Vents Du Kempt Wind Project Reaches Financial Close

Eolectric Club, L.P. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada Limited Partnership announced that Vents du Kempt Wind Power, L.P. completed the successful closing of the Vents du Kempt wind power project senior debt financing provided by co-arrangers KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH and The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company, as well as Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Quebec. Eolectric Club, L.P. holds a 51 per cent interest in Vents du Kempt Wind Power, L.P., the remaining 49 per cent interest being held by Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada, Limited Partnership.

The 101-MW project, which executed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec Distribution as a result of the 2005 call for tenders for 2,000 MW of wind power, is comprised of forty-three 2.35-MW Enercon wind turbines.

Eolectric Club, L.P. was represented by its vice president, legal affairs, Veronik Bonneville-Pesant; and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada Limited Partnership was represented by its vice president, corporate development and legal affairs, Frédéric Brassard. The partners were assisted by McCarthy Tétrault LLP with a team under the supervision of Marc Dorion (energy) and led by Richard O'Doherty (energy and financial services), with the assistance of Louis-Nicolas Boulanger (energy and project financing); Marjolaine Hémond Hotte (financial services); Sébastien Thomas (energy and real estate); Martin Boodman and Dominique Amyot-Bilodeau (project financing and environment); Mathieu Leblanc (corporate); Marie-Pier Gosselin, Danielle Drolet and Stéphanie Dorion (real estate); Anastassia Chtaneva and Michael Weizman (energy); and Justin Lapedus, Kerri Lui and Candace Pallone (financial services).

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP acted as counsel to The Manufactures Life Insurance Company, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, and Caisse de Dépôt de Placement du Quebec. The Norton Rose team was led by Robert Borduas and included Michèle Friel and Sandro Muzzo (banking and finance);Mario Caron and Marie-Andrée Thibault (real estate) and Jean Piette (environment).

Enercon was represented by its in-house counsel, Amber Sinclair, and by Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP with a team led by Peter Ascherl (corporate & energy), with assistance from Jon Holmstrom (banking & finance) and Kathryn Beck (corporate); and EBC Inc., the BOP contractor, was represented by its in-house counsel, Jean-François Cavanagh.