Linklaters leads the way on Energy & Infrastructure in Asia
Linklaters has continued to shape the energy and infrastructure landscape in Asia, supporting clients on landmark transactions across all major asset classes in an exciting period for the sector.
Energy Transition
• Advising Ørsted on its divestment of a 50% stake in its 583MW Greater Changhua 4 offshore wind farm in Taiwan to Cathay Life Insurance, and on the c. US$1.6bn financing arrangements for the project.
• Advising Ørsted on the c. US$3.3bn project financing of the 632MW Greater Changhua 2a and 2b offshore wind farms in Taiwan, as well as its ongoing equity divestment process. This marks the eighth successful major offshore wind financing in Asia on which Linklaters has advised.
• Advising on offshore wind financing and M&A processes across all major markets in Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines, demonstrating our market leading position in the sector.
• Advising lenders on the refinancing of Brookfield’s portfolio of solar and BESS assets in South Korea, marking Brookfield’s first project finance deal in country. This follows the trend of structured portfolio financings by private capital backed platforms, as sponsors look to rationalise capital use across diversified asset pools.
Digital Infrastructure and Technology
• Following Blackstone’s acquisition of the AirTrunk data center platform, advising lenders on three financings for the platform across APAC (i) the portfolio financing of a mix of operational and construction assets in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia, (ii) the establishment of a financing platform to support construction and development of assets across the region (including Australia, Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore), and (iii) a greenfield capex financing of a data center in Singapore.
• Advising True IDC, a leading data centre and cloud service provider under Charoen Pokphand Group and BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners on the debt financing for its greenfield data centre in Thailand.
• These data center financings utilised a combination of project finance, real estate and cashflow financing principles and leveraged Linklaters’ cross practice strength and ability to advise across the full spectrum of financing disciplines. They also showcase Linklaters’ multi-disciplinary capabilities throughout the transaction cycle, including Corporate, TMT and Construction expertise.
• Advising Space Tech Innovation, a subsidiary of Thaicom Public Company Limited, on the capex financing of the Thaicom 10 Satellite Project by Airbus Defense & Space, a next generation satellite. This is a major milestone in the space technology sector.
Hydrocarbon and Mobility
• Advising ECAs (KEXIM, K-SURE, JBIC, CESCE, Euler Hermes, Bpifrance AE, SIDF, SACE) and commercial lenders on the financing of the US$15bn Amiral Petrochemical Complex in Saudi Arabia, developed by Saudi Aramco and Total.
• Advising Thai Oil on the construction arrangements for its Clean Fuel Project, an expansion and upgrade of its principal refinery and petrochemical facility in Sriracha, Thailand to increase capacity and expand production capability to include cleaner and higher value products.
• Advising Glencore on its joint venture arrangements with PT Chandra Asri in respect of the refinery and petrochemicals park in Singapore acquired from Shell Singapore; and related supply and offtake agreements with the joint venture company.
• Advising Shell Indonesia on the disposal of its entire mobility business, comprising fuel supply (business-to-business), petrol stations (fuel retail), and electric vehicle charging stations (electricity retail) in Indonesia, including advising on separation issues relating to Shell’s retained lubricant and other businesses.
Ying Fu, partner and co-head of Asia Energy & Infrastructure commented,
“This is a truly exciting period for the energy and infrastructure sector across the region. Energy transition, digital infrastructure, and infrastructure adjacent technologies and services are some of the most active sub-sectors across Asia and the Middle East. Our muti-faceted financing and M&A practice, complemented by specialist TMT and construction expertise, is well poised to support clients through their most complex matters.”
Matthew Keats, partner and co-head of Asia Energy & Infrastructure added,
“These fantastic deals showcase our team’s integrated capabilities in supporting complex, cross-border projects in energy transition, rapid digital transformation and the hydrocarbon value chain. Another driver is growing regional integration between Middle Eastern and Asian capital. For instance, we are advising the Saudi and Chinese joint venture partners on the production localisation of solar generation components in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Opportunities are particularly attractive where technology can drive efficiency, support energy transition, and build supply chain resilience.”
