Potere

Our Power practice is recognized globally as one of the most accomplished in the electricity sector. We are top ranked for Projects: Power by Chambers USA and for Energy Sector (International & Cross-Border) by Chambers Global in 2021. Our team was ranked #1 legal advisor for Power Europe by Inframation’s FY 2021 League Tables Report and Law360 named us Project Finance Group of the Year 2020, the seventh time our team received the award.

Our team members understand the legal aspects of power transactions and are also intimately familiar with the key commercial issues and market positions that drive our clients’ success. We draw from that in-depth understanding to provide our clients with effective and cost-efficient representation. For these reasons, leading industry participants consistently select us for their most important power transactions.

Our clients include developers; private equity sponsors; strategic investors; utilities, including consumer-owned utilities; government and multilateral agencies; and lenders. Our team has experience in virtually all fuel sources and technologies. From an integrated global platform, our team has counseled clients all over the world, including the United States, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Development

We provide counsel on all development aspects of projects, including power purchase agreements; tolling contracts; concessions; commodity hedges; heat rate call options; revenue puts; operating and maintenance, asset management and EPC agreements; and joint venture and development arrangements. We represent clients in the most active regions for development of new power generation, including in the Northeast United States and in Africa.

Finance

We have provided counsel on billions of dollars of financings utilizing structures such as project finance, tax structured transactions, holdco and sub-debt, public and private issuances of debt, and restructurings and workouts. We financed a multibillion dollar nuclear project in the United States and two 800 megawatt gas-fired power projects in the Northeast United States. In Vietnam, we assisted with a $2.6 billion thermal power project, and we are working in Africa on the largest hydropower development and financing project in the world.

M&A and Equity Investments

We have extensive experience counseling on power M&A transactions, combining the broad capabilities of our Energy and M&A practices. We have provided counsel on M&A transactions involving large energy companies, acquisitions and dispositions of portfolios of projects and project assets, auctions of power assets, distressed M&A transactions, highly structured equity investments, and issuances of equity securities including preferred equity. We work for numerous private equity funds and similar providers of capital who are active in the power M&A space, as well as major corporate sponsors who operate on a global basis.

Energy Regulatory and Other Experience

We draw on our global capabilities across a wide range of disciplines to provide integrated solutions that meet our clients’ needs. Our energy regulatory lawyers, many of whom previously served at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), represent clients before FERC and other federal and state agencies in proceedings, disputes, and approvals of project acquisitions and dispositions. Our energy regulatory experience extends to a number of our international offices, which counsel clients on regulatory issues in local jurisdictions. Other practices dedicated to energy matters include Derivatives and trading, Real Estate, Environmental, permitting and siting, Labor and Employment, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Investment Management, Tax, Securities, and Compliance matters such as CFIUS and FCPA.

  • Energy Investors Funds and Oregon Clean Energy LLC in the development, debt, financing, hedging and equity arrangements for a $900 million gas-fired plant in Ohio.

    Big Rivers Electric Corporation on credit facilities and other financial transactions valued over $2 billion.

    GE Energy Financial Services in the sale of its interest in Sandy Creek Holdings, which held one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Texas.

    ContourGlobal in the acquisition, refurbishment and financing of a dual fuel/gas-fired 53 MW plant in Dakar, Senegal.

    Ares in a $50 million construction loan financing portfolio of energy storage facilities owned by Green Charge Networks in California, which benefits from the CPUC’s Self-Generation Incentive Program.

    Actis on the acquisition of a majority interest in three power assets in Cameroon for $220 million.

    Alstom in its negotiation of the $13.5 billion offer by GE to acquire Alstom’s power equipment unit.

    The Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia in the financing of two advanced nuclear reactors, with a total capacity of 2,204 MW, at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia. This marks the first expansion of nuclear power in the United States after more than 30 years.

    Toyoink Group Berhad, as project sponsor, on the development and financing of a 2 x 1,000 MW $2.6 billion coal-fired thermal power plant BOT project in Vietnam.

    An independent power producer backed by global infrastructure funds in the acquisition through competitive investment bank run auction of three gas-fired power plants in California: the Goal Line, Kingsburg Cogeneration and Colton Power projects.