Latham Recognized for Advising on Six Energy and Infrastructure Deals of the Year

Latham & Watkins’ Project Development & Finance Practice earned recognition in Proximo’s Deals of the Year 2020 Awards for advising on six award-winning transactions. The awards showcase Latham’s global presence with winning deals coming from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. They also highlight the breadth of experience Latham has in different sectors from natural gas infrastructure, battery energy storage systems, technology for electric vehicles, gas pipelines, and more.

The winning transactions include:

• Europe Emerging Energy Deal of the Year, Northvolt: Leading the charge. Lenders’ legal advisers: Latham & Watkins.
  Latham advised the European Investment Bank, Euler Hermes, the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), BPI France, and 12 commercial banks on a US$1.6 billion financing package for Sweden’s Northvolt, a European sustainable battery developer and manufacturer specializing in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles. The debt raise will support the creation of Europe’s first home-grown gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries.
• Middle East Africa Acquisition Deal of the Year, Galaxy: Top of the shopping list. Borrower counsel: Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
  Latham advised Galaxy Pipeline Assets Bidco Limited on its US$7.96 billion bridging loan borrowed in June 2020 to finance the acquisition of a 47.7% stake in ADNOC Gas Pipeline Assets LLC (ADNOC Gas Pipelines) from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and on its subsequent refinancing of its acquisition debt through an initial public offering of US$4 billion senior secured bonds issued in three tranches in November 2020 and a further public offering of US$4 billion senior secured bonds in February 2021.
• Middle East Africa Multi-sourced Deal of the Year, Mozambique LNG: A new African benchmark. Sponsors’ legal advisers: Latham & Watkins (assisted by Vieria de Almeida and Miranda & Associados).
  Latham advised the sponsors on a landmark US$20 billion financing for Mozambique’s first onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) development – the largest project financing in Africa to-date. The TotalEnergies-led project will initially comprise both an integrated offshore gas development and an onshore liquefaction plant, including two LNG trains with total nameplate capacity of 13.12 million tons per annum (MTPA), together with domestic gas and condensates production and storage facilities, and other associated infrastructure.
• North America Oil and Gas Deal of the Year, Whistler: Maxing and mixing debt sources. Lenders’ legal advisers: Latham & Watkins.
  Latham represented WhiteWater Midstream, an independent midstream company that provides transportation services to domestic oil and gas plays, in the transaction to move forward with the design and construction of the Whistler Pipeline, a 446-mile natural gas pipeline in Texas. It was funded through a combination of equity, term loan, and private placement proceeds. According to Proximo, the financing proves that natural gas infrastructure continues to receive strong support from institutional investors.
• North America Single Asset Power Deal of the Year, CPV Three Rivers: Three advantages. Sponsors’ legal advisers: Latham Watkins, King & Spalding.
  Latham advised Competitive Power Ventures, Inc., a leading North American natural gas, solar, and wind powered and electric power generation development and asset management company, in connection with the project financing of a natural gas-fired electric generating facility in Grundy County, Illinois. The company sourced approximately US$875 million in debt and US$425 million in equity to back the 1,258-MW facility. This was the only major gas-fired power plant construction project financing in the US in 2020.
• North America Emerging Energy Deal of the Year, Bolt: New, but not out of the blue. Sponsors’ legal adviser: Latham & Watkins.
  Latham represented LS Power Equity Advisors and Bolt Energy FinanceCo, the sponsor and borrower, in a US$300 million financing of multiple battery energy storage system expansions in California, including Gateway, the world’s largest battery storage project. This was the largest portfolio of battery storage assets financed to date.