Sector developments and company hires

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) is marketing its inaugural debt fund – the CI Green Credit Fund I (CI GCF I) – having secured €320m in seed capital. Targeting a size of €1bn, the fund will provide private project finance debt with subordinated risk characteristics supporting renewable energy projects globally.

Focus will be on green- and brownfield projects in offshore wind, onshore wind, solar PV, biomass, storage and transmission assets. Geographic focus of the fund will be Europe, North America and selective jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region.

The fund will mainly make direct investments, but it is also able to participate in risk-sharing transactions. For risk-sharing transactions, CIP has partnered with Whitecroft Capital Management.

CI GCF I will be co-headed by CIP partners Nicholas Blach-Petersen and Jakob Groot. Additionally, the firm has hired a number of senior project finance and credit specialists in Copenhagen, London and New York to support the fund, which expects to make its first investments in the coming months.

Seed capital is provided by a small group of investors, including a large Danish pension fund and Singapore-based Singlife with Aviva.

In other news…

EMEA

Morgan Lewis has hired a new structured transactions partner as it continues to broaden its global capabilities. Merryn Craske will join the firm’s London office from Mayer Brown where she served as partner. Well experienced in conducting transactions across a range of jurisdictions and asset classes, Craske also has extensive experience in handling other banking and financial transactions.

The firm hopes the addition of Craske and her in-depth experience advising financial institutions on structured finance transactions will enhance its UK business and services available for clients on complex transactions.