Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises BlackRock's Climate Finance Partnership on acquisition of stake in largest operational wind project in Africa

Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised BlackRock's Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) on its investment into the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project in Kenya, the largest operational wind project on the African continent. This is also CFP's first deal in Africa.

Clifford Chance supported BlackRock on all aspects of its acquisition of a stake in Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited, the 310 MWe wind project located at Marsabit, Kenya. This involved the conclusion of transactions with Vestas Eastern Africa Limited, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd. (Finnfund), and the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU).

The multidisciplinary team comprised a core team of partner Nicholas Hughes, director Daniel Mutisya, senior associate Anthony Santangeli, and associate Dominic Behar. The wider team included Construction, Antitrust and other specialists.

The project benefits from some of the world's best onshore wind speeds and is both a nationally and regionally significant project. It typically supplies over 15 percent of Kenya’s electricity through the state-owned Kenya Power grid. The project benefits from a 428km transmission line, delivering power from the site near Lake Turkana to centres of demand.

The Climate Finance Partnership is a flagship public-private finance vehicle managed by BlackRock seeking to accelerate the flow of capital into climate-related investments in emerging markets across Africa, APAC and LatAm.

The transaction showcases the firm's strength in advising Private Capital clients on their market-leading Energy Transition investments in Africa, and other emerging markets, with recent transactions including BlackRock's CFP on its investment in Ditrolic Energy to develop solar assets in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines.