Norton Rose acted for Hydro Tasmania on the deal, which involved its sell down of a 75 per cent ownership interest in the Woolnorth Studland Bay and Woolnorth Bluff Point Wind Farms, located in north-west Tasmania, to Shenhua Clean Energy Holdings (SCEH).

The Norton Rose Australia team, based in Melbourne, was led by partner, Richard Lewis, together with partner Robert Sultan, special counsel Vivi Renner and Associate Chris Mitchell. The financing side of the transaction was led by partners, Gillad Dalal and Andrew Bretherton, together with Adele Gray, Senior Associate.

SCEH is 75 per cent owned by Chinese renewable energy investment company, Guohua Energy Investment Corporation (GEIC), and 25 per cent owned by GEIC’s Hong Kong sister company, Shenhua Hong Kong Limited.

Mallesons advised Guihua energy Investment Corporation and Shenhua Clean Energy Holdings.

The transaction was conducted by Hydro Tasmania as a competitive trade sale, with the core transaction document signed in December. Equity and financial completion took place in February this year.

The transaction included restructuring and refinancing of the wind farms' existing syndicated debt facilities, Norton Rose said.

Representatives of Hydro Tasmania and GEIC attended a completion ceremony in Beijing last month, at which they executed the shareholder agreement that will govern their ongoing joint venture relationship.

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Norton Rose partner Lewis said: “In what many people perceive as a difficult economic climate, Hydro Tasmania has achieved an outstanding result both in relation to its sell down of its 75 per cent interest in the Woolnorth wind farms, and in the refinancing outcome.”

He said both the sale process and the refinancing were achieved within tight timeframes and required coordinated effort between the lawyers, Hydro Tasmania, ANZ Project Advisory and Deloitte.