Energy Transactions & Finance
Financial transactions are the driving force behind energy technology, business and marketplace dynamics. Necessarily, the legal and business issues are complex. The McGuireWoods Energy team integrates unique business, transactional and regulatory experience. Working together, we lead the transaction — from deal negotiations through the arduous regulatory process.
McGuireWoods’ energy transaction and finance lawyers provide counseling on complex corporate transactions, including project development and finance; mergers and acquisitions; private equity and venture capital investments; trading; marketing and other commercial transactions. Our lawyers also counsel on climate-change policy and carbon management.
Energy Project Development and Finance
McGuireWoods represents participants in every aspect of development, financing, construction and operation of capital-intensive projects and facilities e.g., our clients include a variety of transaction participants, including developers, investors, underwriters, lenders, financial advisors, governments and contractors. By representing clients that take diverse roles in many types of transactions, our energy lawyers have developed the depth of experience essential for assessing and resolving the complex issues that arise in connection with energy facilities and related project finance matters.
Typical projects include power plants, mines, oil refineries, industrial plants, electric transmission lines, pipelines, telecommunications networks and facilities, wind, solar, and biomass facilities, transportation systems and other infrastructure assets.
These projects represent approximately 30,500 MW of electric capacity with a combined value of more than $100 billion. They have included coal-fired, gas-fired, nuclear, and hydroelectric power generation and cogeneration facilities, as well as non-conventional projects using a wide range of alternative technologies and fuels, including, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), wood, landfill gas to energy (LGE), wind and poultry guano.
Our lawyers have also represented participants in the development, financing, construction and operation of a wide range of other capital-intensive energy projects and facilities throughout the world, including on-shore and off-shore natural gas and petroleum pipelines; liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities; oil refinery facilities; coal and mineral mines; bioethanol facilities, and coal gasification projects.
Energy Mergers and Acquisitions
McGuireWoods has particular depth of experience in the acquisition and disposition of energy company assets. In just the last decade, our lawyers have participated in the sale or purchase of dozens of generating plants, in more than a dozen states, with a total value of billions of dollars. For years we have represented utilities, utility affiliates and independent generators as they purchase and sell generating and transmission assets; and form joint ventures with both regulated and unregulated entities to purchase and own generating assets. We have handled numerous transactions involving all fuel types (e.g., coal, gas, nuclear, oil and alternative). Among our top priorities is to protect the pro forma or financial drivers of a transaction, while minimizing risk.
We have participated in all facets of competitive solicitations for energy merger and acquisition transactions, including representing sell-side clients in structuring and implementing successful auctions and competitive negotiations, and representing buy-side clients in the development of winning bids and negotiation strategies.
Energy Trading, Marketing and Other Commercial Transactions
Our energy markets lawyers have extensive experience with physical purchase and sale transactions, over-the-counter and exchange-traded energy derivatives contracts, as well as with complex structured transactions.
Our experience includes wholesale and retail energy transactions and complex physical deals in various energy products and markets (including electricity, natural gas, shale, coal, crude oil and refined products).
An important part of our work in the energy industry includes developing appropriate risk management and trading policies, drafting and negotiating documents supporting various origination transactions, and assisting with regulatory compliance issues before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the various exchanges, as well as with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and other regulators.
Climate Change and Carbon Management
McGuireWoods’ Climate Change and Carbon Management lawyers — together with our lawyers who concentrate on environmental finance — assist and advise clients at all stages of the supply chain, with particular focus on the energy, infrastructure and financial services sectors. Specifically, we focus on climate change law and carbon management; i.e., compliance with operational, monitoring and reporting requirements; management of physical, regulatory and legislative risks; environmental commodity development, trading and hedging; investments in reduced-impact technologies and companies, and project development.
