Robert O’Leary

Overview

Robert O’Leary is a partner in the Project Development & Finance practice.

With a focus in Latin America, Robert regularly advises on a variety of domestic and international project development, limited recourse, corporate and acquisition financing transactions in the energy, infrastructure and natural resources sectors. His clients include commercial, multilateral and development banks, and investors and sponsors from around the globe. Clients frequently look to him to advise on their more complex or first-in-kind transactions.

Experience

Power & Energy

Brookfield Asset Management and its affiliates in connection with the financing of a portfolio of community solar projects located in the State of New York. The portfolio is owned and developed by ClearPath Energy and the financing will allow ClearPath to expand its existing 2 gigawatt pipeline further while accelerating the progression of late-stage development assets into construction and operations
Bladex and Banco Popular, as Lenders, and Banco Popular, as Administrative Agent, in connection with the $120 million secured credit facility made available to AES Dominicana Renewable Energy (ADRE) as borrower, for the refinancing of the existing project finance debt of ADRE’s affiliate, Agua Clara – the owner of an approximately 50 MW wind farm in the Dominican Republic
Bladex as Lender and Administrative Agent in connection with the $40 million credit facility made available to AES Andres for the partial refinancing of the acquisition of Agua Clara, the owner of an approximately 50 MW wind farm in the Dominican Republic
DEG, FMO and PROPARCO, as lenders, and CIFI, as mandated lead arranger, on the $110 million secured credit facility made available to Polaris Energy Nicaragua S.A. (PENSA) and San Jacinto Power International Corporation (SJPIC), as borrowers, for the refinancing of their existing project finance debt in connection with PENSA’s operating 72 megawatt (net) geothermal power generating facility and the 10 megawatt (net) in-development binary plant addition thereto located in Telica, Department of León, Republic of Nicaragua
JPMorgan, Mizuho and Scotia Capital, as initial purchasers, in connection with a Rule 144A/Reg S offering of $350 million 4.900 percent senior secured notes due 2026 by Electricidad Firme de México Holdings (EFM), holding company of Saavi Energia, the fourth largest private power company by generation in Mexico
Scotiabank Mexico, as lender, on the $60 million letter of credit facility provided to EFM for the debt service, operations and maintenance obligations of Cometa Energía under its existing bond financing. Cometa owns a portfolio of subsidiaries operating natural gas electric generation and related facilities in Mexico
Invenergy and BW Gas as sponsors on a $128.3 million limited recourse project financing arranged by the Inter-American Investment Corporation, for the acquisition, development, conversion and operation of a floating storage and regasification unit (“FSRU”). The FSRU is being converted in Singapore and will ultimately be moored at the port of Acajutla, El Salvador and provide LNG regasification services to a 378 MW natural gas-fired power plant owned by Energía del Pacífico, a subsidiary of Invenergy. The FSRU will be the first regasification vessel deployed off the coast of El Salvador
Initial purchasers on the issuance by AES Panama Generation Holdings (“FinCo”), a special purpose vehicle created and indirectly owned by the AES Corporation, of $1.38 billion of senior secured notes; also advised the senior lenders and administrative agent on the financing of a $105 million term loan facility and a $50 million liquidity facility by the FinCo
ENGIE and its affiliates, including Heolios Intermediate 1, Engie Eólica Tres Mesas 3, Eólica Tres Mesas 4, Recursos Solares PV de México IV, BNB Villa Ahumada Solar, Buenos Días Energía and Engie Abril PV, on the limited recourse project financing and related interest rate hedging in respect of four solar parks and two wind farms in Mexico with a combined capacity of approximately 721 MW. The transaction includes a construction phase individualized per project financing, an operations phase portfolio holding company financing and, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the option to finance an additional solar park or wind farm project during the construction or operations phase.The project financing is ENGIE’s first green loan financing for renewables projects in the world (“Latin American Sponsor Deal of the Year” (2019) by IJGlobal)
FMO, DEG and PROPARCO as lenders, and FMO as facility agent on the $56.4 million financing for the completion and operation of an approximately 31.5 MW wind-powered electric generating facility in Jutiapa, Guatemala, owned and operated by Transmisión de Electricidad, which is part of Grupo Terra. This project forms part of the push to diversify Guatemala’s energy grid, which has significant renewable energy potential but is currently reliant on mostly conventional sources such as fossil fuel and coal
Transelec Concesiones, an affiliate of Transelec, with the approximately $358 million loan facility and associated interest rate hedging for the individualized portfolio construction financing of four independent transmission lines (each with a capacity of between 2x220 kV and 2x500 kV) and four associated independent substations in Chile, with EDC, KfW IPEX-Bank and MUFG acting as mandated lead arrangers
FMO, as lender and mandated lead arranger, and DEG, as facility agent on the senior and sub-senior financing of the construction of Pacific Solar Energy’s 50 MW solar-powered electric generating facility in Honduras
Y-GEN Eléctrica (Y-GEN) and Y-GEN II Eléctrica (Y-GEN II), each a joint venture formed by GE and YPF, on the limited-recourse financing for the construction of two gas-fired power stations located in the Argentine provinces of Neuquén and Tucumán. This is the first project finance loan to close in Argentina in more than a decade
Transmisora Eléctrica del Norte (TEN), a joint venture between Engie and RED Electrica of Spain, on the financing of its transmission line connecting the two major electrical grids in Chile, involving an innovative and complex dual-currency (USD and CLP) multi-tranche financing (“Latin America Power Deal of the Year” by Project Finance International; “Latin America Transmission Deal of the Year” by IJGlobal)

Acquisition Finance

Lenders and joint bookrunners on a Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of $1.1 billion 4.550% senior secured notes due 2051 issued by Alfa Desarrollo (“Alfa”) (a newly formed company wholly-owned indirectly by Celeo Redes) and certain investment funds managed by APG to consummate the $1.35 billion acquisition of Colbún Transmisión ("Americas Transmission Deal of the Year" (2021) by PFI)
JPMorgan Chase, as lead arranger, in connection with a $25.5 million acquisition loan facility granted to APG Energy & Infra Chile Expansion SpA, as borrower, for the acquisition of 80% of the share capital of Transquillota from Colbún and Enel Generación. APG acquired Transquillota in a joint venture with Celeo Redes which acquired 20% of Transquillota. Transquillota owns and operates the San Luis-Quillota transmission line and the San Luis substation in the Valparaíso region of Chile
Joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners on the senior secured notes issued by, and senior secured credit facilities made available to, Cometa Energía (Actis) with its $1.256 billion acquisition of the InterGen portfolio of energy assets in Mexico (“LatAm M&A Deal of the Year” by IJGlobal)

Banking & Finance

Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), as the borrower, in connection with a $150 million senior unsecured facility provided for general corporate purposes by a syndicate of lenders arranged by CTBC Bank
JPMorgan as administrative agent and lead arranger and bookrunner, and the lenders on the $597 million financing for The Fresh Market, Inc. (“TFM”), a retail-grocery store, as borrower and Cencosud S.A., the largest Chilean retail company, as guarantor. This working capital facility was put in place immediately following Cencosud’s acquisition of TFM
HSBC, as administrative agent, and Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, Itau BBA International and Mizuho, as joint bookrunners and lenders, in connection with a $250 million senior unsecured credit facility for Natura & Co Luxembourg Holdings, parent of Aesop and The Body Shop, as borrower, and Natura Cosméticos and Natura & Co Holding, each as a guarantor

Mining & Metals

Nevada Copper as they closed their Restart Financing Package. The Restart Financing Package provides up to $123 million of liquidity to the Company in order to support the restart and ramp-up of the Company’s Pumpkin Hollow underground copper mine, which is underway. The Restart Financing Package included several sources of funding, including additional stream and royalty funding, an incremental credit facility, deferred senior project and working capital interest payments, debt consolidation and warrants, additional equity and an additional backstop facility
Bluestone Resources on the development and proposed financing of the Cerro Blanco gold mining project in Guatemala
Consortium on the bid for the proposed CODELCO Water Supply Project in Chile
Orion Mine Finance and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities with respect to intercreditor and collateral matters relating to the financing of Lundin Gold’s $1B+ Fruta Del Norte Project in Ecuador, which consists of a prepaid gold loan, stream and equity investment from Orion/Blackstone, a project financing from KfW and a club of commercial banks (with a guaranty from Finnvera), a cost overrun facility and a strategic equity investment by Newcrest, Orion and the Lundin Family trusts. This transaction was the first large scale mine financing in Ecuador ("Project Finance Deal of the Year" (2020) by IFLR1000; "Latin American Mining Deal of the Year" (2019) by IJGlobal; "Latin American Mining & Metals Deal of the Year" (2017) by IJGlobal; "Mining Financing of the Year" (2019) by LatinFinance; "Best Mid-Cap Deal of the Year" (2018) by Mines and Money)