International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised JLEN, the listed environmental infrastructure fund, on its acquisition of a 70% equity stake in Bio Collectors Holdings Limited (BCH). BCH, through its subsidiary companies holds the rights and operational assets that make up the anaerobic digestion (“AD”) plant and the Bio Collectors waste collections business. The group of companies are based in Merton, London.
The AD plant was commissioned in December 2013 and has subsequently been expanded through several phases. The plant has a current thermal capacity of c.10MWth, a waste processing capacity of up to 100,000tpa and predominantly produces biomethane to be injected to the national gas grid. In addition, the plant has 1.7MWe of capacity through two CHP engines and is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) schemes. The Bio Collectors waste collections business collects source-separated and packaged food waste for the AD plant from a variety of commercial, industrial and local authorities located in and around Greater London utilising an increasing biogas-powered fleet.
The 70% stake in BCH has been acquired from private individuals, with the residual 30% retained by the existing owner who will remain active in the business going forward.
This acquisition represents JLEN’s first acquisition into food waste fuelled anaerobic digestion, further diversifying its portfolio and increasing the total capacity of renewable energy assets in the JLEN investment portfolio to 297.9MW.
JLEN is a respected client of Osborne Clarke and this is the seventh successful acquisition the team has advised on. It most recently advised JLEN on its acquisition of Warren Power Limited.
The Osborne Clarke team was led by corporate Partner Adam Love and projects Partner James Watson, who were supported by Associate Director Alex Underwood, Senior Associate Will Carlyle and Associate Sarah Mitchell. The broader Osborne Clarke team consisted of Partner Erika Jupe and Associate Emily Clarke (tax), Partner Carl Thompson and Senior Associate Jonathan Culley (construction), Partner Matthew Germain and Senior Associate Caroline Bush (environment), Associate Director Amy Stray (energy), Associate Director John Webster (planning), Associate Director Charlotte Walker and Associate Charlotte Guest (real estate), Senior Associate Lara Flynn (employment) and Matthew Kyle (regulatory health and safety).
Osborne Clarke has an established and well-respected position as one of the leading law firms advising on renewable energy projects and transactions. For over 20 years, it has helped clients to seize new opportunities and meet the challenges of making energy generation clean, affordable and secure. The combination of the team’s experience and understanding of the energy sector means they are regularly called upon to support businesses on all aspects of their commercial, regulatory, corporate, finance and construction legal needs.
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