Projects, energy and natural resources
The ‘very experienced and technically strong’ energy and natural resources sector group at Clifford Chance LLP stands out for its advice on standout global renewables projects. The ’technically brilliant’ Clare Burgess co-heads the practice and is a key advisor to major global lenders and energy and infrastructure investment managers on landmark financing, development, and M&A mandates. Also co-heading the team, Nicholas Hughes acts for leading energy sector investment firms on joint ventures, M&A, and investments, particularly concerning global wind, hydrogen, and electricity infrastructure assets. Jonathan Dillon provides further specialism regarding private capital M&A, most notably in the onshore and offshore wind assets. Offering a deep familiarity in Africa and the Americas, Edward Bretherton specialises in the financing and construction of green energy and infrastructure assets.
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Profile
Work Department
Energy and Infrastructure
Position
Clare is co-head of the Worldwide Projects group and co-head of the Energy Sector, with a particular focus on offshore wind projects, renewable portfolio transactions, hydrogen and other energy transition projects. She works on project development, financings and M&A in the sector. Clare acts for a broad range of market participants including sponsors, corporates, institutional investors, banks and multilaterals.
Clare is a founder member of the firm's ESG Board and is an expert in sustainable finance. Her recent work includes advising on the financing of H2 Green Steel project in Sweden, advising AIP and PFA on the sale of a stake of their holding in the Walney Extension offshore wind farm, advising Renantis on the refinancing of renewable projects across Europe, and advising on the project bond refinancing of the Benban Solar Park in Egypt.
Career
Joined Clifford Chance 2003
Admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales 2005
Partner since 2015
Memberships
Member of the AFME Growth/CMU Working Group, together with the AFME-ICMA Infrastructure Working Group and AFME Sustainable Finance Working Group
Member of the UK council of IPFA (International Project Finance Association)
Sits on the European Green Securities Steering Committee (chaired by the Climate Bond Initiative)
Board member of Hertfordshire Independent Living Service, a social enterprise
Education
University of Manchester (LLB) 2001
Content supplied by Clifford Chance LLP
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Straight no-nonsense advice, professional, very knowledgeable.’
‘Team strengths include the breadth of talent available, resulting in the timely turn-around of workstreams, coupled with a strong market knowledge and the desire to get to know and fully understand the points of strategic importance to the business they are acting for. Work streams have been large and complex in nature and the teams tackle the challenge well.’
‘A very experienced and technically strong team - providing detailed and knowledgeable advice in a complex and evolving regulatory space. The team supported our business in a critical project - providing commercial advice, they demonstrated a clear understanding of our strategy, risk appetite and drivers.’
‘Clare Burgess is technically brilliant, and well-able to translate advice into something meaningful for our business. She led a team to support us in everything we required across a complicated financing deal, which involved cross jurisdictional advice. Very available and willing to have open and transparent conversations.’
‘Praveen Jagadish consistently provides solid, practical advice designed to solve the problem you put to him. Rather than providing a generic analysis of contractual terms, Praveen will understand what needs to be achieved and will generally be able to find a way to do so.’
Key clients
- Brookfield Asset Management Belgian Government Actis TotalEnergies Masdar Nadara
Work highlights
Advising the lenders on the financing and development of the 720MW Baltyk II and 720MW Baltyk III offshore wind farms in Poland.
Advising Brookfield Asset Management on the acquisition of four 12.45% stakes in a 3.5 GW portfolio of operational UK offshore wind farms from Ørsted.
Acted for Masdar and China Resources Power on the merger of the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm Extension and the Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm Extension projects in the UK.