Project Finance Practice Advises on Five "Deals of the Year"

IJGlobal has recognized the Project Development & Finance Practice of Latham & Watkins for advising on five market-making 2015 “Deals of the Year” spanning diverse markets at the annual IJGlobal Awards. According to the project finance and infrastructure journal, the IJGlobal Awards recognize “outstanding transactions and institutions from the world of infrastructure finance” across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. 

The honored projects included: 

• Deepwater Wind Block Island: “North American Wind Deal of the Year.” Latham represented Deepwater Wind Holdings, LLC and Deepwater Wind Block Island, LLC as sponsor and borrower, respectively, in the development and financing for the construction of the Block Island Wind Project, a 30-MW offshore wind project to be located off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. Notably, the transaction was the first financing of an offshore wind power project in the United States. 
• El Encino – La Laguna: “Latin American Midstream Deal of the Year.” Latham advised Fermaca Infrastructure B.V. as sponsor in connection with the development and financing for the El Encino – La Laguna natural gas pipeline. The transaction was one of the first pipeline project financings to take place under recently-revised Mexican hydrocarbons regulations and the first pipeline project financing in Mexico to be completed under the new Mexican real property right-of-way collateral security regime, resulting in novel legal issues and commercial considerations. 
• Hummel Station: “North American Merchant Power Deal of the Year.” Latham represented Panda Power Funds as sponsor in a financing for the construction of the Hummel Energy Center in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. The retired Sunbury coal-fired power plant is to be replaced by the Hummel Station, which will be one of the largest coal to natural gas conversion projects in the United States. 
• Limay: “Asia-Pacific Power Deal of the Year.” Latham advised SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., the energy subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, as the sole sponsor in connection with the project financing of the Limay Power Project, a 300-MW coal-fired generating facility in Limay, Bataan, Philippines. Unique from most power projects in the Philippines, which are typically financed primarily by local banks, the financing for the Limay Power Project was arranged by a consortium of primarily international mandated lead arrangers. 
• Project Cheetah: “African Oil & Gas Deal of the Year.” Latham represented Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the national oil company of Nigeria, and Chevron Nigeria Ltd, an affiliate of Chevron, in a phased, multi-year joint venture drilling project being financed by a forward sale financing structure. The initial phase of financing was the first third-party financing in Nigeria involving NNPC for the development of onshore oil wells.