Morrison Foerster’s project finance group in Tokyo handles significant international matters in the renewable energy, mining, transport, and LNG spaces, among others. Michael Graffagna has considerable experience advising sponsors and developers on the development, acquisition, divestment, and financing of large infrastructure projects in the APAC region and around the world. He leads the practice alongside Dale Caldwell, who often acts for lenders, project sponsors and construction contractors in connection with the development and financing of infrastructure projects. Masahiro Shiga specialises in renewable energy project finance.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Dale Caldwell is the lead partner covering our investments in the wider energy sector in Japan. He is exceptionally intelligent, and very experienced in multiple areas and his advice is always thoughtful and addresses both the legal and commercial aspects of the situation. He is probably the most experienced legal counsel in the space of energy and M&As in Japan.'
- ‘Dale Caldwell is very hands-on and provides sensible strategic advice while having a breadth of experience to appreciate and anticipate counterparty positions. Dale is supported by strong junior partners and senior associates on both the Japanese law and US law sides for our major transactions in M&A and financing. Masahiro Shiga is also very solid in Japanese law / Japanese language transactions, together with regulatory advice from Fumi Hori.’
- 'Ganesh Vaheisvaran is also an outstanding associate, who has proven to be diligent, thorough, efficient and quite knowledgeable in all the transactions we have worked together.'
- ‘Mike Graffagna is our go-to partner - he has an in-depth understanding of our company as well as our counterparties, and knows when to fight for us.’
- ‘Michael Graffagna has been handling our cases for many years. He is well versed in our business strategy, corporate culture, and personnel, allowing him to provide high-quality and appropriate advice promptly. He offers essential advice based on his experience and is a dependable attorney in negotiations and other matters.’
‘MoFo has one of the most experienced and knowledgeable teams in this field in Japan. They combine a strong team of foreign lawyers and Japanese bengoshi and are pioneers in many energy-related areas in Japan. ’
- 'They are a solid team with unique expertise and they are truly partners in our business and our investments in Japan.’
‘This team has a very good balance between quality foreign and Japanese qualified lawyers to service our transactional and regulatory needs for renewables, in particular for solar. We collaborate on new initiatives together and jointly invest time and energy.’
Key clients
- JERA Co., Inc.
- SoftBank Group Corp. / SB Energy
- Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd.
- Sumitomo Corporation
- PAG Renewables
- First Solar, Inc.
- Enfinity Global Inc.
- EverStream Energy Capital Management
- GSSG Solar
Work highlights
- Advised PAG Renewables on a multifaceted transaction involving the development of a 34.55MW solar power project, the preparation and negotiation of a power purchase agreement with a corporate off-taker, the long-term limited-recourse project financing for the development, construction and operation of the project, and the preparation and negotiation of a purchase and sale agreement to sell the project once it is put into commercial operation.
- Advised PAG Renewables and its affiliated project company on restructuring the project company to spin out certain assets and liabilities that would not be financed through a corporate split transaction, refinancing existing project financing debt and incurring new limited recourse project financing debt for its existing solar power project and two additional solar power projects.
- Acted for Sumitomo Corporation in the extension of the Rehabilitation and Maintenance Agreement for the MRT-3 Transit System in Manila, the first urban railway system outside Japan constructed by Japanese companies.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Michael Graffagna, Dale Caldwell