Water

Americas

Vista Ridge
Representation of Ridgewood Private Equity Partners in connection with its acquisition of a majority equity interest in Vista Ridge LLC, the concessionaire for a greenfield 142-mile water pipeline in Texas, the offtaker of which is the San Antonio Water System. We negotiated multiple amendments to the water purchase agreement, ran an RFP process for and negotiated a long-term operations and maintenance agreement to navigate the project through the successful achievement of COD. Additionally, we advised on a US$1.05 billion refinancing of the project's construction financing, implemented as a US private placement.

Fort Lauderdale Water Treatment Plant
Represented Ridgewood Infrastructure and IDE Technologies in their unsolicited proposal to the City of Fort Lauderdale for the development of the Prospect Lake Clean Water Center. The facility, which will be able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and on completion will be operated for 30 years, involves the construction, operation and maintenance of a state-of-the-art membrane-based water treatment facility that will replace the City’s existing Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant that was built in 1954 and far exceeds its useful economic life. The project will use nanofiltration and ion-exchange technology to treat the water and deploys a novel approach to financing public-private partnerships in the US water sector, where many water assets are in dire need of modernization and improved resilience. 
In a first-of-a-kind approach to financing US public-private partnerships, the equity investors will fund 25 percent of the project costs while the City of Fort Lauderdale will combine the risk transfer to its private partners for delivery and long-term maintenance of the project with low-cost financing raised separately by the City to fund 75 percent of the project costs. The project is highly novel for two key reasons: It involved the development of an entirely new template for implementing a P3 transaction in the water treatment sector in the US, and adopted a first-of-a-kind approach to sourcing and applying debt financing for a US P3 project. The necessity for a new template in the market is great, given the extremely high number of water treatment plants requiring replacement across the US — the EPA estimated a US$274 billion drinking water capital investment gap over the 20-year period ending in 2019.

Rio de Janeiro Water and Sewerage Service
Represented Aegea, the leading Brazil-based sanitation company; AdR Investimentos, the leading Brazil-based investment firm; and AdR 1 and AdR 4, subsidiaries of Aegea.  Our Brazil-based Project Finance team advised these clients, as well as AdR 1, the ‘Águas do Rio SPEs’, on a RS$1.5 billion (approx. US$300 million) financing with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB Invest), which was fully disbursed in October 2024.  The loan agreements also involved a R$500 million (approx. US$100 million) guarantee from the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (Proparco) for the benefit of IDB Invest.  The IDB Invest financing is part of a complex multi-source financing also involving the Brazilian Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), BTG Pactual (BTG), as lender, under the Caixa Econômica Federal's program, Saneamento Para Todos (SpT) and local capital markets.  The Águas do Rio SPEs secured a long-term project financing package in connection with capital expenditure requirements in various municipalities of the State of Rio de Janeiro, pursuant to concession agreements obtained with the State of Rio de Janeiro.  According to Valor Econômico, this is the largest project financing in the sanitation sector in Brazil, involving an aggregate principal amount of R$25.5 billion (approx. US$5.1 billion).  

Seven Seas Water acquisition
Represented Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Inc. in its acquisition of Seven Seas Water Corporation, AquaVenture Holdings Inc. and AquaVenture Holdings Curacao N.V., a multinational developer, owner and operator of water production and wastewater treatment plants and businesses, from AI Aqua (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l, a company owned by Advent International Corporation.

Aconcagua Desalination Project
Represented Lumina Capital Management, as administrative agent and lender, in connection with a US$170 million senior secured holdco financing to the portfolio company Patria Investments. The financing was supported by an equity commitment from five funds managed by Patria Investments.  The proceeds from financing will be used to finance a portion of the Aconcagua desalination project in Chile (which consists of a 1,000 liter/second desalination plant with a 28-kilometer water pipeline to San Isidro and a 76-kilometer water pipeline, including a six-kilometer tunnel transport system, to the Los Bronces copper mine in Quilapilun and a 110/23kV substation with a one-kilometer transmission line.

Tietê River Depollution Project
Represented IDB Invest, the investment arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the leading global international financial institution owned by 48 sovereign states, which finances sustainable companies and projects to achieve financial results and maximize economic, social and environmental development in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Our Brazil-based Project Finance team advised IDB Invest, as agent acting on behalf of the IDB, IDB Invest, acting on its own behalf, and Proparco in connection with a R$470 million financing provided to SABESP, the largest water and waste management company in Latin America, for the fourth stage of the depollution of the Tietê river in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.  The financing was provided by IDB Invest and was guaranteed by Proparco under an innovative structure, which gives Proparco the option to honor the guarantee or purchase a portion of the guaranteed loans. 

Brackish water reverse osmosis desalination plant 
Represented Seven Seas Water Corporation in a water supply agreement entered into with the City of Alice, Texas. This is a P3 arrangement pursuant to which Seven Seas will construct, own and operate a brackish water reverse osmosis desalination plant on a site leased from the city.

Asia-Pacific

South East Water Corporation
Represented the South East Water Corporation (part of the Victorian State Government) in relation to its A$1.5 billion ten-year capital works program with works awarded to new industry partners Abergeldie, BMD & KBR (ABK) and BecaHunterH20, Fulton Hogan & Interflow (BFHI)

Hyflux
Represented Utico FZC, the UAE’s leading private water and power utility provider, with respect to the approximately S$3 billion restructuring of the Hyflux group, a Singapore-listed water and power conglomerate.

China Water Affairs Group
Represented China Water Affairs Group Limited in its US$109 million acquisition of the entre issued share capital of Goldtrust Water Holdings Limited (GWH). GWH and its subsidiaries are principally engaged in water-supply, sewage-treatment and other water-related businesses in the People’s Republic of China.

Victoria Desalination Project
Represented Aquasure in relation to the expansion of the Victorian Desalination Project.

Male’ Water and Sewerage
Represented Hitachi Plant Technologies in the agreement with the Government of the Republic of Maldives to take a 20 percent stake in the Maldivian water and sewage company Male’ Water and Sewerage.

Wastewater treatment projects in China
Represented IFC in a US$140 million senior term loan to China Everbright Water Limited (formerly known as Hankore Environment Tech Group Limited), on a portfolio basis to finance certain wastewater treatment projects in China.

Philippines seawater desalination project
Represented a confidential client in relation to the development and operation of a seawater desalination BOT project underpinned by a water supply agreement with a local government water utility.

Municipal wastewater and reuse projects
Represented ADB in connection with the US$120 million loan to Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited and its PRC subsidiary BEWG Environmental Group Co. Ltd. for the municipal wastewater and reuse projects in the PRC.

Water Supply & Distribution China
Represented ADB in connection with its partnership with 18 banks to finance a water supply and distribution project of the China Water Affairs Group Limited, to increase access and improve water efficiency in small- and medium-sized cities in the PRC. The total commitment reached was US$300 million, which was composed of an ADB direct loan of US$100 million and a US$200 million B-loan.

Europe

Izmir water and wastewater infrastructure
Represented IFC in relation to the proposed investment in Izmir Su ve Kanalizasyon Idaresi Genel Mudurlugu for the contemplated financing of the water and wastewater infrastructure investment program of IZSU in Izmir, Türkiye.

Water treatment concession
Represented the Suez Group under a tender procedure initiated by a French local authority pertaining to a concession agreement for water services.

Zagreb Wastewater Treatment Plant
Represented EBRD and KfW in the increase of existing project finance facilities by €32 million in connection with the extension of a wastewater treatment plant in Zagreb, Croatia.

Lanes Group
Represented Lanes Group and its shareholders in a significant investment from Global Infrastructure Partners, which will take a majority stake in the business. Lanes Group is a family-founded business that is one of the leading providers of water and wastewater solutions across the UK.

Kemira Oyj
Represented Solidium Oy in its sale of six million ordinary shares in Kemira Oyj, a Finland-based water chemicals company listed on Nasdaq Helsinki, through an accelerated bookbuild offering pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S.

Middle East and Africa

Casablanca Water Desalination Project
Represented the lenders to the consortium composed of Acciona Agua, Green of Africa and Afriquia Gaz in the construction, development, operation and maintenance of the project. This future desal plant, which is anticipated to be the largest of such plants in Africa upon completion, will cover a 50-hectare site and is projected to have an annual production capacity of 300 million cubic meters, serving a population of approx. 7.5 million inhabitants. The electricity required to operate the plant will come from a 100 percent renewable source and will be supplied through a PPA to be entered into between the SPV-project company and a consortium member that is building (and will operate) a wind farm in Dakhla, Morocco.

Tanajib Cogeneration and Desalination Project
Represented Saudi Aramco with respect to the development of the Tanajib Cogeneration and Desalination project.

Mirfa 2 RO IWP
Represented EWEC in connection with the Mirfa 2 RO IWP, involving the development at the Mirfa complex of a 120MIGD reverse osmosis desalination plant.

Taweelah RO IWP
Represented EWEC in connection with the Taweelah RO IWP, involving the development at the Taweelah complex of a 200 MIGD reverse-osmosis desalination plant, which is the largest reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the world. The Taweelah RO IWP integrates solar PV such that renewable energy is expected to account for at least 30% of the project’s electricity capacity within ten years, with a target of raising to 55% by the end of the first quarter life of the project. The Taweelah RO IWP obtained the first ever “sustainable loan” qualification for a desalination project.

Cote D’Ivoire water sanitation
Representation of Eranove and Société de Distribution d’Eau de Cote d’Ivoire (SODECI) in relation to a delegation agreement for water sanitation in the Greater Abidjan Area.

Berg River-Voelvlei Augmentation Scheme funding
Represented RMB, Investec and DBSA in relation to its funding of TCTA to be used for funding the Berg River-Voelvlei Augmentation Scheme (BRVAS). The BRVAS is a water augmentation scheme project in the Western Cape, a province of South Africa.

Integrated power and water facility
Represented a Singaporean industrial conglomerate in both a potential ICC arbitration against a Middle Eastern state-owned entity and a potential UNCITRAL arbitration (to be administered by the HKIAC) against a Chinese subcontractor arising out of a US$1 billion integrated power production and water desalination facility in the Middle East.