Private Practice Powerlist: US-Mexico 2019
Partner – Energy Transactions/Projects (Project Finance) | Vinson & Elkins LLP
Eamon Nolan
Partner – Energy Transactions/Projects (Project Finance) | Vinson & Elkins LLP
15
Acquisition and Leveraged Finance; Energy – Clean Energy and Technology; Energy – Upstream Oil and Gas; Latin America; Energy – Downstream Oil and Gas; Energy – Electric Power; Energy – Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG); Energy – Midstream Oil and Gas; Mergers and Acquisitions; Project Development; Project Finance
New York; Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Courts of Australia
English, Spanish
Eamon Nolan is a partner for Vinson & Elkins’ energy transactions and project finance team. His principle practice areas include acquisition and leveraged finance, clean energy and technology, oil and gas, electric power, liquefied natural gas, mergers and acquisitions, project development and project finance. In 2017, Nolan advised on the then largest commercial scale solar project in Mexico: MIRA’s acquisition of Parque Solar Coahuila. Nolan also advised the lenders on the $3bn project financing of Red Compartida, the government concession for the national telecommunications network for Mexico. Nolan’s other notable cases include representing Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in the acquisition of a 90% stake in 322MW solar portfolio in northern Mexico, as well as representing a client in connection with the disposal of two power generating assets. Nolan represented a client in connection with the acquisition of 87MW of operating wind farms and an additional solar expansion plant, and also represented arranging banks and SACE in connection with $250m export credit facility that was 80% guaranteed by SACE as part of its untied financing program.
I was fortunate enough to live in Mexico for six months on a client secondment with Macquarie in 2014 and that gave me a particular insight into the business climate in Mexico. I was also able to develop strong relationships with myriad people across the Mexican business spectrum, including lawyers, bankers, development banks, industry, government officials and private equity funds. Since that period in Mexico, I have worked continuously on transactions in country and travel there at least four to six times per year.
The primary advantage is having the opportunity to work with all the leading Mexican law firms as opposed to using only the local office of our own firm. This gives us the chance to ensure our clients are speaking with the absolute best Mexican lawyers on any deal based on the specific transactional needs. In addition, being New York-based is advantageous due to proximity to a lot of our clients that are based in New York, or, where we are on the sponsor side, being able to meet locally with their bankers on transactions.
Ongoing uncertainty about the way in which the current administration will administer government-run programs will be a constant discussion point. The power market, particularly renewables, will continue to see attractive price points in the merchant and private offtake space, particularly with the recent cancellation of the next round of auctions.
Like all jurisdictions, the legal market is in a state of transition as it embraces available advances in legal technology. One interesting advance is in the translation space, where non-Spanish speaking clients are increasingly able to rely on advances in translation technology to understand contracts and communicate without the disadvantage of not speaking the language.
Primarily, in-house counsel like to see international-style due diligence reports that embrace the approach of clear communication about off-market or risky features, as opposed to due diligence reports that are factual summaries without that market analysis. They also expect availability and responsiveness, much like all clients!
