Herbert Smith Freehills Paris has recently advised InfraVia, a Paris-based investment manager dedicated to the infrastructure sector, on its acquisition from GDF SUEZ of a 20% stake in the Dutch company Noordgastransport ('NGT').

InfraVia purchased the stake via its infrastructure funds: InfraVia European Fund II. NGT manages one of the majors’ gas pipeline networks transporting natural gas from the North Sea, which covers circa. 470 km and transports natural gas from the North Sea gas fields to the Dutch mainland. NGT provides gas producers with access to pricing at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (“TTF”) and enables them to sale the gas on the European continent and the UK. The other shareholders of NGT are GDF SUEZ, PensionDanmark, XTO and Rosewood.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by Paris partner Edouard Thomas, assisted by Laurence Vincent and Aurélie Magrini for the corporate aspects, Silke Goldberg (counsel) for the energy and infrastructure aspects, Sergio Sorinas (partner) and Anouk Falgas on antitrust matters, as well as Eric Fiszelson (partner) with Rachel Campbell (of counsel), Mark Pavli and Kalish Mullen on the finance aspects.

Edouard Thomas commented:

"We are delighted to have assisted InfraVia on this acquisition which complements InfraVia's European asset portfolio and to have benefitted from the excellent collaboration between our teams and those of InfraVia on this project. Our experience in the energy and infrastructure sector continues to go from strength to strength which allows us to offer a high level of expertise to clients in these fields."