The corporate and mergers & acquisition team at Bristol-headquartered law firm Burges Salmon has helped create a major new investor for the UK solar market which will finance schemes from the development to operational stages.
The long-term strategic partnership between Bluefield Solar Income Fund GLIL Infrastructure commits them to investing together to boost UK-focused solar assets. 
Bluefield Solar, which has its operations and management office in Bristol, is a London Stock Exchange-listed income fund focused primarily on acquiring and managing UK solar energy assets.
GLIL is a partnership of UK pension funds which invests in core infrastructure with a £3bn portfolio that spans solar and offshore wind, telecoms, railway rolling stock and the M6 toll road.
The partnership will evolve through three phases, with the first – which is already underway – involving the acquisition of a portfolio of 58 operational assets.
Further phases will take in the acquisition of a 50% stake in a separate portfolio of more than 100MW of operational UK solar energy assets currently owned by Bluefield Solar and funding a selection of Bluefield Solar’s development pipeline.
The Burges Salmon team advising Bluefield Solar on the partnership arrangements was led by partner Malcolm Donald and associate Ellie Shanahan.
Malcolm, pictured, said: “Following the call at COP28 for solar capacity to triple by 2030, it’s really encouraging to see a partnership such as this one come to fruition, pooling resources to invest in existing assets and develop new projects across the UK.
“It has been a pleasure working with Bluefield Solar on this exciting new stage in its development, and to have been involved in the establishment of the new partnership.”
Bluefield partner Neil Wood added: “GLIL is the ideal partner for a company like ours and leverages our multi-decade view of solar asset management.
“Burges Salmon’s knowledge and experience in establishing partnerships for solar energy acquisitions and investments was vital and we’re grateful for the team’s excellent guidance throughout this project.”
Burges Salmon, which employs more than 1,100 people across its offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London, was recently included in the Legal 500 UK Green Guide 2024, the ground-breaking legal sector report highlighting the sector’s key contributors to the UK’s green transition.
