Fiona Gulliford

Fiona Gulliford is a partner in Trinity International LLP and has a wide range of experience in the power and infrastructure sectors in various jurisdictions, including the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe, with a focus on emerging markets, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fiona advises both developers and financial institutions including commercial lenders, DFIs and ECAs. In recent years, Fiona’s primary focus has been the provision of advice to developers of energy projects, in particular renewable energy projects in anglophone and francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, nuclear energy in Europe, hospital PPPs in Central Asia and provision of general project financing advice to lenders across a range of emerging markets.

Fiona leads the Trinity Off-Grid power practice, and her practice encompasses mini-grids, captive power, solar home systems and rooftop solar initiatives. Fiona is currently advising lenders in respect of a mini-grid financing in Nigeria being structured as an equity investment with a sale and purchase arrangement to refinance the equity debt, and is working with IFC on the creation of a Scaling Mini-Grid program for deployment in Sub-Saharan Africa – with potential to roll out in Asia – which aims to upscale and standardise documents for off-grid distributed solar power to encourage investment in the sector. Fiona is also advising another DFI with a program to scale up mini-grids in rural areas of Uganda through the Get Access program. Fiona also advises both Lenders and developers in respect of rooftop solar and solar home system corporate financing and re-financings on portfolios which cover sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. This focus on electrification of under-developed areas of emerging market jurisdictions is part of the Firm’s commitment to working on projects with a social infrastructure bias, and Fiona is passionate about grass roots development in emerging markets and has contributed to virtual discussions on how to inject private investment into off-grid power infrastructure initiatives.

Fiona also leads the Trinity Central Asian practice and other “out of Africa” jurisdictions. Fiona is working on current mandates in Kazakhstan (hospital PPP) and a solar IPP in Uzbekistan, and is managing a portfolio of five solar power projects and two wind projects (including the largest in country) in Ukraine, and has also recently assisted lenders to a commercial bank in Ukraine.

Fiona continues to advise FRAMATOME (formerly Areva N.P) in relation to the Hinckley Point Nuclear Power Project in the UK, and has experience advising on nuclear power projects in both the UK and France, and bids for nuclear power projects in South Africa.

Fiona’s recent transactions include representing:

Recently mandated to advise the Asian Development Bank on a 200-350MW solar power project in Uzbekistan; IFC in relation to the design and structuring of a Scaling Mini-Grids Programme, to be rolled out initially in Nigeria and DRC, by creating template documents and financing and credit support package which we hope to deploy in other emerging markets in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions; KfW in respect of the Get Access program to scale up mini-grids; Lenders in respect of a bid for the REIPPP 5 solar round in South Africa and Engie in respect of bids for the RMIPPP in South Africa EBRD and the Kazakhstan Government (health ministry) in relation to the Almaty Training Hospital PPP - working to put together a bankable project for international investment, with credit support available through other DFIs; EBRD in relation to advising a Central Asian Government on bankability issues in power purchase agreements; Lenders to the first IPP to close in Burundi (which represents 20% of the country’s energy needs) and the first IPP to use the regional liquidity support facility letter of credit, which is currently being refinanced by DFC; Representing a solar home systems developer in respect of its group level refinancing and restructuring of its debt – this involved managing significant numbers of existing secured and unsecured lenders, including crowd funding investment platforms, to create a structure acceptable to DFI senior debt funds Scatec Solar in relation to five solar IPPs in Ukraine NEOEN SA in relation to the first World Bank Scaling Solar project to reach financial close in Zambia; Lenders in respect of an innovative senior debt financing structure being used to finance Mini- Grid portfolios in Nigeria for PowerGen and CrossBoundary. This transaction uses a unique sale and purchase model to attract investment rather than a conventional senior debt project finance structure Lender to the project financing of the 250MW Syvash Wind Park, the biggest wind park project in Ukraine and advising on a similar mandate for a 110MW wind park in Ukraine; EDFI in relation to the financing of off-grid projects in Mozambique; DFI Lenders in relation to the financing of off-grid projects in Kenya and Rwanda; Wartsila in relation to a thermal IPP in Malawi and Voltalia S.A in respect of a solar IPP in Malawi.

Fiona has also worked on a number of IPPs and IWPPs projects across the Middle East, in Bahrain, Oman, UAE, Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Fiona has also worked on numerous infrastructure financings for both sponsors and lenders, including road projects and rail financings in Eastern Europe and telecom finance transactions in both Cap Verde and Burundi.

Recent Seminars:

Contributor - Trinity Talks (online training via weblink/YouTube): Various topics, including Off-Grid financing, update on the Central Asian power market and closing transactions during the pandemic (2020).

Recent conference speaking:

UK - Africa Virtual Trade Mission – Legal Services Are Great - Green ambitions: Supporting sustainable investment in a post-Covid environment, December 2020 AIX C&I Webinar- C&I policy and regulatory approaches, June 2020

Northampton High School for Girls’, University of St Andrews and The College of Law, Guildford, Surrey.  (International Relations and Modern History Degree (MA Joint Honours) (1999), PgDL (2000) and Legal Practice Course (2001))