Exelon Wind Transaction Named "Best M&A Deal"

Foley is pleased to announce that the firm’s representation of Exelon Generation Company in its agreement to acquire John Deere Renewables LLC has been named the “Best M&A Deal” by Institutional Investor’s Power Finance & Risk newsletter. The publication identified Exelon’s acquisition of John Deere Renewables as one of the largest strategic, renewable generation plays in the last several years.

Attorneys from Foley’s Energy Industry Team worked closely with Exelon Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Carter Culver on the $900 million purchase, which closed in 2010. The deal provided Exelon with an established wind development team comprised of three dozen spinning wind farms totaling 735 megawatts of installed, operating wind capacity, as well as three near-term projects totaling 230 megawatts, which are in advanced stages of development.

The transaction was declared a great strategic fit for Exelon, according to John Plaster, head of the alternative energy investment banking group at Barclays Capital (Barclays Capital acted as buy-side advisors in the deal). Free of project debt and tax equity, the capital structure of the unit allowed Exelon to finance the acquisition through a $900 million bond issuance while utilizing the structure’s tax benefits. The deal also included a $40 million earn-out, which helped to de-risk the transaction by linking a higher purchase price to successful development and is synonymous with Exelon’s financial strategy of looking to acknowledge the value of late-stage development projects without overspending.

The Foley team was led by Partners James T. Tynion III and Jason W. Allen, with support from energy Partner Elizabeth Hanigan and Senior Counsel David Clark, as well as energy regulatory Partner Thomas McCann Mullooly and a real estate team led by Partner Larry J. Bonney.