DWF's national, multidisciplinary team has a keen focus on energy and decarbonisation assets, often acting for lenders, borrowers and developers. Brendan Slack leverages his real estate background to advise on the financing of battery storage facilities and data centres; he is also noted for his track record in renewables work. Darren Walsh is recognised for a broad energy practice that includes district heating, green hydrogen, circular economy, and nuclear work, while Andrew Batterton is chiefly focused on planning and consenting matters. Shane Toal is another key figure in the team for planning and consenting advice, which he provides alongside M&A and financing capabilities. Eleanor Cook is noted for her varied finance practice.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘DWF had evident real estate and battery storage experience. The team were very collaborative with ourselves (who were acting lead structurer/arranger) as well as other lenders and the borrower. The financing was very structured and the DWF brought the lending team strong comfort around protections in the underlying documentation as well as demonstrating a good understanding of our commercial intentions.’
- 'Brendan and Eleanor acted as the primary contacts for our project. We were impressed with the proactive attitude, always looking for solutions and working with the lending team to reach commercially viable positions on issues identified. The project had various moving elements throughout the process and it was extremely valuable to have individuals that could react to an evolving project such as this.’
Key clients
- National Westminster Bank plc
- Lombard North Central plc
Work highlights
- Advising a syndicate on the second amendment and restatement of the facility to create a £130m term loan (including £50m accordion) relating to the financing of Battery Assets at various UK sites and ultimately owned by a listed energy focused PLC (completed November 2023).
- Advising National Westminster Bank plc on two new to market BESS financings in Ireland relating to the financing of Battery Assets at two Irish sites.