DLA Piper advises a syndicate of 4 international lenders on a GBP285 million refinancing of Firmus Energy’s corporate debt facilities

DLA Piper has advised a syndicate of 4 international lenders on the refinancing of Firmus Energy’s corporate debt facilities.

Firmus Energy is one of three gas distribution operators in Northern Ireland and is owned by funds managed by Equitix, a leading global investor, developer and long-term fund manager of core infrastructure.

Financial close was achieved in December and represents a significant step in facilitating Firmus Energy’s ongoing investment in the gas network across Northern Ireland.

The DLA Piper team for the lenders was led by Dublin Head of Finance, Conor Houlihan and Legal Directors Liam Mills, Kieran Finn and Seán McGrenaghan, who were supported by Charlie Bridges. The DLA Piper team also advised the hedging banks and exiting lenders together with Capital Markets Partner Kos Vavelidis, Associates Patrick Lightbown and Biko Maswanganye acting for the hedging banks and Finance Partner Neil Campbell and Legal Director Lilly Alamir acting for the exiting lenders.

Legal Director, Liam Mills commented that “This financing provides a platform for Firmus Energy’s ambitious decarbonisation strategy and is one that we are delighted to have helped our lender clients support. We’re pleased to have been able to close this deal in a matter of weeks, which is testament to our team’s ability to pull together large-scale complex corporate financing arrangements in streamlined timeframes.”

Dublin Head of Finance, Conor Houlihan added that “We’re delighted to have reached financial close on this transaction. It demonstrates the combined strength of our corporate finance practice and our energy finance practice. We were able to deploy a large team from across our network to achieve the ambitious timetable targeted by both the lenders and Firmus Energy, with plenty of time to spare before Christmas.”

The DLA Piper team worked together with Tughans’ partners Douglas Anderson and Fearghal O’Loan and director, Sarah Sharkey. Firmus Energy was represented by Centrus financial advisors, Pinsent Masons, Evolution Infrastructure, Frontier Economics and PricewaterhouseCoopers.