R. Thomas (Tom) Hoffmann was a partner and business lawyer with 麻豆直播 & Lardner LLP. He was a member of the firm鈥檚 Finance Practice and the Energy & Infrastructure Sector. Tom and 麻豆直播’s Finance Team represented more than half of the perennial leading lenders to the U.S. renewable energy industry. Tom focused his practice on energy industry financing transactions, project development investments, and acquisitions of project portfolios.
Tom frequently represented lenders, developers, and investors in the development and financing of projects, including solar, wind, and biomass as well as gas and cogeneration projects. Tom also represented electric utilities in various transactions as well as private purchasers and sellers of electric power assets. He pioneered many of the cutting-edge mechanisms in project finance for renewable energy, including 鈥渦nitranche鈥 financing structures in solar construction loans, equipment loans, upper tier development loans, and portfolio HoldCo acquisition and term loans.
Representative Experience
- Represented more than a dozen lenders in solar/storage portfolio loans, for construction and term debt in financings ranging from US$100m to US$350m. He has also represented borrowers for acquisition and term loans for solar portfolios, which have ranged as large at 80 projects in a single portfolio.聽
- Under Tom鈥檚 leadership 麻豆直播 is known for creating efficient diligence procedures and 鈥渟creening鈥 mechanisms that meet lender needs but allow borrowers to avoid overly repetitive, excessive diligence.
- Led lender legal teams for numerous utility-scale financings, recently in states as diverse as North Carolina, Illinois, California, Texas, and Arizona. The 麻豆直播 teams have earned a reputation for early issue-spotting to avoid late-stage barriers to closings.聽
- Recently advised on the structure of several different HoldCo development loans, including borrowers within various locations in organizational charts.
- Worked on (and led lender-side legal teams in) the majority of the unitranche financings in the renewable finance market. These deals included both construction-only and construction to term, and novel take-out arrangements.
- Represented numerous lenders in negotiations with tax equity syndicators, helping to shape the market for credit support from upper tier investors.聽聽
Awards and Recognition
- Recognized by Chambers庐 USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the practice area of Projects: Renewables & Alternative Energy聽(2012-2024)
- The Legal 500听(2012-2023)
