Sidley represented Invenergy Renewables, acting through its previously announced consortium with Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure, in its approximately US$1.5 billion acquisition of a 1,365-megawatt unregulated, contracted renewables portfolio from American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP). The acquisition represents the largest ever acquisition for Invenergy, includes 14 projects in 11 states, and is composed of 1,200 MW of wind generation and 165 MW of solar projects.
In connection with the acquisition, Invenergy secured a US$580 million commitment for a first-of-its-kind production tax credit (PTC) transfer with Bank of America Securities, who served as Transferability Underwriter and Placement Agent and Financial Advisor. This represents the first announced large scale transferability transaction to close since the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022 and creates a financeable transferability product that will be used to scale the growth of renewable energy, energy transition, and its associated supply chain development.
Invenergy, the leading privately held renewable energy company in North America, and its affiliated companies, develop, own, and operate large-scale renewable projects in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Invenergy and its affiliated companies have successfully developed more than 30,000 megawatts of projects that are in operation, construction or contracted, including wind, solar, transmission infrastructure, natural gas power generation, and advanced energy storage projects.
The Sidley team was led by partners Tara Higgins (Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure) and Chaim Theil (M&A and Private Equity), with support from Chris Folmsbee (Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure), Curtis Hart (Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure), Anabelle Dahdah (M&A and Private Equity), and Emily Chazen (M&A and Private Equity).
The team also included Hagai Zaifman (Tax), Terence Healey (Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure), James Mendenhall (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy), Sven De Knop (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy), Patrick Harrison (Antitrust/Competition), Benson Cohen (Investment Funds), Edward Sharon (Antitrust/Competition), Grigore Alexandru (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy), Karl Pielmeier (Energy, Transportation and Infrastructure), Laurenz Bové (Antitrust/Competition), Justin Becker (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy), Jennifer Waclawik (Tax), and Alessandra Moroni (Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy).
