Tsar & Tsai has acted as legal advisor to the finance parties in the NTD53.3 billion (around US$1.6 billion) project financing for Cathay Life’s acquisition of 50% equity in the 583MW Greater Changhua 4 Offshore Wind Farm from Ørsted and subsequent funding to the project. Tsar & Tsai team is led by partner Janice Lin, with key contributions from senior team members Anthony Hsieh and Ellen Peng.

The financial close was successfully reached on December 12, 2024. The completion of equity transaction occurred on December 16, 2024, representing the largest offshore wind investment by a Taiwanese life insurer to date. The Greater Changhua 4 site is part of the 920MW offshore wind farms Greater Changhua 2b and 4, which Ørsted is currently constructing and expects to complete by the end of 2025. Following Cathay Life’s investment, the project will be co-owned by Ørsted and Cathay Life Insurance (each holding a 50% stake).

The finance parties include 6 export credit agencies (Credendo, Export Finance Australia (EFA), Export & Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (KSURE), UK Export Finance (UKEF) and National Credit Guarantee Administration (NCGA)) and 15 commercial lenders, including 9 international banks, 3 domestic local private banks and 3 state-owned banks Tsar & Tsai is honored to have participated in this landmark transaction, which marks a series of groundbreaking milestones for Taiwan's offshore wind sector.

• žThis is the first offshore wind project receiving financing guarantees from the national credit guarantee mechanism established by the Executive Yuan and National Development Fund along with 8 state-owned banks.
• žThis is the first offshore wind project guaranteed by the National Credit Guarantee Administration (NCGA) (through the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) as the implementation agency).
• žThis is also the first time the state-owned First Commercial Bank acting as the EXIM facility agent and has significant participation in an offshore wind financing project.

Tsar & Tsai, as finance parties’ local legal advisor, took the lead on assisting First Commercial Bank (on behalf all the participating state-owned banks) in drafting, negotiating and finalizing the first form of EXIM guarantee contract used for offshore wind project financing in Taiwan.