A Debevoise financing transaction, in which the firm represented Footprint Power in the debt and equity financing of the Salem Harbor Power Station development project, has won the Project Finance International 2015 Power Deal of the Year of the Americas.
Under the terms of the financing transaction, Highstar Capital IV, L.P., and its affiliated funds (“Highstar IV”), managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”), invested 87.5% of the equity necessary for construction of the project. An affiliate of Toyota Tsusho Corporation invested the remaining 12.5% of the construction equity. Project developer Footprint Power LLC retained an equity interest in the project and will remain active in the ongoing management of the project.
Simultaneously with the equity commitments of Highstar IV and Toyota Tsusho, the company closed on debt financing for the project. A consortium of lenders led by MUFG Bank, GE Energy Financial Services and BNP Paribas had committed a total of $600 million in construction financing in addition to a $130 million letter of credit facility.
Debevoise also advised in connection with the EPC Contract with Iberdrola Energy Projects, Inc. to build the approximately 700MW state-of-the-art, combined-cycle gas electric generating facility using quick-start GE turbines to replace the coal- and oil-fired generation plant previously located at the site and the $200 million contract with GE to supply the turbines to the facility.
Debevoise previously advised Footprint Power in its purchase of the Salem Harbor Station property from Dominion Energy Inc. in 2012. Footprint Power acquired the property with the intention of shutting down, demolishing and remediating the 60-year-old coal- and oil-fired facility and replacing it with a cleaner and more efficient natural gas facility. The new plant will take up one third of the property, leaving the remainder for new waterfront development. Footprint Power retains the remaining 40 acres for future development unrelated to the new power plant.
Footprint Power is dedicated to helping owners of older coal- and oil-fired power plants – and the communities that host them – transition these facilities and sites to other productive purposes.
PFI is the leading source of global project finance intelligence. Published in print every two weeks and updated online daily, PFI reports on the entire lifecycles of deals, from the initial rumors through to post-completion analysis. Project finance professionals around the globe rely on PFI’s deal analysis to identify opportunities and track their competitors. The Awards will be presented at the 2015 PFI Awards Dinner, taking place in London on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.
The Debevoise team was led by partner Sarah A.W. Fitts and counsel Armando Rivera Jacobo and included partners Ivan E. Mattei and Peter F.G. Schuur, counsel Emilie T. Hsu and Steven S. Michaels, associates Katie Hermann, Daniel Priest, and Harry Zirlin, and former associates Kevin Bensley and Christopher H. Rogala.