US projects team helps IRG Acquisition Holdings close on US$1.5bn renewables portfolio

A team of lawyers from Norton Rose Fulbright advised IRG Acquisition Holdings (IRG), a partnership between Invenergy, CDPQ and funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure, through the purchase and closing of a 1,365-megawatt (MW) unregulated, contracted renewables portfolio from American Electric Power (AEP) for an enterprise value of US$1.5bn.

The transaction, which closed on August 16, represents one of the largest, fully-operational renewables portfolios to come to market in years. Spanning 11 states, the portfolio includes 14 projects comprised of 1,200 MW of wind and 165 MW of solar energy. The renewable power from the projects is contracted under long-term agreements with other utilities, corporations and municipalities.

IRG secured committed financing for the deal from Banco Santander SA, New York Branch, who acted as Structuring Agent, Coordinating Lead Arranger, and Co-Green Loan Coordinator; Coöperatieve Rabobank UA, New York Branch, who acted as Coordinating Lead Arranger and Due Diligence Bank; Natixis CIB who acted as Coordinating Lead Arranger and Co-Green Loan Coordinator; and Export Development Canada who acted as Coordinating Lead Arranger. It also secured a US$580m commitment for a first-of-its-kind PTC tax credit transfer with Bank of America Securities who served as Transferability Underwriter and Placement Agent and Financial Advisor.

Norton Rose Fulbright's core deal team was led by Sameer Ghaznavi and also included Jamal E. Abdulrasheed (Chicago), Hilary Lefko (Washington, DC), Jared Kaplan (New York), Megan Savage, Erin Mitchell (Houston) and Geetika Jerath (Austin).

Additional support was provided by Laura Konkel, Marjorie Glover, Andrew Skroback, Gerald Stein (New York), Madison Keeble, Lauryn Robinson, Lauren Thomas, Vanisha Weatherspoon (Austin), John Young, Kayce Borders (Chicago), Luke Edney, Jesse Hollingsworth, George Khoukaz (Dallas), Bob Greenslade (Denver), Kat Gamache, Kevin Gieseke (Houston), Justin Lee (Los Angeles), Rebecca Abou-Chedid, Tom Delaney, Stefan Reisinger, Andy Eklund, Sol Kwon, Leslie Rebnord and Maeve Tibbetts (Washington, DC).