Law360 named McGuireWoods partner Joanne Katsantonis a 2024 Energy MVP for advising companies in some of the industry’s most consequential deals of the past year. Law360 profiled Katsantonis in a story published Nov. 6.
Law360 cited Katsantonis’ role advising Dominion Energy in negotiating the $14 billion sale of three gas companies to natural gas company Enbridge in 2023, as well as Dominion Energy’s sale of a 50% noncontrolling interest in the landmark Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project for more than $5.6 billion earlier this year.
Katsantonis also represented Dominion Energy in the sale of its 50% noncontrolling limited partner interest in Cove Point LNG LP, an offshore liquid natural gas shipping terminal, to Berkshire Hathaway Energy for $3.5 billion in July 2023, Law360 noted.
Law360 highlighted Katsantonis’ work representing NRG Energy in its sale of a 44% ownership stake in South Texas Project Electric Generating Station, a dual-unit nuclear plant, to Constellation Energy for $1.75 billion; and advising NiSource in its $2.15 billion sale of nearly 20% of its regulated subsidiary Northern Indiana Public Service Co. to Blackstone Infrastructure Partners.
“I am honored to receive this recognition from Law360 and I am grateful to my McGuireWoods colleagues and our clients for the teamwork involved in closing these transactions,” Katsantonis said.
Katsantonis, who also was named a Law360 Energy MVP in 2020, served as McGuireWoods’ deputy managing partner for development from 2017 until 2023. Before that she led the firm’s energy industry team and established McGuireWoods as a leader in emerging growth areas such as public utility and gas company mergers and complex joint venture structures.
Katsantonis spearheads transactions involving gas, gathering and storage assets, coal, oil, solar, wind, nuclear and other alternative fuels. She told Law360 that she finds energy transactions fascinating because of the critical role the industry plays in the global economy.
“I felt like we were doing something that was for the good of the economy and that really impacted our surroundings,” she said. “And the nice thing about energy is it just evolves.”