Herbert Smith Freehills dominates project finance league table in Australia and New Zealand

Hebert Smith Freehills has dominated Mergermarket’s InfraDeals Australia and New Zealand Project Finance league table for the first quarter of 2017, with the firm ranking number one in both number of deals and overall value.

In the first three months of 2017, Herbert Smith Freehills advised on 11 of the largest and most complex project financing deals in Australia and New Zealand with a total deal value in excess of US$3.13 billion.

Some of these ground-breaking matters included:

• NSW Treasury and the Department of Family and Community Services  on the successful completion of five transactions that will comprise the first stage of the A$1.1 billion Social and Affordable Housing Fund (SAHF);
• Infrastructure Capital Group and the Energy Infrastructure Trust on the successful acquisition of the 106.6MW Bald Hills Wind Farm in Victoria; and
• Infigen Energy on the development of the A$236 million 113MW Bodangora Wind Farm in NSW.

Head of Herbert Smith Freehills’ Finance, Real Estate and Projects Group, Jason Ricketts, said the outstanding result was “a tribute to the faith clients placed in the firm’s market-leading expertise and experience in project finance”.

“Our clients demand the highest level of skill and expertise when it comes to dealing with matters of such significance and I am proud of the role our team has played in bringing such large and complex deals to fruition.”

Herbert Smith Freehills recently bolstered the strength of its global projects and project finance practice with the promotion of five partners and an executive counsel in December 2016. An additional three partners were promoted in April 2017.