Latham Honored as Law Firm of the Year and Advised on Three Deals of the Year
Latham was named “Law Firm of the Year” and earned recognition for advising on three “Deals of the Year” by Power Finance & Risk (PFR) at their 18th Annual Deals and Firms of the Year Awards. PFR’s awards recognize “the most impressive renewable energy and power project sponsors, lenders, advisers, investors, and transactions of 2020” as evaluated by a poll of industry leaders. The honored work includes 2020’s most complex, novel, and precedent-setting financings of major energy projects.
Latham won one of PFR’s premier awards, being honored as “Law Firm of the Year” for completing an “impressive range of power and renewables transactions in 2020” including some of the year’s biggest and most innovative deals such as representing Energy Capital Partners III on the sale of Terra-Gen and the lenders on Calpine Corp’s US$1.1 billion refinancing of its Geysers geothermal portfolio. PFR praised the firm’s reputation for excellence and thought leadership and mentioned that market participants say Latham “continues to be a positive firm to work across from.”
In addition, Latham advised on three transactions that earned recognition including:
- Renewable Energy Deal of the Year – Bolt Energy: Latham represented the sponsor, LS Power Equity Advisors, in the US$300 million financing of LS Power’s Bolt energy storage portfolio, the world’s largest battery storage project. According to PFR, the deal was the first non-recourse project financing of a battery storage portfolio of its scale in California at 490 MW, and one of the first standalone storage financings.
- Conventional Power Deal of the Year – CPV Three Rivers: Latham represented the sponsor, Competitive Power Ventures, Inc., in connection with the US$1.3 billion project financing of a 1,258 MW gas-fired project in Grundy County, Illinois. The deal was the only conventional greenfield power project financing to close in 2020.
- Term Loan B of the Year – Hamilton Projects Acquiror: Latham represented the sellers, Panda Power Funds, in the deal in which The Carlyle Group and EIG Global Energy Partners take ownership of Panda Power Funds’ Patriot and Liberty combined-cycle gas-fired plants in Pennsylvania.