Overview
Natalie S. Neals is a business lawyer, senior counsel, and member of Foley’s Finance & Financial Institutions Practice. In addition to her representation of financial institutions and borrowers in general financing transactions, Natalie is also a member of the firm’s Energy Industry Team and dedicates a large part of her practice to project development and finance, representing both companies that are engaged in the development, financing, construction, and operation of solar power, wind power, and other alternative energy projects and financial institutions and other investors that are financing such projects. Within the Energy Industry Team, Natalie focuses on alternative energy equity and debt financing, with experience on both lender-side and borrower-side representation, including construction financing, revolving and term credit facilities, mezzanine financing, second lien credit facilities, syndicated and single-lender financings and intercreditor matters.
Previously, Natalie worked as a summer associate with Foley’s Milwaukee office. She was also a law clerk at Brady Corporation, where she worked on drafting and reviewing global contracts and assisting the Mergers & Acquisitions team.
Representative Experience
- Represented super-regional U.S. financial institution as the lead arranger and administrative agent in a $140 million syndicated construction and term debt financing for a portfolio of utility-scale and community solar energy generation projects located in five states across the United States, including a refinancing of the facility to add 10 additional projects and complex interparty negotiations with an institutional tax equity investor in the projects
- Represented international solar energy developer in refinancing $100 million of construction loans
- Represented lead bank in $49 million syndicated project finance transaction in connection with construction to term and bridge loan funding for a portfolio of 16 solar photovoltaic energy generating projects located in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Texas, including negotiation of interparty agreement with tax equity investor
- Represented a super-regional U.S. financial institution in a working capital loan facility provided to a waste-to-energy generating facility that had tax-exempt bond financing in place, including amendments to the bond documents and negotiation of intercreditor arrangements between the revolving lender and the bondholders
- Represented lead bank in $100 million syndicated project financing in connection with construction and bridge loan funding for a solar photovoltaic energy generating project located in Louisiana, including negotiation of interparty agreement with tax equity investor
- Represented international energy company in syndicated $50 million construction facility, $80 million bridge facility and $4.6 million letter of credit sub-facility
- Represented lead bank in syndicated project financing of utility scale solar energy project located in California in connection with $33 million construction to term facility, $15 million bridge facility and $12 million letter of credit facility
- Represented lender in the negotiation of a $25 million hybrid project-level/backleverage facility for a portfolio of twelve community solar projects located in Minnesota
- Represented lender in the negotiation of $20 million construction loan facility for a portfolio of several distributed solar projects
- Represented a Fortune 100 energy company in a variety of finance and M&A transactions, including the refinancing of a $122,000,000 letter of credit facility and $4,000,000 working capital facility with respect to a portfolio of thirteen wind-powered electric generation projects totaling 667 MWs and the joint venture financing involving thirty wind-powered electric generation projects totaling 1,430 MWs
Education
Natalie graduated from the Marquette University Law School (J.D., summa cum laude, 2014), where she earned four CALI Awards for the highest grade. During law school, Natalie served as a member and a comment editor of the Marquette Law Review. She earned a Silver Quill for an outstanding student comment published in the Marquette Law Review. Natalie was also a volunteer with the Marquette Volunteer Legal Clinic, for which she was inducted into the Pro Bono Society.
Natalie earned her bachelor’s degree in legal studies and sociology and a certificate in criminal justice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A., 2011). She was a member of the Student Association for Volunteers for Autism.
Publications
In 2013, Natalie authored the Silver Quill Award winning article, “Flirting with the Law: An Analysis of the Ellerth/Faragher Circuit Split and a Prediction of the Seventh Circuit’s Stance,” which was published in the Marquette Law Review.
Admissions
Natalie is admitted to practice in the state of Wisconsin.