Latham & Watkins , SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw), Milbank and Picazo Buyco Tan Fider & Santos (PicazoLaw) have acted on a USD600 million investment in the Philippines-based Terra Solar Project, the world’s largest integrated renewables and energy storage scheme.
“The unprecedented scale and size of the project led to regulatory concerns quite different from what energy projects in the Philippines would typically encounter. The fact that the Terra Solar Project operates in a highly regulated industry … contributed to the challenges that parties had to consider in finalising the deal,” SyCipLaw’s lead partners told Asia Business Law Journal when asked about the regulatory challenges the firm had to overcome.
The transaction grants Actis a 40% stake in the USD3.5 billion Terra Solar Project, which is set to supply electricity to around 2.4 million households in the Philippines.
Latham & Watkins advised Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and its subsidiary, Solar Philippines New Energy Corporation (SPNEC), on their partnership with Actis, a leading investor in sustainable infrastructure. Leading the Latham & Watkins team are partners Sidharth Bhasin and Benjamin Carale.
PicazoLaw is acting as local counsel to Meralco and SPNEC on matters from the structuring, documentation and bidding process to the ongoing procurement of regulatory approvals. The team was led by partners Grace Dela Cruz and Maureen Christine Lizarondo-Medina, with support from special counsel Alex Erlito Fider.
As local counsel to Actis, SyCipLaw’s team was led by partners Vicente Gerochi IV, Aaron Roi Riturban and Jan Celine Aba?o-Ranada.
Milbank represented Actis, with partners James Grandolfo, Neeraj Budhwani, Bijan Ganji and Alexander Rinne leading the team.
Grandolfo said: “[This transaction] will bring significant new renewable energy and more than 10,000 new jobs to the Philippines and greatly enhance the country’s drive to a carbon-free future.”
