SINGAPORE - Reed Smith is pleased to have represented InfraCo Asia Development Pte. Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Private Infrastructure Development Group), on its divestment from the Vietnamese Coc San Hydro Power Project. In the transaction, InfraCo Asia sold its 33.4% stake in the project’s operator, Viet Hydro Pte Ltd (the majority shareholder of Lao Cai Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company) to the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. (TEPCO). The deal is TEPCO’s first investment in an overseas hydropower project.
The $44.5 million Coc San hydro power project, which was successfully brought into operation in April 2016, delivers 29.7MW of clean, run-of-river hydro power to some 130,000 people in the Lao Cai Provence. It is the first foreign direct investment in hydro power in the mountainous northern province.
InfraCo Asia initially invested in the development and construction of the plant when it was a distressed asset. As the majority stakeholder, InfraCo Asia worked to ensure that the project met stringent World Bank environmental standards and was structured to attract further private sector capital. Coc San is also supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Northern Power Corporation, a power distributing subsidiary of Vietnam Electricity.
“InfraCo Asia invested in the project early on with the aims of creating strong development impact and serving as a catalyst for private sector investment, for both the Coc San project and Vietnam’s renewable energy sector,” said InfraCo Asia CEO, Allard.
By fully divesting its shareholding, InfraCo Asia can now recycle the proceeds into future infrastructure development projects.
The Reed Smith deal team was led by Matthew Gorman and Gerald Licnachan, respectively a corporate partner and counsel in Reed Smith’s global Energy & Natural Resources Group. Assisting on the divestiture were Kendra MacDonald (Associate), Lin Zhan (Associate), Zi Han Shiah (Associate) and Carolyn Chia (Consultant – Resource Law LLC).
In 2018, Reed Smith’s Singapore offering has handled a number of transactions in the renewable energy space. For example, in June, the Reed Smith office advised Singapore’s AT Capital Group in its sale of Orange Renewable to the Greenko Group for a reported enterprise value of $1 billion.
Reed Smith is strategically positioned to advise clients in Singapore and throughout the region, particularly Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Reed Smith is also in a Formal Law Alliance (FLA) with Singapore law practice Resource Law LLC. The FLA significantly expands Reed Smith’s offering in Singapore and our ability to service our clients’ legal requirements in handling multi-jurisdictional transactions, disputes, and cross border work involving Singapore law and the Singapore courts.
