Stephen S. Noh

Kirkland & Ellis counseled Apollo Funds on an agreement to acquire a 50% stake in a Texas solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio from TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE). The portfolio includes approximately 2 GW of solar and BESS assets in strategic locations in Texas’ ERCOT market, consisting of three solar projects with a total capacity of 1.7 GW and two battery storage projects with a combined capacity of 300 MW. TotalEnergies will retain a 50% stake in the portfolio and continue to operate the assets. Over the past five years, Apollo-managed funds have deployed approximately $40 billion into energy transition and sustainability-related investments, supporting companies and projects across clean energy and infrastructure, including offshore and onshore wind, solar, storage, renewable fuels, electric vehicles as well as a wide range of technologies to facilitate decarbonization. Across asset classes, Apollo targets deploying $50 billion in clean energy and climate investments through 2027 and sees the opportunity to deploy more than $100 billion by 2030. Read Apollo’s press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Adam Larson, Kristin Mendoza, Ahmed Sidik, Stephen Noh, Thomas Heffernan, Austin Uhm, Gabrielle Sumich, Josh Stout, Ernesto Sanz, Tyler Ambrose, Tristan Prentice and Tyler Ciavarra; debt finance lawyers Mary Kogut, Rob Eberhardt, Chad Davis, Kaitlin Schock and James Coromilas; tax lawyers Mike Masri, Mark Dundon, Nicole Martin and Parker Hasler; derivatives lawyer Brett Ackerman; construction lawyers James Clark, Ahmed Alrikhaimi and Ryan Chastain; energy regulatory lawyers Brooksany Barrowes and Luis Cruz; real estate lawyers Victoria Acuff and Hayden Steves; government, regulatory & internal investigations lawyers Nick Niles and David Strecker; employment & labor lawyers R.D. Kohut, Christine Lacku and Jon Link; employee benefits lawyers Maureen O’Brien and Abbi Semnisky; executive compensation lawyers Stephen Jacobson, Lany Villalobos and Farrah Way; technology & IP transactions lawyers Matt Lovell and Leah Weintrub; and transactional liability lawyer Jessica Sicsu.

Dec 4

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a specialist global investment manager focused exclusively on the infrastructure needed for the energy transition, on the successful closing of Quinbrook’s Valley of Fire Continuation Fund with $600 million in capital commitments from leading U.S. and European institutional investors. The Valley of Fire Continuation Fund is a continuation of the large scale solar+storage strategy of Quinbrook’s Low Carbon Power Fund (LCPF) which had its final closing in 2019. The Valley of Fire Continuation Fund has acquired 51% of the Gemini Solar + Storage project and 100% of the remaining Valley of Fire project development portfolio from LCPF and certain other equity holders. The transaction creates a new growth platform to provide primary capital commitments to fund the continued development and construction of several large scale solar+storage projects in the Valley of Fire project development portfolio. The lead investor in the Valley of Fire Continuation Fund is Blackstone Strategic Partners. Read Quinbrook’s press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partner Stephen Noh; investment funds partners Damian Jacobs, Mark Boyagi, Laura Stake and Matt Nadworny; and tax partners Steve Butler and Adam Nguyen; with assistance from corporate partner Fernanda Langa and associates Emma Balls and Dallin Miller; investment funds associates Michael Brar, Susan Czaikowski, Emily Hartney, Jordan Redler and Rachel Chung; tax associates Nicole Martin, Grace Bridwell and Lauren Deutsch; executive compensation partners Stephen Jacobson and Jabir Yusoff; project finance partner Rob Eberhardt and associate William Zakhary; and investment funds regulatory partners Alpa Patel and Mac Laban.

Apr 5

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Ichthys Energy Partners, LLC on the closing of an equity commitment from investment funds managed by Post Oak Energy Capital, L.P. Ichthys seeks to execute its growth strategy through a targeted ground game focused on operated and non-operated leasehold acquisitions and strategic partnerships across the Permian. Based in Dallas, Ichthys is a newly formed exploration and production company focused on aggregating and responsibly developing operated inventory in the Permian Basin. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team was led by corporate partners Stephen Noh and Jack Chadderdon; executive compensation partners Katherine Nemeth and Stephen Jacobson; tax partner Bill Dong and associate Grace Nielsen; and employment & labor partner Christie Alcala.

Oct 3

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Abaco Energy Technologies, a leading global provider of proprietary power section technologies for downhole drilling, completion and remediation operations, on definitive agreements whereby Superior Energy Services, Inc. will acquire Abaco. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026. Read the transaction press release The Kirkland team included corporate lawyers Stephen Noh, Jack Chadderdon, Shubi Arora, Samantha Siegler, Tyler Ciavarra, Alexa Wachsman, Jon Welfelt and Matt Bartnovsky; tax lawyers Stephen Butler, Brian Senie and Ally Nelson; capital markets lawyers Michael Rigdon, Erin Meziere, Robbie Dillard and Hannah Miller; debt finance lawyers Lucas Spivey, James Bedotto and Jacob Sims; antitrust & competition lawyers Michael Thorpe, Chris Brassfield, Maria Raptis and Nicholas Cagle; environmental transactions lawyers Paul Tanaka and Julie Molina; energy regulatory lawyers Damien Lyster and Ethan Borrasso; employment & labor lawyers Christie Alcala and Frank Policastri; employee benefits lawyers Justin Coddington and Jack Amaro; executive compensation lawyers Stephen Jacobson, Jabir Yusoff and Kristen Tyler; technology & IP transactions lawyers Derek Ventling and Matt Darch; transactional liability lawyers Anna Geml, Jessica Sicsu and Hayley Hollender; litigation lawyer Nick Niles; and real estate lawyers John Goldman, Gina Garcia and Natalia Ortiz.

Jan 21

1 min

Kirkland & Ellis advised Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading independent infrastructure fund manager, on its acquisition by BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK). The completion of the acquisition was announced October 1, 2024. The combination creates an industry leader in infrastructure across equity, debt and solutions – providing a diverse range of infrastructure sector expertise and exposure across developed and emerging markets. The combined infrastructure platform will be branded Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock. GIP will continue to be led by Bayo Ogunlesi and the Office of the Chairman. With approximately $170 billion in AUM, the platform will field a 600-person strong global team that manages a diversified portfolio of more than 300 active investments with operations in over 100 countries. Read GIP and BlackRock's combined press release The Kirkland team was led by asset management M&A partners Daniel Lavon-Krein and Christopher Gandia; corporate partners Melissa Kalka, Andy Calder, Doug Bacon, Stephen Noh, Kate Willson and Rami Totari; capital markets partner Julian Seiguer; and tax partners Stephen Butler and Joseph Tootle.

Oct 1

1 min