Stephen Rigby
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
Related services and key industries
Biography
Stephen Rigby is a corporate partner based in London, focusing on equity investment, M&A and capital markets in the energy, infrastructure and utilities sectors. His clients include utilities, international oil companies, pension funds, infrastructure funds, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds. He has extensive experience in renewable energy, power and utilities, waste and transport, with a particular focus on the UK and European markets.
He is ranked as a Leading Individual by Legal 500 UK 2024 for Infrastructure M&A and Projects, Energy and Natural Resources – Power and is described by Legal 500 as "an exceptional operator".
He joined the firm in 1991.
Professional experience
Collapse allM.A. in Law, University of Cambridge
Master's in International Business Law, University of Manchester.
- Solicitor, qualified in England & Wales
Advised:
Offshore wind
- Greencoat UK Wind plc on its £717m acquisition of a 25% stake in London Array Offshore Wind Farm from Orsted
- INPEX Renewable Energy Europe on its acquisition of a 16.7% stake in the Moray East offshore windfarm
- Greencoat UK Wind plc - on its £400m acquisition from GIP of a minority stake in the Hornsea One offshore wind farm developed by Orsted
- Total Energies on its acquisition of a majority interest in the 1GW Seagreen UK offshore wind farm from SSE plc at financial close
- Greencoat UK Wind plc and Greencoat Renewable Income on their joint £648 million acquisition of a 49% interest in the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm from RWE
- bp - on its joint venture with EnBW in relation to the development of two new UK offshore wind farms under the 2021 UK Round 4 Crown Estate seabed leasing round
- Greencoat UK Wind plc on its £300 million acquisition of PKA's interest in Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm
- China Resources Power on the £550 million acquisition of Statkraft's 30% stake in the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, jointly developed by Statoil and Masdar
- Greencoat UK Wind plc on its £350 million acquisition of SSE's interest in the Walney I and II offshore wind farms
- RWE on its sale of a 10% interest in Gwynt Y Mor offshore wind farm to the UK Green Investment Bank
- Marubeni Corporation on its disposal of a 25% stake in Westermost Rough offshore wind farm to Green Investment Group
Energy storage
- Japanese utilities JERA and TEPCO on their investments in UK energy storage developer Zenobe
- Gore Street Capital Energy Storage Fund on the acquisition of a series of grid scale UK battery storage projects
Power and utilities
- RWE on the acquisition of the 350MW Kings Lynn CCGT gas-fired power station from Centrica
- Electricity North West on its disposal by its infrastructure owner JP Morgan Asset Management
- Hermes Infrastructure on the acquisition of a minority interest in Energy Assets Group, the largest provider of commercial electricity and gas metering services in the UK, and on its successful exit
- Good Energy Group plc on its successful defence of a hostile investor offer from Ecotricity Group Limited
- Hermes Infrastructure on its acquisition of a 17.1% stake in Southern Water, taking its total stake to 21%
- Victory Hill Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities Fund on the acquisition of a new gas fired capacity market generation project with captured CO2
- Hermes Infrastructure on its acquisition of a minority interest in the UK Viridor waste business owned by KKR
- InfraRed Capital Partners on the acquisition of a 49% interest in Fred Olsen's UK wind farm portfolio on behalf of The Renewables Infrastructure Group
- Chinese sovereign wealth fund on its acquisition of a 49% stake in a large UK operating wind farm portfolio
- Hermes Infrastructure on its acquisition of a 50% stake in Braes of Doune Wind Farm from Centrica, and subsequent sale to Greencoat UK Wind plc, and its acquisition of a majority stake in Fallago Rig Wind Farm from EDF
- Greencoat UK Wind plc on the acquisitions of over 25 onshore and offshore wind farms since 2014 from a range of utilities and developers including AES, EdF, JP Morgan, SSE, RWE, JP Morgan and BayWa
- Hermes Infrastructure on its acquisition of a 50% stake in Braes of Doune Wind Farm from Centrica and its acquisition of a majority stake in Fallago Rig Wind Farm from EDF
- InfraRed Capital Partners on the acquisition of a 49% interest in Fred Olsen's UK wind farm portfolio on behalf of The Renewables Infrastructure Group
- Hermes Infrastructure on its arrangements with CGN in respect of their ownership of three onshore wind farms in Sweden acquired from Aquila
Solar
- Schroders Greencoat on its strategic partnership with Innova Renewables to construct and operate up to 5GW solar energy generation and battery storage projects across the UK
- RWE AG on its acquisition of JBM Solar with its pipeline of 3.8GW solar and 2.3GW battery projects
- United Utilities plc on its £100 million disposal of its 70 asset renewable energy portfolio to SEEIT plc
- Greencoat Solar Fund on the acquisition of UK solar park portfolios from Lightsource bp, Metka, Primrose Solar and others
- Magnetar Capital on the acquisition of a portfolio of over 30 UK solar park projects from a range of developers and owners over an 18-month period followed by a successful exit of the entire portfolio
- Armstrong Energy on the development and sale of over 20 UK ground based solar parks, and the refinancing of a portfolio of 2,000 commercial rooftop solar assets
- IB Vogt on the sale of its portfolios of UK and North African solar parks to variety investors
New technologies – hydrogen, floating wind, plastics recycling, low carbon transport
- Just Climate LLP on its Series B equity investment in H2 Green Steel. H2GS is seeking to replace coal used in steelmaking with green hydrogen powered by renewable energy
- TotalEnergies on its JV with Simply Blue Energy to develop floating wind sites off the coast of Wales, focusing initially on the 96MW demonstration project 45km offshore known as Erebus, expected to be one of the largest floating offshore wind project in Europe when constructed in 2027
- SBM Offshore on its JV with CIERCO, named Floventis. Floventis has received confirmation from the Crown Estate of its intention to grant seabed rights for two 100MW floating wind test demonstration sites off the coast of Wales, subject to HRA
- Venture capital investors including Oil and Gas Climate Investments, Armstrong Energy and Sustainable Ocean Finance in a wide range of clean tech companies developing products in the fuel cell, smart grid, solar, wind, plastic recycling, low carbon transport and energy storage sectors.
Ranked as a Leading Individual by Legal 500 UK 2024 for Infrastructure M&A and Projects, Energy and Natural Resources – Power and is described by Legal 500 as "an exceptional operator".
Insights
Global offshore wind: Key markets and prospects
Publication | September 27, 2023
EPL ownership trends: What next?
Publication | August 07, 2023
Multi-club ownership trends: Governance and regulation
Publication | August 07, 2023