The Legal 500

Clifford Chance’s ‘market-leading’ practice numbers five partners and acts on a large international portfolio of schemes, including in Turkey, where it is the market leader. Longstanding clients include Unicredit Group, Fraport and the International Finance Corporation. The firm is involved in large infrastructure projects such as the €1.1bn financing of Pulkovo Airport, St Petersburg, and the €3.9bn Nord Strem Pipeline, representing export credit agencies and lenders. Energy projects include the Dragaliden wind farm in Sweden, and the €157m Strasskirchen solar farm, advising the lenders in each case. Riko Vanezis and Edmund Boyo are recommended.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s three-partner team is headed by Daniel Reichert-Facilides, and has an enviable reputation in motorway PPP projects. It recently advised on the second tranche of the German A-model PPP motorway programme. In other areas, the City of Offenbach instructed the firm on its PPP school project, involving the demolition and rebuilding of a number of schools, while energy projects handled by the team include coal and several major solar and photovoltaic schemes. Key clients include HSH Nordbank and Grosskraftwerk Mannheim. Christian Bunsen and Thomas Wagner are recommended.

Allen & Overy LLP’s project finance team maintains a leading presence in energy-related schemes, particularly renewable energy projects. The team acted for Commerzbank and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg as lenders on the €1.2bn financing of an anthracite power station expansion in the Rhein-Neckar region, set to be one of the most modern and efficient such plants globally. It also advised HSH Nordbank on several solar projects within other European jurisdictions. Norbert Wiederholt and Peter Stenz provide ‘all the legal answers needed’.

Linklaters LLP’s team is led by the well-respected figure of Eva Reudelhuber, and had a successful year characterised by particular activity in renewable energy projects. Wind power is an area of focus for the firm; it is involved in many of the largest projects, including three schemes in the German Bight. Additionally, solar power has proved a fruitful and growing sector for the practice and this is coupled with a focus on transport infrastructure finance, notably motorway projects in several Eastern European countries.

Alexander Reuter heads the project finance team at White & Case LLP, noted for its ‘good quality of legal advice and experience’. It has established itself in the German photovoltaic and wind projects sectors, and is advising several consortia of banks on large photovoltaic plant projects, including one of the world’s largest. The team also represented a banking consortium on the long-term financing of the Berlin Brandenburg International Airport, a €1.4bn deal.

CMS Hasche Sigle’s team is headed by the well-respected Marc Riede in Hamburg, and acted on several important deals involving renewable energy, transport infrastructure and property developments across Germany. The firm represented a consortium of banks, including Landesbank Berlin, on several projects at the Berlin Brandenburg Airport development, in a €240m deal, and acted for other clients on PPP motorway projects. In the renewables sector, the team advised large German banks in relation to photovoltaic projects in Italy, and investors in the project financing of a large North Sea offshore wind farm.

DLA Piper’s three-partner project finance team is headed by Frank Roth and has significant experience in PPP and PFI projects in Germany, with transport infrastructure a particular strength. The team has advised UniCredit Bank on the financing of BARD Offshore 1, a €1bn development of 80 wind turbines in the North Sea. The firm also advised a syndicate of six banks on a DKK1.4bn PPP motorway project in Denmark. Antje Günther is recommended.

Dirk Trautmann leads the project finance team at Norton Rose LLP, which remains a notable presence in the German PPP and renewables markets. The team was involved in the first-ever PPP deal in Switzerland, advising a consortium of BAM PPP and Marti on a large prison and administrative centre development, and also advised the German Ministry of Transport, Construction and Urban Development on the procurement process for several new road projects. The team also acted for Deutsche Bank and several others on a €2bn power and desalination plant in Dubai.

Beiten Burkhardt’s team is led jointly by Bernhard Gemmel and Dirk Tuttlies, and maintains some strong and fruitful relationships in Eastern Europe. Highlights of 2010 included acting for HSBC on the export credit financing of a purchase of turbines for a Turkish wind farm project, and advising the EBRD as lender on several trade projects in Eastern Europe. Renewable energy is an important growth area for the firm, particularly wind energy.

Noerr LLP’s project finance team is led by Torsten Fett as overall head of the banking and finance division, and also includes the recommended figure of Sebastian Bock. The team assisted Bayern LB with various financings of solar parks in Spain and southern Europe; Globalfoundries as sponsor in the expansion of the AMD Fab 36 in Dresden; and the State of Lower Saxony on a PPP prison project in Bremervörde.

Simmons & Simmons LLP’s team, headed by Ingrid Kalisch, maintains a presence in PPP transport infrastructure projects, and has to date advised on five of the first six PPP road schemes in Germany, including the successful A5 Baden-Baden to Offenburg motorway. The team also advised several banks on the PPP financing of the €150m City Castle Potsdam scheme, which will be the seat of the state parliament of Brandenburg.