Slaughter and May, Clifford Chance (CC) and Pinsent Masons are advising on a £702m deal that will see Scottish Power become one of the first major UK energy companies to generate all of its electricity from wind, rather than coal and gas.

The Glasgow-based company, which since 2006 has been owned by Spain's Iberdrola, is selling its pumped storage, hydro and gas-fired generation assets to FTSE 250 electrical power generation company Drax.

Slaughters is advising Drax on financing for the deal with a team led by M&A partner Victoria MacDuff, supported by corporate finance partner William Underhill, capital markets partner Guy O'Keefe, finance partner Caroline Phillips and tax partner Mike Lane, all of whom worked closely with a Drax in-house team led by general counsel David McCallum.

Pinsent Masons handled Scottish property aspects of the deal for Drax, fielding a team led by real estate partner Ian Lyall.

Meanwhile, Scottish Power turned to a CC team headed up by M&A partner Graham Phillips, with longstanding advisers Shepherd and Wedderburn advising Iberdrola and Scottish Power on Scottish asset aspects, providing support to the energy giant's legal director Michael Davies.

Historically, Scottish Power has turned to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for much of its work, although Linklaters advised on the 2006 Iberdrola takeover.

The deal, which is expected to complete at the end of the year, is subject to shareholder and Competition and Markets Authority approval.

Photo credit: David Dixon