Axium Infrastructure acquires Ontario solar portfolio from TransCanada Corp.

On December 20, 2017, Axium Infrastructure Inc. (Axium), through a special-purpose acquisition vehicle Axium Infinity Solar LP, and TransCanada Energy Ltd. (TransCanada) completed its acquisition of TransCanada’s Ontario solar portfolio, consisting of eight facilities with a total generating capacity of 105 MW (DC). All eight facilities operate under 20-year power purchase agreements with the Independent Electricity System Operator. The aggregate purchase price was approximately $540 million. The acquisition was financed in part with credit facilities provided by institutional lenders. 

Axium is an independent portfolio management firm dedicated to generating long-term investment returns through investing in core infrastructure assets. Axium manages dedicated infrastructure funds having approximately $2.8 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2017, as well as more than $1 billion in co-investments. 

TransCanada is a large independent power producer that currently owns or has interests in approximately 6,200 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. 

Axium was represented internally by Julie Chabot, Vice President, Legal Affairs, and externally by Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP with a team consisting of Nick Williams, Anthony Spadaro, Gabriella Lombardi, Sarah Powell, Emily Uza, Stefanie Milner and Debbie Elmhirst. Charles Tingley and Alysha Manji-Knight of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP provided regulatory approval advice to Axium in connection with the transaction, and Chris Anderson of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP provided tax advice to Axium on the transaction. Dan Wolfensohn and Elise Beauregard of Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP’s Montréal office advised with respect to Québec security issues. 

TransCanada was represented internally by Thomas Hwang, Senior Legal Counsel, and externally by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP with a team consisting of Jake Sadikman, Dan Kolibar, Marissa Kirsh, Adrian Hartog, Wendy Kao, Suzanne Herceg and Shuli Rodal. 

One group of institutional lenders providing the credit facilities was represented by McCarthy Tétrault LLP with a team consisting of Stephen Furlan, Lynn Parsons, Mary-Jeanne Phelan, Jacob Stone, Christopher Zawadzki, William McCullough, David Woollcombe, Heloise Apesteguy-Reux and Joanna Rosengarten and another group of institutional lenders was represented by Stikeman Elliott LLP with a team consisting of Sterling Dietze and Guillaume Blais.

Lawyer(s)

Julie Chabot Nicholas C. Williams Sarah V. Powell J.Y. Thomas Hwang Jacob Sadikman Adrian P. Hartog Stephen Furlan Lynn Parsons William D. McCullough David E. Woollcombe Sterling H. Dietze

Firm(s)