Fuelling North Star’s transition into the offshore wind infrastructure services market

Based in 1886, North Star owns and operates the most important wholly UK-owned fleet engaged within the UK’s offshore trade within the North Sea, offering complete operational expertise of the seas across the UK shoreline. With superior vessels and the expertise of its extremely educated crews North Star’s 1,400 workforce present steady offshore infrastructure help 24/7, three hundred and sixty five days of the yr.

The corporate, which has websites in Aberdeen, Lowestoft, Newcastle, and Hamburg in Germany operates 41 multi-purpose ships within the North Sea. Over the previous few years, North Star has additionally shaken up the offshore wind sector with its hybrid-propulsion offshore wind ships, swiftly establishing itself on the forefront of the UK’s service operation vessel (SOV) market. Three of 4 newbuild SOVs are in operation on the Dogger Financial institution Wind Farm with the ultimate asset on schedule for early supply subsequent yr. The agency has an additional 4 newbuilds underway – a SOV for EnBW’s He Dreiht wind farm in Germany, one other for Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power on the East Anglia THREE venture, and its first two bigger Commissioning SOVs to additional help its offshore wind shoppers.

£225m sustainability-linked financing to assist add 40 SOVs to North Star’s fleetNorth Star has secured additional debt funding of as much as £425million. To speed up its ambition to turn out to be the main participant in Europe’s offshore wind sector and add 40 hybrid service operation vessels (SOVs) to its fleet by 2040, the corporate approached Royal Financial institution of Scotland as a possible lender.

Having had prior discussions about North Star’s monetary necessities, the Royal Financial institution’s deal group (as the one UK financial institution) agreed to supply a £20 million capex Revolving Credit score Facility (RCF) and a £10 million working capital RCF as a part of a £225 million syndicated package deal from the six-lender consortium.

The brand new funding package deal additionally has a £200 million accordion that may be drawn as wanted. The financing is sustainability-linked, with three ESG Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs) that may have an effect on the margin by as much as ±6 foundation factors, relying on whether or not or not they’re met. These KPIs relate to North Star’s development in offshore wind sector income, the variety of its hybrid vessels, and the corporate’s well being & security file.

Serving to to transition to a greener economyFraser Dobbie, North Star’s Chief Monetary Officer, commented: “This £425 million strategic funding highlights the attraction of our strong enterprise mannequin and ESG transition journey as we push to turn out to be the main participant in Europe’s SOV sector. The infusion of capital from a mixture of institutional and financial institution traders secures entry to the capital required to help our continued development and offers validation from the lender market of the superb progress we’ve made on our strategic journey to construct our enterprise for sustainable, long-term success within the offshore wind market.”

Ramin Mathieson, Structured Finance, Royal Financial institution of Scotland, mentioned: “We’re delighted to not solely have been capable of help North Star with a brand new credit score facility, however to additionally add a sustainability element to the financing. We’re proud to assist our buyer with their power transition and we sit up for working with them sooner or later, supporting their offshore wind vessel fleet, which is predicted to develop considerably within the coming years.”