MUFG is to act as letter of credit (L/C) issuing bank in the third phase of what will be the world's largest offshore wind farm when it is completed in March 2026.

Japan's largest bank is joining forces with 27 more lenders and three export credit agencies (ECAs) to provide about £3 billion (US$4 billion) for Dogger Bank C, comprised of senior debt facilities of around £2.5 billion and ancillary facilities of £435 million.

Landmark project

Scotland based SSE Renewables, which develops and operates renewable energy facilities across the UK and Ireland, along with its joint venture partner, Norwegian state owned Equinor, which has a reputation for developing floating offshore facilities, reached financial close on Dogger Bank C on 1 December.

When combined with the first two phases of the project, Dogger Bank A and B, the entire wind farm will have an installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts, enough to power up to 6 million homes.

Participating banks

As well as issuing L/Cs for this mega-project in the UK's North Sea, MUFG will also be acting as intercreditor agent, commercial facility agent and security trustee. Société Générale is documentation agent, Barclays the account bank, Santander is ECA agent and hedge execution bank while Lloyds is interest rate hedge execution bank.

Those lenders are amongst the 28 mandated lead arrangers on the commercial facilities that also include ABN Amro, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Bank of China, Crédit Agricole CIB, CaixaBank, CIBC, CIC, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, DNB, DZ Bank, ICBC, ING, the Korea Development Bank, Mizuho, NatWest, the Norinchukin Bank, Rabobank, SEB, Shinsei Bank, SMBC and Standard Chartered.

The majority of banks are the same as for the £5.5 billion debt financing package for Dogger Bank A and B, which reached financial close in November 2020.

ECA participation

Similarly, the ECAs from France, Sweden and Norway that participated in those financings last year also took part in the Dogger Bank C financing this year.

French national investment bank Bpifrance will provide partial insurance cover for the ECA debt financing while separate debt facilities are supported by Norwegian ECA Eksfin and its Swedish counterpart EKN.

A fact sheet containing full details of the Dogger C financing can be found here.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.