Energy and Infrastructure M&A

Matheson has the leading E&I M&A practice in the Irish market. Over the last five years, Matheson has advised on more cross-border energy M&A transactions and transatlantic deals than any other Irish law firm, including advising:

Offshore Wind

• Octopus Renewables, one of the largest owners and managers of renewable energy assets in Europe, on its significant minority stake, and follow on investments, in Simply Blue Group, a marine project developer focused on early stage floating wind projects.
• A major Irish all-island utility company on its joint venture partnership for the co-development of off-shore wind projects.
• Fred Olsen on its joint venture in respect of the Codling offshore windfarm.
• A leading global offshore wind developer and operator and its domestic partner on their joint venture arrangements in respect of their offshore windfarm.

Onshore Wind

• GLIL Infrastructure on its acquisition of the 453MW Rathcool Wind Energy Portfolio, which provides around 11% of the Republic of Ireland’s installed wind capacity.
• one of Ireland's leading renewable-focused utility providers, on its acquisition of a 90MW onshore wind farm with BESS and in respect of two offshore windfarm development projects off the coast of Ireland (capacity up to 1.8 GW).
• GE in relation to the sale of the Derrysallagh and Tullahennel wind farms (combined capacity 120 MW).
• A number of international bidders on the sale by Brookfield of a wind farm portfolio of more than 380 megawatts of operational and ready-to-build assets and approximately 300 megawatts of development opportunities.

Solar

• Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) on its acquisition of a majority stake in Elgin Energy, comprising a portfolio of 15 GW of solar PV and battery assets.
• Highfield Solar and ib vogt on the sale of two solar parks (capacity 282MW).
• Octopus Renewables on its acquisition finance and construction of the 250MW Ballymacarney solar project (Ireland's largest solar park).
• EDF on its acquisition of a portfolio of eight solar projects with over 100MW of capacity.

Battery and Storage

• Hanwha Energy Corporation on the sale of its majority stake in the largest battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Ireland, one of the largest such installations in Europe.
• Statkraft on its acquisition of a significant battery energy storage project.
• RES on the sale of the 50MW BESS Gorman Energy Storage Station in County Meath, Ireland to Scottish Power Renewables (UK) Limited.

Digital and Telecoms

• Cellnex on the sale of its Irish business, which is Ireland’s largest telecoms tower company.
• Asterion Industrial Partners on its acquisition of an 80% stake in the National Broadband Plan for Ireland.
• AMP Capital on the sale of the assets of the Irish Infrastructure Fund for sale, comprising controlling stakes in the Speed Fibre Group (Magnet Networks, Airspeed and Enet) and the Convention Centre Dublin PPP project.
• Macquarie Capital Principal Finance on its strategic investment in Viatel, a leading digital connectivity and technology business.

Transport, Electricity and Other Infrastructure

• RAIM on its acquisition of Celtic Roads Group (Waterford), the operator of the N25 Waterford Bypass PPP toll road concession PPP, with co-investment backing from IST and Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure.
• CVC on regulatory matters in connection with its acquisition of leading infrastructure manager DIF.
• Eirgrid plc on critical grid infrastructure matters including the development of the new Ireland-France Celtic interconnector, operational matters relating to the Moyle Interconnector and grid connection agreements for large-scale infrastructure users. 
• Macquarie Asset Management on its acquisition of the Beauparc Group (Ireland's largest recycling and processing led waste-to-resource business) and the Beacon Hospital (one of Ireland's largest private healthcare providers).

Thermal and others

• GE Capital on all aspects of the acquisition, financing, development, operation and subsequent sale of all of its Irish energy assets - four onshore wind farms and Ireland’s largest independent CCGT generating station.
• Shannon LNG Limited (a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and combined heat and recovery plant in Ireland) on its sale to NFE Shannon Holdings Limited (a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy).
• Warburg Pincus and Zenith Energy on the acquisition and operation of the Bantry Bay oil storage terminal from Ireland’s largest oil storage terminal.
• EFS European Holdco BV, an affiliate of General Electric Company, on its sale of Ronaver Energy Limited to an affiliate of Apollo Global Management LLC, as part of a $1 billion portfolio sale.
• Irving Oil on its acquisition of Tedcastles, an Irish-based energy marketing and distribution organisation and its acquisition of Whitegate Refinery, Ireland's only refinery.

E&I Services

• AFRY (formerly ÅF Pöyry) on the acquisition of Ionic Consulting, one of the leading renewable electricity consultancy firms in Ireland.
• Edina Power Services in connection with an acquisition of the company’s shares by EnergyPro Ltd, an Ireland-based provider of energy efficient products and services which is also a subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, an India-based provider of energy efficient products. 
• shareholders of Enicity, a consultancy firm in the power and energy sector, on its sale to Utility Innovation Group (UIG), a US-based energy utility company.
• Waterland Private Equity on its acquisition of Irish-based turn-key cable installation and termination business, MTM Engineering, and bolt-on transactions comprising the MTM acquisition of CET Connect and ATSS Ventures.

• "In the M&A context, I love how collaborative Matheson is with all other parties at the table. They work extremely well with our US counsel, as well as opposing counsel, which makes transactions more efficient and less costly to complete."- Commercial, Corporate and M&A: The Legal 500 2023
• "The team is very efficient and knowledgeable of the market, and has the resources internally to handle bigger projects and manage that really well." – Energy & Natural Resources: Chambers Europe 2023
• "Matheson are extremely knowledgeable about the energy sector.  They are certainly market leaders in this regard" – Energy & Natural Resources: The Legal 500 2023
• "Excellent communication. Fantastic commercial acumen. Matheson has become a trusted adviser to our firm.” – PPP/PFI: IFLR1000 2023
• "Matheson are responsive, they resolve problems quickly, give clear advice." –  Project Development: IFLR1000 2023
• "The lawyers understand the needs of the client and deliver pragmatic solutions." – Energy & Natural Resources: Chambers Europe 2023
• Ireland’s Top Law Firm – Sunday Independent Best Law Firms 2023 Survey
• Winner, NetZero Carbon Award – Business and Finance ESG Awards 2023
• Matheson "edged out competitors for Ireland Firm of the Year" – Ireland Firm of the Year (IFLR Europe 2023 Awards)
• "Excellent at the mechanics of the transaction and providing information and support to the board" – IFLR1000 2022
• "Strong corporate practice with impressive bench-strength." - The Legal 500 2022
• "The team was not only excellent from a technical perspective, but also proactive and with a deep knowledge of the market and factors involved." – IFLR1000 2022
• "Matheson has once again demonstrated that they have leaders who support the D&I agenda in practical ways, including providing the appropriate resources and leading by example.  The business has also shown that team members feel they are treated fairly, with respect and are valued for their differences" – First organisation in Ireland to be awarded and retain the Gold Accreditation (Irish Centre for Diversity 2020 and 2022)