Baker McKenzie today announced it had advised the WIRCON Group on the sale of its renewable energy business in Australia (WIRSOL Energy) to Gentari, Malaysia’s state-owned renewable energy company and subsidiary of the PETRONAS Group.
The deal is one of the largest renewable M&A transactions undertaken in Australia and involves 422 megawatts (MW) of operating projects, and an additional 765 MW development pipeline, with projects across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.
The lead partner on the transaction, Raymond Lou, has assisted WIRSOL Energy since its inception in Australia, helping them to acquire the initial assets in 2017, and then advising them on the development, construction and operation of the projects, leading into the sale.
Raymond Lou commented: “Baker McKenzie is delighted to have assisted the WIRCON Group on its journey building a significant renewables portfolio of high-quality assets in Australia. WIRCON is one of the first investors in utility-scale solar projects and has made a major contribution to our energy infrastructure. The transaction will give the new owner Gentari an established team and platform to continue to develop the portfolio to meet the country’s energy demands as we transition away from fossil fuel.”
The Baker McKenzie team was led by partners Raymond Lou, Aylin Cunsolo and Lucas Tyszkiewicz, with support from the major projects team across Australia including Laura Matson, Macy Jong, Aimi Tran, Daniel Ravikovitch, Sarah Merrett (land), Ruth Dawes (environment), Samuel Allam (environment), Rachel McNally (energy) Odette Adams (energy), Josh Saunders (construction) and Charlie Detmold (finance).
Baker McKenzie worked alongside Azure Capital as financial adviser on the transaction.