Norton Rose Fulbright advises National Wealth Fund on £600 million financing for ScottishPower subsea power link

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the UK's National Wealth Fund on a £600 million financing provided to ScottishPower, via its parent company Iberdrola.

The financing will be used to support the development of the Eastern Green Link 4 (EGL4) subsea electricity interconnector between Scotland and England.

EGL4 is a 2GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea power link designed to reduce grid constraint costs by transporting domestically generated electricity from Scotland to areas of demand in England. The approximately 530km cable will run between Fife and Norfolk and is expected to be capable of transmitting enough electricity to power the equivalent of around 1.5 million UK homes.

The new investment will also support Iberdrola Group's plans to continue expanding and upgrading electricity distribution and transmission networks in the UK.

Norton Rose Fulbright previously advised the National Wealth Fund on a separate £600 million facility for ScottishPower.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team advising on the deal was led by London-based partner David Milligan, assisted by counsel Peter Weiland and associate Aysha Ahmed, together with UK tax advice from partner Julia Lloyd and trainee Roly Peel.

David Milligan commented: "We are pleased to have advised the National Wealth Fund on this significant financing, which supports the delivery of nationally important energy infrastructure. Projects such as Eastern Green Link 4 play a vital role in strengthening the UK's electricity network."

With more than 800 lawyers based in the world's financial centres, Norton Rose Fulbright's global banking and finance team has one of the longest-established practices in the market, advising banks, financial institutions, export credit agencies, corporate and sovereign clients and other participants across the full range of energy and infrastructure financings.