Watson, Farley & Williams has advised Capital Stage AG, a German renewable energy company, on the acquisition of the entire share capital of MTS4 S.r.l. (“MTS4”) from Martifer Solar S.r.l.

WFW advised Capital Stage on both the legal and financial aspects of the transaction, including legal due diligence and drafting and preparation of all related contracts.

MTS4 owned three ground-mounted photovoltaic plants in Noceto, in the province of Parma, which have been in operation since December 2012 and have a total nominal capacity of approximately 4.5 MW.

Energy sector experts from Burges Salmon have advised offshore renewable energy company Wave Hub on two wave energy deals with Fortum and Seatricity.

Fortum, a multi-national utilities company from Finland, has signed an agreement to secure a berth at the offshore renewable energy test facility in Cornwall, Wave Hub. The agreement provides Fortum with the opportunity to deploy a wide selection of advanced full scale wave power converters in real sea conditions at one of Wave Hub’s four berths.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised ASX-listed Origin Energy Limited on its acquisition of exploration interests in two unconventional gas blocks in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin, South Australia through farm-in agreements with Senex Energy Limited.

The two blocks comprise parts of existing titles PEL 115 and 516 (Area A) and the permian section and all underlying strata of part of PEL 514 (Area B) which together cover over 1,900 km2 . The blocks provide exposure to multiple unconventional play types including tight sands, shale and deep coal seams.

Clifford Chance has advised Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) on the binding agreement to sell Shell's Australia downstream businesses (excluding Aviation) to Vitol for a total transaction value of approximately A$2.9 billion (US$2.6 billion).

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer represented Spanish energy firm Repsol in its ICSID arbitration with the Republic of Argentina to resolve a dispute concerning the seizure of its controlling share in YPF in 2012.

Subject to closing conditions, the case will be settled as part of a global settlement with the Republic.

The Freshfields team was led by partner Nigel Blackaby and counsel Lluis Paradell.

Hogan Lovells has advised the affiliates of Kuwait Petroleum International on an agreement for the acquisition of shares in the companies containing the Retail, Supply & Distribution, Logistics and Aviation businesses of Shell in Italy.

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance announces it has advised Shell on an agreement in the sale of shares in the companies containing the Retail, Supply & Distribution, Logistics and Aviation businesses in Italy to the affiliates of Kuwait Petroleum International. Shell’s retail network includes over 830 retail sites and under the agreement it will be re-branded to Q8. The sale is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete in 2014.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Brightoil Petroleum Holdings Limited (Brightoil) on the US$1.075bn acquisition of an Anadarko subsidiary operating in China, from a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

The acquisition took place through Brightoil Petroleum’s indirect subsidiary, Win Business Caofeidian Limited.

The acquisition sees Brightoil, a leading private Chinese energy company, acquire a participating interest in two oil producing blocks in western Bohai Bay, at a base purchase price of US$1,075,000,000.

Stephenson Harwood LLP has advised three separate companies – The Parkmead Group plc (Parkmead), KSK Power Ventur plc (KSK) and Frontera Resources Corporation (Frontera), on their recent secondary fundraisings, raising over £60 million in aggregate. Stephenson Harwood provided legal guidance to the companies throughout the entire process, from the decision to place the shares, to the finalisation of the fundraisings.

Ashurst has advised Lundin Petroleum on the increase of its US$2.5 billion credit facility to US$4 billion with its existing group of 25 banks. The increased credit facility has been secured on similar terms to the existing facility. The credit facility will provide the necessary financial flexibility to fund the ongoing development, exploration and appraisal programmes including the Johan Sverdrup development in the Norwegian North Sea. The Lundin RBL is now believed to be the largest RBL ever arranged for an upstream oil and gas company in the European market.