Germany: NORD/LB Finances Offshore Wind Turbine Installation Vessel

NORD/LB Norddeutsche Landesbank is participating in the financing of an installation vessel for offshore wind energy farms. Commissioned by the international provider of construction-related services HOCHTIEF, the “VIDAR” is a jack-up vessel being built at the Crist shipyard in Poland and scheduled to go into service from 2013 onwards.

NORD/LB has co-structured the transaction within the framework of a club deal in which it is acting as paying agent. The bank is providing one third of the external financing volume in a transaction which serves to further expand NORD/LB’s activities in the sphere of renewable energies, having already been involved in the financing of the “Global Tech I” North Sea wind farm in 2011.

 “This project demonstrates the smooth intermeshing of NORD/LB’s competencies in the financing of energy projects and special-purpose ships,” commented Eckhard Forst, member of the NORD/LB Managing Board. “We have long years of experience in both sectors, so we are pleased to have been able to support this project with our know-how. We intend further expanding our involvement in this segment.”

NORD/LB is the leading universal bank in northern Germany, and its activities in the sphere of ship financing stretch back over 45 years. An overall financing volume of over EUR 18 billion to date puts the bank among the world’s foremost ship financiers. NORD/LB has been active in the renewable energies sector since the mid-1990s, and a financing volume of more than EUR 4 billion has positioned it among the world’s ten leading banks in this segment.

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Offshore WIND staff, March 14, 2012; Image: hochtief