DLA Piper advises BASF on partnership with Vattenfall in offshore wind farm sector

DLA Piper has advised BASF on a partnership with Vattenfall in respect of an offshore wind farm project. BASF and Vattenfall will jointly participate in the tender process for the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) offshore wind farm. The HKW wind farm zone is located approximately 53 kilometers off the west coast of the Netherlands. The full area is auctioned in two separate tenders (Site VI and Site VII). For site VI, BASF will enter into a partnership with Vattenfall. Each of the two sites will accommodate 700 megawatts of offshore wind power capacity.

Vattenfall and BASF are long-standing partners and have more than 15 years of common history of successful cooperation in the power sector. Together, Vattenfall and BASF are currently building Hollandse Kust Zuid (HKZ), the world’s first subsidy-free offshore wind farm in the Dutch North Sea. Within the HKZ project, BASF was already advised by a DLA Piper team led by partners Dr Benjamin Parameswaran (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Michael Cieslarczyk (Energy Law, Cologne) on both the acquisition of 49.5% of the shares in the wind farm from Vattenfall and also on the subsequent sale of 25.2% to Allianz Capital Partners.

BASF aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by the year 2030 and has net-zero emissions as a target from 2050. As part of its transformation towards climate neutrality, BASF is investing in renewable power generation facilities. Offshore wind farms can provide BASF with long term renewable power and so can also providethe capacities needed for this transformation. By 2030, the company projects that 100% of its 2021 global power demand will be obtained from renewable sources.

The international DLA Piper team for this transaction was jointly led by partners Dr Benjamin Parameswaran (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and Michael Cieslarczyk (Energy Law, Cologne). The core team also included counsels Dr Philipp Clemens and Cristina Helena Villafrade (both Corporate/M&A, Hamburg), as well as senior associate Christopher Ollech (Energy Law, Cologne). In Germany, partner Semin O, counsel Sergej Bräuer (both Antitrust, Frankfurt), senior associate Friederike Rickers (Corporate/M&A, Hamburg) and associate Elisabeth Spiecker (Energy, Cologne) were also involved.

Additionally, numerous lawyers from the DLA Piper office in the Netherlands, including partners Richard Fens (Corporate), Jean Paul Dresen (Tax) and legal director Arjen de Snoo (Lit&Reg, all Amsterdam) were involved.

The in-house legal team at BASF for this transaction was led by Dr Stefan Rothweiler (Director Legal Corporate). Furthermore, Dr Holger Pattberg was responsible for Finance, Stephan Purps for Antitrust Law and Dr Britta Welke for Energy Law.