The Legal 500 > Europe, Middle East & Africa > Italy > Industry focus: Energy

The well respected energy focus group at BonelliErede continues to advise on a wide range of gas and power partnership formations, stake acquisitions and the entry of infrastructure funds into the Italian market. Mario Roli coordinates the team, which also includes project finance and banking practitioner Catia Tomasetti. The team was boosted further as a result of the July 2019 merger with Lombardi e Associati, while Gabriele Malgeri is another name to note.

The energy team at Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners, which is spread across the firm's Rome and Milan offices, offers '360-degree, excellent' support on matters concerning energy regulation as well as corporate and commercial matters. Among the team's highlights during 2019 included a complex public sector energy efficiency deal, fibre optic financing projects and the sales of photovoltaic assets. Ottaviano Sanseverino Vimercati and Francesco Puntillo lead the team's efforts.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is involved in many innovative deals in the Italian energy market. In 2019, the department took a role on a major financing project for a grid parity plant; a case concerning a state-of-the-art concentrating solar power system; and negotiations for a significant 10-year power purchase agreement. Carlo Montella, global deputy business unit leader of the energy and infrastructure practice, is ably supported by of counsels Andrea Gentili and Pina Lombardi.

Carola Antonini heads the energy department at Chiomenti. Acquisitions, issuance of green bonds and energy efficiency insurance policies were all key areas of activity for the team in the past year, covering a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, renewables and biomass. A series of counsel promotions in January 2019 strengthened the team at mid-level.

Umberto Penco Salvi - who boasts strong M&A, administrative and tax credentials - heads up Clifford Chance's Italian energy and infrastructure team, which also has a track record on project and trade finance, intellectual property and antitrust matters. Renewables is an important sector, while another key part of the practice revolves around operations such as portfolio expansions and acquisitions (especially those aimed at energy efficiency).

At DLA Piper, the energy team - led by Giulio Maroncelli - has a strong corporate and M&A focus. Francesco Novelli, for example, handles major transactions in the oil and gas and wind sectors. In late 2018, the department increased its administrative law capacity - especially in the electricity, sanctioning proceedings, energy efficiency and public incentives sectors - with the hire of litigation and regulatory legal director Alessia Marconi from Macchi di Cellere Gangemi. Germana Cassar is another key name from the litigation and regulatory team.

With a wide focus, covering M&A, finance and project finance, the team at Legance - Avvocati Associati led by Monica Colombera is dedicated to energy, projects and infrastructure, and made up by experts in a variety of fields - including administrative law, tax, public law and regulatory. In 2019 the team was substantially strengthened at associate level and also welcomed new more senior figures, including Cristina Martorana from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, who is now head of the energy administrative group. Giovanni Scirocco was promoted to partner; he is particularly well-versed in wind, photovoltaic, biomass and waste-to-energy cases.

With a very broad Rome-based energy practice, Hogan Lovells International LLP is raising its profile in the oil and gas market - especially in respect of global energy companies, for which the firm increasingly acts as trusted advisers. The team is coordinated by Leah Dunlop, a dual-qualified M&A lawyer; Francesca Angeloni contributes to the team with her environmental law and regulatory expertise, while competencies in tax, competition, restructuring and insolvency round out the practice's offering.

Macchi di Cellere Gangemi's energy and natural resources team has expanded from a focus on M&A and tax to also include regulatory and administrative capabilities. While advice on production plants, fossil fuels and renewables play a central role, Claudio Visco's team is increasingly involved in energy transportation and distribution deals, for example in concessions for gas distribution. Marco Sella is the key partner for power generation projects and the purchase or divestment of energy assets, while Francesco Piron is a  former consultant to the legislative and legal direction of the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity and Gas. Antonio Colavecchio joined as of counsel in 2019; Emilio Sani left to found Sani Zangrando.

The energy team at Norton Rose Fulbright handles a range of matters covering banking, public law, corporate and employment, drawing on its international reach to serve its Italian clients across borders. The department is led by Arturo Sferruzza, an expert in the renewables sector and specifically construction and engineering, operations, energy storage, power purchase and power trading as well as commercial and regulatory issues. His energy M&A projects are often award-winning transactions.

Pavia e Ansaldo's activity in energy is characterized by a sector-specific team, intertwined with the other departments in the firm - including corporate M&A, administrative and environmental law and litigation. E-mobility, regasification and the Italian nuclear sector (with projects regarding the construction or decommissioning of nuclear power plants) are niche areas of expertise that accompany the more traditional oil and gas, electricity and renewables offerings. Carlo Del Conte is at the head of the team.

After the departure of Matteo Falcione in May 2019, leadership of Dentons' Italy energy practice was assumed by Carsten Steinhauer, who had joined in January of the same year from McDermott Will & Emery Studio Legale Associato. His focus lies in transactions in the renewables sector (the solar industry in particular), and he brought with him a significant pool of German clients, including power producers, investment funds and banks. The firm is a member of the wind industry association WindEurope and of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators.  

With established expertise in the solar sector, Bird & Bird advises developers, regulators, banks, utilities and other companies on matters relating to renewables, energy efficiency, smart energy and distribution networks. Practice head Pierpaolo Mastromarini has a cemented reputation in the field of energy efficiency.

At CBA Studio Legale e Tributario, the team of energy, infrastructure and project finance specialists devotes its attention to clients predominantly in the secondary market who are involved in renewable resources, energy efficiency and biogas matters. Many of their highlights - especially M&A and project finance cases - are dealt with by practice head Paolo Esposito in collaboration with other lawyers specialised in tax and administrative law or M&A and private equity.

CMS's Italian energy practice counts major clients in the oil and gas sector (covering oil and gas exploration and production, public tender procedures, taxation of oil products and transactions) as well as in the electricity and renewables sectors (solar, biomass and wind energy) and in minerals. The experienced Pietro Cavasola is head of the department and a member of the wider firm's global energy group.

With a team based across offices in Milan, Rome and Padua, the energy practice at Deloitte Legal Italy - Società tra Avvocati a r.l. has a successful track record in advising clients on M&A, plant construction and operation, energy efficiency and regulations. Antonella Alfonsi leads the firm's Central Mediterranean energy, resources and industrial group, as well as the Central Mediterranean power and utilities group.

Gitti and Partners has grown organically since its founding in 2015 and now features a well-integrated energy and utilities practice. Piero Viganò is dedicated to energy matters and leads on issues such as biomethane, environmental issues and compliance. The department has a varied roster of clients, featuring infrastructure funds, utilities, trading societies, banks and funds as well as business associations and WEEE operators.

A wide range of clients, among them investors, private equity funds, energy operators and financial institutions, instruct the team at L&B Partners Avvocati Associati. Acting in close collaboration with its associated financial advisory arm, the practice has a key focus on assisting with large investments into renewables, energy efficiency and infrastructure. The firm is headed by Michele De Terlizzi, who regularly advises on M&A transactions and provides administrative assistance, as well as working on financing matters within the energy sector. Also notable is Bartolomeo Cozzoli, who has extensive experience of administrative law and public utilities.

In the energy sector, Nctm Studio Legale focuses on contracts relating to tolling, risk hedging and energy performance, as well as acquisitions and joint ventures. Eugenio Siragusa's practice centres around corporate, banking and finance matters, while Giulio Berruti's focus is on administrative and European public law.