Energy and Infrastructure (Project Finance) Associate - London

The Energy and Infrastructure Team:

The energy and infrastructure (project finance) team is one of the most experienced teams in its market in the world and works for top national and international clients on all aspects of major energy and infrastructure mandates.

As a member of the team, you will work with other team members and clients in close-knit groups on the commercial and finance aspects of the complex procurement, structuring and financing of large and often unique projects. With the emergence of infrastructure as a new asset class, the team is also extremely active in the infrastructure M&A market. Your colleagues, your clients and your work will be international - associates can expect to work on European transactions as well as transactions across the world, particularly in the emerging markets of the Middle East, Russia and Africa. Secondments, both in the UK and internationally, are also offered from time to time.

Recent deals that the team has worked on include the Cyprus Airports project, the Skynet satellite project (UK), the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey) and the Gautrain rail project (South Africa). Major mandates the team is currently working on include a major LNG project for CNOOC (Iran), a carbon capture and storage project (UK), the Landbridge rail project (Saudi Arabia) and the first Russian PPP road projects. Recent or current infrastructure M&A mandates include advising on acquisitions of airport, ferry, port, car parking, telecoms, oil storage and PFI businesses (or the financing arrangements for these acquisitions).

The Role:

The role offers enormous breadth of experience.

The team maintains a balanced client mix – as between governments/other public sector bodies, sponsors/contractors/investors (such as infrastructure funds) and financial institutions. This provides excellent opportunities to work with both the public and private sectors and therefore enables associates to obtain an all round perspective of the role of different stakeholders in transactions.

The sector coverage of the team is also wide – we advise on transactions in all relevant sectors, including transport, energy (including renewables and carbon storage and trading), petrochemicals, oil and gas, power, social infrastructure, mining and metals, telecoms, defence and water. This includes greenfield projects, mergers and acquisitions and secondary markets transactions in those sectors.

We also advise on all aspects of a deal – from the project development stage, through project implementation and ultimately the financing of a transaction or, in the case of M&A transactions, due diligence, the acquisition itself as well as the financing arrangements for the acquisition. Our associates therefore develop a strong transactional background in the full range of documentation relevant to our deals – tender documents, concession contracts, construction and O&M agreements, acquisition and other corporate/commercial documentation and financing arrangements.

You will also be required to coordinate advice from other specialist departments within the London office (such as public international, public procurement, property, environmental and tax advice) and, for international deals, from network offices and foreign counsel. Associates can also expect to work with a range of partners, both from within the team and elsewhere within the firm.
Above all, the professional development of our associates is a priority - you can expect to develop not only your technical legal skills, but also the practice development skills you need to propel you to the next phase of your career.

Your main responsibilities as an Energy and Infrastructure Associate will involve:

In additional to excellent analytical abilities, your role as an associate will also call for the usual requirements of a transactional lawyer working on major deals, in particular strong negotiating and transaction management skills. You will also be called on to participate actively in the business development and knowledge management activities of the team, helping you to become a more well-rounded lawyer. We also strongly encourage participation in community and pro bono activities.

Your skills and qualifications as an Energy and Infrastructure Associate will ideally include:

• A keen interest and relevant experience in energy, infrastructure or project finance
• High quality lawyer with strong technical and commercial background
• Intellectually strong with first class academics
• Future associates should be enthusiastic about the opportunities to work across the broad spectrum of energy and infrastructure transactions and be keen to gain exposure to both contract/commercial work and finance work.

What we are looking for in you:

You will have strong technical and commercial abilities, and will be able to work effectively as part of a team and supervise more junior lawyers. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to take on a high degree of responsibility and manage a challenging workload. You must also be proactive and committed to providing an excellent service to our clients.

We are an equal opportunities employer and consider job applicants on their merits. Therefore we welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals, regardless of background. For more detail see the Careers Page on www.freshfields.com.

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