Ashurst advises lenders and ECAs on €782,000,000 multi-sourced green financing for Shotton Mill, including UK Export Finance "invest-to-export" EDG

Global law firm Ashurst has acted as international legal counsel to the lenders and ECAs, including UBS AG as co-ordinating mandated lead arranger for Finnvera, SERV and UKEF facilities, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited as co-ordinating mandated lead arranger for the UKEF facility, and UK Export Finance itself, on a groundbreaking €782,000,000 multi-sourced green financing for the conversion of Shotton Mill Limited into a leading, best-in-class containerboard and tissue paper manufacturer. The financing was made available by a group of 13 international banks and comprised commercial facilities as well as ECA facilities supported by Finnvera plc, SERV Swiss Export Risk Insurance and UK Export Finance.

UK Export Finance provided £136 million support to the project through an "invest-to-export" arrangement in the form of an Export Development Guarantee (EDG), which supports businesses looking to increase UK exporting capacity, in this case also safeguarding and creating over 300 high quality jobs in green industries. Finnvera provided a buyer's credit guarantee for a €210m facility, with SERV Swiss Export Risk Insurance insuring a €83m facility.

This financing will support Modern Karton, the paper and packaging unit of Istanbul-based leading industrial conglomerate, Eren Holding, in building a new plant in Shotton Mill, Wales, which will have the capacity to produce 750,000 tons of containerboard and 67,000 tons of tissue paper a year, becoming the UK’s largest recycled paper manufacturer and helping the UK’s transition to net zero. Eren Holding is a leading containerboard and corrugated cardboard manufacturer from Türkiye and ranks among the leading producers in Europe. When operations begin, Eren Holding will have an annual production capacity of 2.6 million tons of paper and 1 million tons of corrugated packaging, making the group the third-biggest producer of paper and packaging in Europe. This transaction represents the first major Eren Holding capex project outside Türkiye, making in total an over-£1bn major investment for the redevelopment of Shotton Mill.

The multi-jurisdictional Ashurst team was led by partner Tom Longmuir, working with senior associate Cédric Gamambaye Dionmou, supported by senior associates Joe Newton and Samia Khennous, and associates Zoé Delelis, Santina Aboue and Rohan Last. Senior associate Rabinder Sokhi advised on real estate aspects together with and trainee solicitors Milly Rawlinson and Rory McCracken, with senior associate Lester Lim Kok and associates Bryony Singleton and Katherine Borg advising on corporate aspects.

Law firms Ergün Avukatlık Bürosu, Dittmar & Indrenius and Homburger assisted, respectively, on the Turkish, Finnish and Swiss law aspects of the transaction.

Ashurst's international finance practice routinely advises lenders, multilaterals, development finance institutions and export credit agencies on complex ECA-backed structured financings internationally.