K&L Gates Advises Barings on Unitranche Facility for Energy Exemplar

Sydney – Global law firm K&L Gates has advised Barings Private Credit on a refinancing by way of a unitranche facility to Riverside portfolio company Energy Exemplar.

The global team that advised Barings was led by Sydney-based partner Richard Hayes together with special counsel Harsharan Gill and lawyer Nam Nguyen. Tax partner Betsy-Ann Howe and special counsel Leslie Petro provided Australian tax advice. New York-based partner Anthony Nolan assisted with U.S. law aspects and London-based partner Michael Anderson and associate Max Griffin assisted with English law aspects. Melbourne-based partner Alan Maclean advised the super-senior lender on the refinancing.

Barings is a global investment manager with more than US$349 billion of assets under management, sourcing differentiated opportunities across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. Owned by private equity firm Riverside, Energy Exemplar creates software that models real-world energy markets.

A unitranche facility is a hybrid loan structure which replaces the need for separate senior and mezzanine facilities and carries a blended margin. Long used in the U.S. and European markets, unitranche facilities also increasingly have been used  in the Australian market over the past few years.

Hayes noted: "We were delighted to assist our client Barings Private Credit on this important refinancing for Energy Exemplar, which was similar in structure to one of the initial unitranche financings in the Australian market five years ago. It was pleasing to be able to draw on the firm's global capabilities and is exciting to see the growth trajectory of Energy Exemplar in Australia and around the world."