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Laure Berthelot

Special Counsel

London +44 20 7067 2051

  • About
  • Representative Matters
  • Credentials
  • About

    Laure Berthelot advises developers, lenders, multilateral agencies, and governmental organisations on international project financing, privatisations, and acquisitions, with an emphasis on emerging markets, power projects (conventional and renewable power projects, including hydro, solar and wind projects), and infrastructure.

    Laure has represented clients on some of the largest power transactions to date in Africa. She has advised clients in relation to the development and financing of major projects in Anglophone and Francophone Africa, the Middle East, Western and Eastern Europe, several of which have been named “Deal of the Year” by leading industry journals. Laure has advised clients in relation to the whole suite of project documents (PPAs, EPCs, O&M) and finance documents, and has acted on numerous transactions involving major development institutions, export credit agencies, and political risk insurance providers.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Practices and Industries
  • Representative Matters
    • Advised Industrial Promotion Services (Kenya) Limited (IPS, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) and Sithe Global (an affiliate of Blackstone) in connection with their successful bid for the 147 MW Ruzizi III hydroelectric power project on the Ruzizi River in the Great Lake Regions, to supply energy to Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, and subsequently advised IPS and SN Power AS (as successor to Sithe) in connection with the development and financing of the Ruzizi III project.
    • Advised Sithe Energies and Industrial Promotion Services (an affiliate of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) in connection with the development and the $682 million debt financing of the 250 MW Bujagali hydroelectric power project on the River Nile in Uganda. This transaction was named "African Power Deal of the Year" by Infrastructure Journal and Project Finance Magazine.
    • Advised Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL) in relation to the $400 million debt refinancing for the Bujagali hydroelectric power project in Uganda.This transaction was named 2018 "African Refinancing deal of the Year" by Infrastructure Journal and Project Finance Magazine.
    • Advised Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL) in relation to the acquisition of SG Bujagali Holdings, Ltd (SGBH)'s partial interest in BEL by Norwegian hydropower company SN Power AS.
    • Advised a consortium led by The AES Corporation (AES), Mitsui and Nebras Power in the development and $39.5 million financing of a 52 MW solar PV project in Jordan.

    • Advised The AES Corporation (AES) in connection with the $202 million sale of its Cameroonian electricity generation and distribution assets, including a sale of a 56 per cent interest in Sonel, Cameroon's national electricity utility, to Actis, and the sale of the 216 MW gas-fired Kribi IPP and 86 MW heavy fuel oil-fired Dibamba IPP to Globeleq.
    • Advised the Morocco state-owned utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) on the development of the $590 million, 300 MW Tarfaya Wind Project in Morocco.
    • Advised the Morocco state-owned utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) on the development and approximately $2.6 billion financing of the 1,380 MW ultra-supercritical Safi coal-fired power IPP project.The transaction has been named 2014 "North African Power Deal of the Year" by Project Finance International and 2014 "African Power deal of the Year" by Infrastructure Journal and Project Finance Magazine.
    • Advised the Morocco state-owned utility Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) on the $1.4 billion, 700 MW extension of the existing 1,350 MW coal-fired power project at Jorf Lasfar, Morocco (Morocco’s first IPP).The transaction has been named 2012 "African Power Deal of the Year" by Project Finance Magazine.
    • Advised AES and Mitsui on the development and financing of the 370 MW gas-fired CCGT Amman East IPP power and of the 250 MW HFO/Gas IPP4 power project in Jordan.
    • Advised Globeleq on the 120MW expansion of the existing 216 MW gas-fired Kribi power plant in Cameroon.
    • Advised Globeleq, together with Songas, in connection with the Songo Songo independent gas to electricity project in Tanzania.
    • Advised a consortium of lenders led by BNP Paribas in respect of the financing of the Al-Qatrana 370 MW gas/fuel fired combined cycle power plant in Jordan.
    • Advised an operator in relation to the operations and maintenance agreements for a 1.7GW portfolio of hydroelectric power projects in Portugal.
    • Advised a developer in relation to the financing of a proposed 40MW hydroelectric power project in Uganda.
    • Advised a developer on their bid for a number of solar PV projects in Tunisia.
    • Advised a developer consortium on the development and financing of a utility-scale solar PV project in the first round of the direct proposal process in Jordan.
    • Advised a developer in connection with the tender for the development and financing of a 100MW power project in Burkina Faso.
    • Advised a developer in relation to the Khanyisa coal fired power project in South Africa.
    • Advised a developer in respect of contemplated acquisition of an interest in a 125MW coal fired IPP project in Senegal.
    • Advised a co-developer in relation to the U.S. $4.7 billion financing of the 3.4 MTPA Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin in Mozambique.
    • Advised an operator in relation to the O&M agreement for an FSRU in Indonesia.
    • Advised a developer in relation to a proposed liquefied natural gas project and gas sales agreements in Tanzania.
    • Advised AES Entek in relation to the proposed acquisition of a renewable power project in Turkey.
    • Advised AES Entek in relation to a proposed cogeneration power project in Turkey.
    • Advised a consortium led by AES in connection with the tender for the 4000 MW gas and fuel oil-fired combined cycle Qurayyah IPP project in Saudi Arabia.
    • Advised a consortium led by AES in connection with the tender for the 1500 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle Sur IPP project in the Sultanate of Oman.
    • Advised the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in respect of the financing of the development of international airports in Tbilisi and Batumi, in Georgia.
    • Advised IFC in respect of a $95 million financing package for the construction and operation of the 120,361-square-meter Megalogix warehouse and logistics center in Novosibirsk, Russia.
    • Advised EBRD in respect of a Euro 60 million loan increase (total value of the loan, Euro 88.5 million) to a Ukrainian company for the acquisition of particleboard manufacturers in Ukraine.

    Areas of Expertise

  • Credentials
    Education
    • King's College London, LL.B., 1998
    • Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Maîtrise en Droit, 1998
    Bar Admissions
    • New York
    • Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales
    Languages
    • English
    • French
    Pro Bono
    • Advised undocumented minors on UK immigration matters on behalf of client, Kids in Need of Defence (KIND).
    Accolades
    • Chambers UK, Energy & Natural Resources and Power "Associate to Watch" (2018-2019)
    • Legal 500 UK, Power (including Electricity, Nuclear and Renewables) (2017)

    Areas of Expertise

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