Gregory D. Howling, P.C.

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

• The independent board of an affiliate of Apollo (NYSE: APO) in connection with the definitive agreement to sell a 49% equity interest in the Ireland Fab Joint Venture to Intel Corporation for $14.2 billion.
• KKR in its strategic partnership with RWE to build and operate the Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Vanguard West offshore wind projects in the UK, which projects have a combined total development cost of more than $15 billion.
• KKR in its $7 billion strategic investment in Keurig Dr Pepper (Nasdaq: KDP), a leading beverage company in North America.
• KKR on an agreement whereby insurance vehicles and accounts managed by KKR will acquire 50% of a 1.4 GW solar portfolio in North America from TotalEnergies in a transaction valuing the portfolio at an enterprise value of $1.25 billion and covering six utility-scale solar assets with a combined capacity of 1.3 GW and 41 distributed generation assets totaling 140 MW, primarily situated in the U.S.
• Brookfield in its $6 billion acquisition of a 19.7% equity interest in Duke Energy Florida.
• CBRE Investment Management on a partnership with ENGIE North America for a 2.4 GW portfolio of battery storage assets in Texas and California. This transaction is one of ENGIE’s largest operating portfolio partnerships in the U.S. and one of the sector’s largest sales completed to date. ENGIE will retain a controlling share in the portfolio and will continue to operate and manage the assets. The portfolio consists of 31 projects in operation in Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) territories.
• Metronet, a customer-focused company providing cutting-edge fiber optic telecommunication services, in a multibillion warehouse credit facility in connection with its acquisition by KKR and T-Mobile.
• Blackstone Energy Transition Partners in connection with the financing of its acquisition of Potomac Energy Center, a 774-megawatt natural gas power plant in Loudoun County, Virginia.
• NextEra Energy Resources, LLC in connection with multiple revolving credit facilities to fund the development of wind, solar and storage projects in the US.
• ContourGlobal, an independent power producer with a diversified global presence and portfolio company of KKR, in connection with the closing of its $612 million refinancing of a 1,205 MW portfolio of Natural Gas power plants located in California, New Mexico and Texas.
• KKR on the signing of a definitive agreement pursuant to which investment funds and accounts managed by KKR agreed to acquire a majority stake in Avantus, a premier U.S. developer of large utility-scale solar and solar-plus-storage projects.
• BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) on its $550 million investment on behalf of clients in the development of STRATOS, the world's largest Direct Air Capture facility, in Ector County, Texas.
• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P., together with Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, in its acquisition of Compass Datacenters, a designer and provider of data centers for hyperscalers and cloud providers on campuses across the globe.
• Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in its $805 million convertible equity portfolio financing of a large portfolio of renewables assets owned by NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP).
• Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. on its definitive agreement with Intel Corp. to jointly fund Intel’s under-construction semiconductor fabrication facility with Brookfield investing up to $15 billion for a 49 percent stake in Intel’s manufacturing expansion.
• Blackstone and its portfolio company Kindle Energy in:
  • the $580 million development and construction financing of the Magnolia Power Generating Station, a 725 MW nameplate capacity natural gas-fired and hydrogen-capable combined-cycle electric generating facility to be constructed in Iberville Parish, Louisiana;
  • the equipment financing and 4(a)(2) senior secured notes offering to support Kindle Energy’s Mountain Peak Power Plant, a 162-MW natural gas-fired aeroderivative electric generating plant located in Keenesburg, Colorado;
  • the equipment financing and 4(a)(2) senior secured notes offering for Kindle’s Canyon Peak Power project, a 156-MW natural gas-fired electric generating plant near Denver, Colorado;
  • the Term Loan B financing of Kindle’s $1 billion acquisition of the Potomac Energy Center, a 774-MW natural gas power plant in Loudoun County, Virginia; and
  • the $1.1 billion construction financing of the Wolf Summit Project, an approximately 600-MW combined-cycle natural gas power plant located in Harrison County, West Virginia, that is owned and developed through a joint venture with Kindle and GE Vernova.
• Grön Fuels, a subsidiary of Fidelis New Energy, in the development of a renewable diesel and jet fuels production facility in Louisiana.
• A joint venture led by Oak View Group, LLC, a global venue development, advisory and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries, in connection with the cross-border bank/bond construction financing for the development of Co-op Live, a 23,500 seat multipurpose entertainment arena to be built in Manchester, England.
• A joint venture led by Oak View Group, LLC, a global venue development, advisory and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries, in connection with the construction financing for the development of Acrisure Arena, an 11,000 seat world-class multipurpose arena located in Palm Springs, California and the future home of the Coachella Valley Firebirds.
• Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in two related transactions involving a 2,520 megawatt renewable energy portfolio operated by NextEra consisting of 13 US based utility-scale wind and solar assets, three of which include battery storage.
• The acquiring consortium and KKR, a leading global investment firm, in the financing of the consortium’s approximately $15 billion acquisition of all outstanding shares of common stock of CyrusOne Inc. (Nasdaq: CONE), a premier global data center REIT.
• Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets and its portfolio company Cyrq Energy, LLC, a leader in geothermal energy technology and production with over 200 MW and six facilities, in connection with the refinancing of existing debt across Cyrq Energy’s portfolio.  

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

• KeyBank, National Association, ING Capital and Mizuho Bank in connection with a construction loan and letter of credit facility and a separate term loan facility to subsidiaries of Terra-Gen, LLC, for the development of a 460-MW energy storage system in California.
• Onyx Renewable Partners L.P., a Blackstone portfolio company, in connection with the sale of multiple portfolios of distributed generation and small-scale utility solar projects.
• JPMorgan Asset Management in its acquisition of Sonnedix Power Holdings, an international independent solar power producer.
• Exxon Mobil Corporation in connection with numerous domestic and international exploration and production opportunities, including:
  • its joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) for their Gulf Coast Growth Ventures petrochemical project in Texas;
  • its $2.8 billion acquisition from Eni S.p.A. and structuring of a 25 percent indirect interest in the Area 4 block of the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique; and
  • its acquisition of an interest in a 2.4-million-acre ultra-deep water block off the coast of Suriname.
• Allianz Global Investors US LLC, BlackRock and MetLife and various purchasers in 4(a)(2) private placements totaling approximately $2 billion of senior secured notes by a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc. to refinance a term loan facility for liquefied natural gas trains and a related pipeline at Cheniere's facilities near Corpus Christi, Texas.
• Bank of America as lead initial purchaser in a $1.5 billion Rule 144A offering by a subsidiary of Cheniere Energy, Inc.
• Credit Suisse as lead initial purchaser in a $2 billion Rule 144A offering by Cheniere Energy, Inc.
• Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and SG Americas Securities, LLC as coordinating lead arrangers of a group of 17 banks in connection with a $1.25 billion revolving credit facility for Cheniere Energy, Inc.
• Syndicate of 18 international banks and other financial institutions in connection with Sasol Limited's $4 billion credit facility for the construction of a petrochemical plant in Louisiana.
• MUFG Union Bank, N.A., CoBank, ACB and Citibank, N.A. in connection with a $285 million construction loan, tax equity bridge loan and letter of credit facilities to a subsidiary of Terra-Gen, LLC for the repowering of four wind farms in California.
• MUFG Bank, Ltd. as lead arranger in connection with $733 million in construction loan and letter of credit facilities for the development and sale of the High Prairie Wind Farm, a 400 MW wind generation facility in Missouri.
• SG Americas Securities, LLC and Santander Bank, N.A. in connection with a $256 million credit facility for a joint venture between Tenaska, Inc. and Mitsubishi Corporation to refinance existing bonds for the Lindsay Hill Generating Station, an 859 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle electrical generating facility in Alabama.
• Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, MUFG Securities Americas Inc. and BNP Paribas Securities Corp. in a $401 million 4(a)(2) private placement of senior secured notes to refinance a construction and term loan facility for the Tenaska Imperial Solar Energy Center West project in California.
• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Roya Bank of Canada, as joint lead arrangers, in connection with a $319 million 4(a)(2) private placement and a $163 million credit facility refinancing for a 130 MW photovoltaic solar electrical generating facility indirectly owned by Tenaska, Inc.