Baker McKenzie has successfully acted for Shell Australia with its acquisition and joint venture with WestWind Energy, a greenfield wind energy developer in Australia. This is Shell Australia's first investment in wind energy.
Baker McKenzie's lead partner on the transaction, Raymond Lou stated: "The acquisition of 49% of WestWind complements Shell’s earlier investment in Australian solar developer, ESCO Pacific, as a key part of Shell’s strategy to build a diversified and integrated portfolio of low-carbon generation assets. We are delighted to have assisted Shell on this strategic acquisition."
Lance Sacks, a senior M&A partner who leads the Shell Australia team in Baker McKenzie, also stated: "This is the second major M&A transaction that our Australian team has worked on with Shell in FY22 having recently assisted Shell on the acquisition of PowerShop, and represents a major commitment by Shell to renewable power and the energy transition in Australia."
WestWind has permitted approximately 2 GW of wind projects and aims to progress a further 3 GW of renewable capacity in the coming years.
The deal was led by Raymond Lou, Lance Sacks and Eric Li in Sydney, with assistance from the broader Projects team including Aylin Cunsolo, Tanya Denning, Sarah Merrett, Rachel McNally, Gillian Woon, Sinan Alnajjar, Brett Walker, Macy Jong and others.
The Shell Legal team was led by Trent Simon.