currently being redeveloped for industrial and commercial use by Hargreaves Land Limited (Hargreaves), the property arm of Hargreaves Services plc, WERL is Westfield's cornerstone development.
Following the sale, Brockwell will be working with Equitix under a long-term management services agreement to manage the construction of WERL through commissioning into the operations stage of the plant. It will also collaborate with Hargreaves to identify and attract new tenants to the wider site, with the availability of below-market rates for heat and power to be delivered by WERL through energy recovered by the Westfield EfW plant.
Corporate Partner and Energy Sector Co-Leader Gareth Baker led the deal, alongside a team comprised of Senior Associate Roisin Bergin, Associates Laura Barron and Emily Chittick, and Legal Apprentice Maya Thompson (all Corporate), Tom Rank (Tax), Nath Curtis (Project Finance) and Sam Beighton (Antitrust).
Paul Newman, Commercial Director of Brockwell Energy who led on the deal for Brockwell, commented: "We are delighted to complete this transaction and place WERL in the very reputable hands of Equitix. The sale reflects the high quality and value of the project developed by Brockwell Energy. It was great to work with the Gowling WLG team again and we appreciate their responsive and committed support."
Gowling WLG's multi-disciplinary Energy team has a market-leading reputation, operating seamlessly around the globe. This latest transaction follows a series of mandates for longstanding client Brockwell. This includes the sale of the Broken Cross and Dalquhandy onshore wind farm developments to BayWa, and the extraction (from Hargreaves) and creation of Brockwell Energy.