Slaughter and May advised Drax on its refinancing and entry into an ESG Facility

Slaughter and May advised Drax Group plc (“Drax”) on the entry of Drax Corporate Limited, its wholly owned subsidiary, into two new senior debt facilities agreements: a £375 million private placement agreement (the “Private Placement Agreement”) and a £125 million Environmental, Social and Governance facility agreement (the “ESG Facility”).

Proceeds of the Private Placement Agreement will be used to refinance amounts outstanding under the Acquisition Bridge Facility Agreement, used to partially fund Drax’s acquisition of a portfolio of flexible, low-carbon and renewable power generation assets from Iberdrola in December 2018.

The innovative ESG Facility includes a mechanism that adjusts the margin based on Drax’s carbon emissions against an annual benchmark, the first of its kind for an electricity generator.

Slaughter and May worked on the offering as an integrated team with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP acting as U.S. counsel, Pinsent Masons LLP acting as Scots counsel and Maples Group acting as Cayman counsel.