Christopher Hargett

Associate Debt Finance

New York +1 212 341 7888

Christopher Hargett

Overview

Christopher Hargett is an associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Christopher represents private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in a variety of financing transactions, including commercial bank debt, high-yield notes offerings, private placements, bank-bond deals and mergers and acquisitions. He works across the North American energy and infrastructure sectors, with a focus on the energy transition and renewable energy industries and digital infrastructure.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Christopher was the Director of Energy Policy & Regulatory Affairs at Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (“Con Edison”). There, he led teams and projects to integrate new technologies, energy storage and large-scale renewables into wholesale electricity markets and further the development of transmission necessary to meet clean energy goals. Prior to joining Con Edison, Christopher held positions of increasing responsibility at the Edison Electric Institute in Washington, D.C., where he collaborated with investor-owned electric utilities to establish and articulate industry positions concerning the planning, financing and development of transmission infrastructure, as well as wholesale organized and bilateral electricity market design, with a focus on items before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy. Christopher began his career as an economic policy advisor at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Since joining Kirkland, Christopher has been involved in the following matters:

  • Aypa Power, a portfolio company of Blackstone Energy Partners that builds, owns, and operates utility-scale energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects in the U.S. and Canada, in connection with a $650 million multi-tranche hybrid corporate facility, one of the largest in the energy storage industry.
  • Aypa Power, in connection with a $323 million project financing for its Kuna 150 MW/600 MWh battery energy storage project in Idaho, which included a $233 million construction and term loan and tax equity bridge loan facility and $90 million in tax equity.
  • Represented consortium of Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in the $6.2 billion acquisition of ALLETE, Inc.
  • Represented Genesee & Wyoming Inc., a short-line railroad holding company and a portfolio company of Brookfield Asset Management and GIC Private Limited, in connection with the launch and closing of a $4.0 billion multifacility debt offering. The financing includes a $2.725 billion term loan credit facility, a $600 million revolving credit facility, a $700 million high-yield notes offering and a £100 million UK credit facility.

Prior to joining Kirkland, Christopher was involved in the following matters:

  • Represented First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company and MUFG Bank, Ltd., as coordinating lead arrangers, and the agents and lenders on a $300 million construction-to-term and tax equity bridge loan financing for the construction and expansion of Middle River Power’s 500 MW portfolio of battery energy storage projects in California, with offtake agreements paired with existing co-located gas-fired peaker facilities.
  • Represented Bayerische Landesbank, New York Branch, Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A., New York Branch, ING Capital LLC, Société Générale and Bank Hapoalim B.M, as coordinating lead arrangers, on an approximately $304 million financing of the Tierra Bonita project, an approximately 306 MWac solar project in Pecos County, Texas sponsored by Ashtrom Renewable Energy. The offtake structure of the project includes both a 20-year power purchase agreement and a 10-year PTC transfer agreement. The Tierra Bonita project is one of the very first project-financed solar projects in the U.S. with a solar PTC transfer agreement under the Inflation Reduction Act.
  • Represented MUFG Bank, Ltd., Société Générale and Truist Securities, Inc., as coordinating lead arrangers, and the joint lead arrangers, on a $779 million project financing in connection with Swift Current Energy’s Double Black Diamond Solar Project. Once operational, the Double Black Diamond Solar Project will be the second largest single solar phase project in the U.S.
  • Represented GridPoint, a U.S. smart buildings technology company, on a $150 million secured credit facility to finance the company’s energy savings and energy management equipment sale and installation business for corporate customers in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
  • Represented KeyBanc Capital Markets as coordinating lead arranger, agent and lender on a $634 million credit facility to support Onward Energy’s acquisition of a portfolio of eleven operating solar assets totaling 1.2 GW across eight U.S. states and four wholesale power markets owned by Global Atlantic Financial Group.
  • Represented MUFG Bank, Ltd., First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company and ING Capital LLC, as coordinating lead arrangers, and the joint lead arrangers, agents and lenders on a $600 million credit facility for the acquisition and refinancing of Middle River Power’s portfolio of 10 operating natural gas-fired power plants located in California.
  • Represented MUFG Bank, as administrative agent, and ING Capital, as lender in connection with the acquisition financing of a portfolio of gas-fired power plants by Earthrise Energy from Rockland Capital.
  • Represented MUFG Bank, Ltd., as the lead arranger, in a financing for the Los Alamitos microgrid project with a Power Purchase Agreement with a California utility. The project included a microgrid, comprised of approximately 31MWdc of photovoltaic solar, a 20MW/40MWh (two-hour duration) battery energy storage system and 3.125 MW reciprocating engine gensets.

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Credentials

Admissions & Qualifications

  • New York

Education

  • Fordham University School of LawJ.D.
  • Johns Hopkins UniversityM.A., Economics
  • University of North Carolina at GreensboroB.A., Economics