Shearman & Sterling represented the lenders and the underwriters in connection with the bank/bond financing related to the $4.7 billion acquisition of Cleco Corporate Holdings LLC, formerly known as Cleco Corporation (“Cleco”), owner of regulated electric utility company Cleco Power LLC (“Cleco Power”), by a group of North American infrastructure investors led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, along with John Hancock Financial and other infrastructure investors. The complex financing consisted of a $1.35 billion acquisition term loan facility and $100 million revolving credit facility for Cleco and a $300 million revolving credit facility for Cleco Power, followed by a complex refinancing of Cleco’s acquisition term loan consisting of two Rule 144A senior secured notes offerings ($535 million due 2026 and $350 million due 2046) and a $300 million five-year term loan facility.

Cleco Power, headquartered in Louisiana, supplies wholesale power in Louisiana and Mississippi and owns 10 generating units with a total nameplate capacity of 3,333 megawatts, 11,830 miles of distribution lines and 1,300 miles of transmission lines.

The Team