Secondary market trading of assets in the UK renewable space is increasing, and Watson Farley & Williams recenty advised L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund on its acquisition of a 10% stake in the 714-megawatt East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm.

The fund is a joint partnership between NTR and Legal & General Investment Management, one of Europe’s largest asset managers. One of the fund's investors is the Development Bank of Japan.

The stake was acquired from Macquarie Asset Management, which continues to hold a 10% stake in the project.

The transaction was completed by NTR, a leading renewable energy specialist, on behalf of the fund. The Luxembourg-based fund invests in clean power infrastructure assets across wind, solar and energy storage, putting private capital to work to help drive Europe’s decarbonization and energy security agenda.

In April 2023 Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) and NTR raised €390 million (US$423.89 million) in committed capital and co-investment opportunity at the first close of the fund. It is classified as an Article 9 (or dark green) fund under the European Union’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.

The fund is designed for institutional investors with a focus on pension funds, insurers and endowments. At first close, the fund raised commitments from a range of sources, including European asset managers, Japanese institutional investors and the NatWest Group Retirement Savings Plan, which utilized LGIM’s life company platform to gain exposure to the fund. This is in addition to €50 million of co-investment from Legal & General.

Located 43 kilometres off the Suffolk coast in the North Sea, East Anglia ONE has 102 Siemens Gamesa turbines, all fully operational and with the capacity to produce 714MW. Its main sponsor is Scottish Power Renewables.