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Danielle Heath

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English

Danielle Heath is a Corporate partner specialising in infrastructure and renewable energy transactions, acting for institutional investors and developers in the infrastructure and energy sectors. She advises on a broad range of corporate work, including acquisitions and disposals (including auction processes and portfolio transactions), joint ventures, corporate governance and the shareholder aspects of project based transactions. Danielle has a core focus on transactions involving renewable energy assets and projects in the UK and abroad, including advising on M&A transactions relating to in development, under construction and operational projects and infrastructure projects (including broadband, fibre, PPP, water and other core-infrastructure). 

Danielle is the co-head of the CMS Institutional Investors Sector group and she was ranked in the 2020 “A Word about Wind” Legal Power List, which sets out the top 100 lawyers globally (covering both private practice and in-house counsel) working in the wind sector. 

She is the firm’s relationship partner for InfraRed Capital Partners Limited, John Laing Limited and Low Carbon Limited.

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Relevant experience

  • TRIG on investments in offshore and onshore wind farms in the UK and Europe, including most recently: (i) the indirect acquisition from Global lnfrastructure Partners of a 12.5% interest in the 1,218 MW Hornsea 1 offshore wind farm; (ii) the indirect acquisition of an interest in the 714 MW East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm from GIG and the related consortium arrangements; (iii) the indirect acquisition from Global Infrastructure Partners of a 25% indirect interest in the 330 MW Gode Wind 1 offshore wind farm located in the German North Sea; and (iv) the acquisition of the Little Raith onshore windfarm.
  • EDF Renewables UK on the sale of a 49% interest in Blyth I offshore wind farm to Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Blyth I is a 41.5-MW operational windfarm and the joint venture has development rights for the Blyth floating offshore wind farm project with a planned capacity of up to 58.4 MW.
  • A bidder in the proposed acquisition of an interest in Burbo Bank offshore wind farm from PKA.
  • Aviva Infrastructure Fund on their onshore wind farm joint venture with Fred.Olsen and various renewable energy investments.
  • Aviva Infrastructure Fund on their broadband infrastructure investments in TrueSpeed, County and ITS in the UK and additional funding rounds.
  • InfraRed since 2008, including on their recent fibre broadband infrastructure opportunities (including the recent investment in CTG) and on acquisitions in numerous health, social and transport infrastructure assets, both in the UK and abroad.
  • John Laing since 2012, including most recently on recent fibre broadband opportunities and on: (i) numerous onshore wind farm disposals in the UK and in France; (ii) numerous infrastructure disposals to JLIF and; (iii) on the sale of the seed portfolio renewable energy assets to the then newly formed JLEF.
  • A developer on the sale of a number of battery storage projects in development in the UK.
  • A bidder on the proposed investment in Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
  • Low Carbon on general corporate matters including acquisitions, disposals, commercial framework agreements with developers and joint ventures to develop renewable energy projects in the UK (including with Vitol and Macquarie) and the recent acquisition of an interest in a large Eastern European onshore wind farm in development.
  • A Japanese investor in the proposed investment in a portfolio of assets from Cubico.
  • Repsol on the disposal of Beatrice and Inch Cape offshore wind farm to SDIC.
  • An investor in relation to the acquisition of a water company in the UK.
  • Equinor on the acquisition of Dudgeon offshore wind farm in the UK and an offshore wind farm investment opportunity in the UK.
  • A pension fund manager on a cornerstone investment in a new £550m infrastructure fund established and managed by InfraRed Capital Partners and on its investment (as sole investor) in a large UK solar portfolio managed by Octopus Investments.
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Memberships & Roles

  • Co-head of the CMS Institutional Investors Sector group.
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Publications

  • PLC International Joint Ventures Manual - co-author
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Education

  • LLM (Kings College, London) 
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Feed

04/10/2023
CMS advises HICL on £204m portfolio disposal
International law firm CMS has advised FTSE 250 and London-listed investment company HICL on the c. £204m disposal of five assets to John Laing, an international core infrastructure investor. HICL has...
09/08/2022
CMS advises consortium on acquisition of further investment in Ørsted's...
International law firm CMS has advised a consortium comprised of Equitix and The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) on its agreement to acquire from Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) a further...
22/03/2022
CMS advises consortium on acquisition of interest in Ørsted’s 1.2-GW Hornsea...
International law firm CMS has advised a consortium comprised of The Renewables Infrastructure Group and Equitix on its agreement to acquire a 12.5% interest in the Hornsea One Offshore Wind Farm from...
31/01/2022
Time for transition: Energy M&A 2022
While world leaders have been gathering for COP meetings for decades, what made COP26 perhaps particularly notable is that the private sector also gathered in force, and with a commitment and determination to be a key driver in the decarbonisation of the world’s economies.  In previous years, there have been murmurings from various corporates that to make social or environmentally driven investment decisions may not align with their fiduciary duty to act in the interests of shareholders. As shareholder activism has driven the debate into boardrooms from above, this attitude is rapidly reversing direction. While returns are generally seen as lower in the clean sector compared to, say, the oil & gas sector, being invested in the green transition is increasingly seen as a key route to preserving and protecting shareholder value. At the same time, voluntary and mandatory climate related disclosures are aligning the drivers for investors across the board so that capital is increasingly driven by the metrics they produce.  This is being reflected in, among other things, the plummeting cost of capital for green investments. At the same time high carbon intensive investments, such as coal based projects and businesses, are struggling to secure funding, with many facing in­solv­ency. In­vest­ments in the energy transition, a key part of the green transition, will principally take the form of M&A. The outcome of COP26 and the momentum it has generated means that European dealmakers in the energy sector will be even busier in 2022. Europe leads the world in the energy transition and the race to net zero is driving near-record levels of dealmaking – notably in wind and solar photovoltaic generation. At the same time, the energy transition is both expanding and fragmenting the energy sector. For many, it has traditionally been focused on energy generation. The transition is bringing to the fore less visible technologies. Everything from traditional hydropower to grid-scale batteries, electrification of transport and hydrogen. It is also bringing into the mix sectors that have not traditionally been focused on energy, such as industrial decarbonisation, shipping and mining for the natural resources needed for the energy transition. In parallel with this, there is a huge and growing story around energy transmission and distribution. Electricity networks will need to expand massively to facilitate electrification and new technologies. They are also becoming smarter with the use of digital technology to optimise the way power is distributed, traded and consumed. Further, new types of networks may provide investment opportunities for those looking for stable long term assets, such as hydrogen and carbon networks. Against this background, traditional fossil fuel-based players are decarbonising their operations. For the oil and gas majors, this means acquiring or significantly enhancing their capabilities in renewables, including wind, solar and hydrogen, while simultaneously divesting selected carbon-intensive assets in response to mounting ESG pressures. This may be one of the reasons why 50% of respondents in our study point to distress-driven deals as a top sell-side driver. Change is endemic in the energy sector, but the current transition makes the years since liberalisation of energy markets in the late 1980s seem almost steady-state in comparison. Despite the momentum and push for capital to be invested in the energy transition, there remain obstacles, not least the limited pipeline of good quality investment opportunities, continuing concerns over lockdowns and COVID-19 variants, financing difficulties arising from potentially unstable long term revenue streams and diminishing rates of return. Notwithstanding these challenges, our study finds that energy sector M&A will increasingly be an engine driving capital into propositions that match social and political ambitions for the green transition. Key findings  Energy remains a premium asset class for most institutional investors, with its performance during the pandemic and impetus from COP26 further enhancing its at­tract­ive­ness75% of energy companies are considering an acquisition and/or divestment in 2022Alongside premium assets, in some subsectors there are undervalued targets driving buy-side activity, with sellers shedding distressed assets as the sector shifts in response to the energy transition45% think COVID-19 will be a major M&A obstacle in 2022, but this remains a fluid situation that can change rapidly
21/10/2021
CMS advises EDF Renewables UK on new partnership with VANTAGE RE
International law firm CMS has advised EDF Renewables UK, a subsidiary of the French utility company, Électricité de France (EDF), on its strategic partnership with Vantage RE Ltd (Vantage RE), a wholly-owned...
09/07/2020
CMS enjoys highest number of UK wind experts ranked in Legal Power List...
CMS UK is pleased to announce that three of the firm’s lawyers have been named in A Word About Wind’s Legal Power List 2020. The Legal Power List ranks the top 100 most influential lawyers working...
25/09/2019
CMS advises The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited on key offshore...
International law firm CMS has advised The Renewables Infrastructure Group Limited (“TRIG”), a fund managed by InfraRed Capital Partners, on the acquisition of a 25% indirect equity interest in Gode...
01/03/2017
CMS advises Low Carbon on its joint venture with VPI Immingham in connection...
CMS has advised Low Carbon on its joint venture with VPI Immingham, owner of one of the largest combined heat and power plants in Europe and part of the Vitol Group, to fund early stage energy storage...
11/09/2014
Expert valuations: make your bed and lie in it
There are many situations in which parties who are at odds agree to leave the contentious point to the decision of an independent expert. It is often referred to as a quick and dirty process, compared...
11/10/2011
Share sale unwound for fraudulent mis­rep­res­ent­a­tion
When Hampson Industries PLC sold one of its subsidiaries in the early hours of 23 June 2010, there was an email on the chief executive officer’s blackberry – apparently unread, although it was received...