Osborne Clarke advises JLEN on acquisition of two anaerobic digestion plants

International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised John Laing Environmental Assets Group Limited (JLEN) on the acquisition of two anaerobic digestion (AD) assets, Egmere Energy Limited and Grange Farm Energy Limited, for a total consideration of c.£36 million.

The Egmere Energy AD plant is located in Egmere, North Norfolk and was commissioned in November 2014. The plant has a thermal capacity of c.5MW and predominantly produces biomethane to be injected to the national gas grid. In addition, the plant also has a 0.5MW CHP engine and is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) schemes.

The Grange Farm Energy AD plant is located in Spridlington, Lincolnshire and was commissioned in December 2014. The plant has a thermal capacity of c.5MW and predominantly produces biomethane to be injected to the national gas grid.

In addition, the plant also has a 0.5MW CHP engine and is accredited under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) schemes. The AD plants have been acquired from venture capital funds managed by Downing LLP, EIS funds managed by Amersham Investment Management Ltd and minority shareholders. Future Biogas Limited will continue to provide management, operations and maintenance services to the AD plants after the acquisition.

The acquisitions build on JLEN’s growing portfolio of AD projects and bring the total capacity of the renewable energy assets in the JLEN investment portfolio to 269.2MW.

The Osborne Clarke team was led by corporate Partner Adam Love and Energy and Utilities Sector Leader and Partner James Watson. The team included (amongst others) environment Partner Matt Germain, corporate Associate Jonny Gait and construction Partner Carl Thompson.

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.