Milbank LLP represented Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”) as the financing source to an affiliate of Blackstone Infrastructure Partners (“Blackstone”) in Blackstone’s agreement to acquire a 19.9% non-controlling equity interest in NIPSCO, a regulated utility owned by NiSource Inc. (“NiSource”) (NYSE: NI). The acquisition agreement, which was announced today, implies an enterprise value of US$14.3 billion for 100% of NIPSCO. Upon closing, NiSource will retain an 80.1% stake in NIPSCO and continue to operate NIPSCO. The deal and financing are expected to close by the end of 2023.
The Milbank team was led by New York-based Global Leveraged Finance partners Marcus Dougherty and Benjamin Sayagh along with associates Gregory Arpino, Jeffrey Turben, Allison Mahoney and Kaitlin Ryan.
The team also included Regulatory Advisor James Liles and Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance associate Katherine Hannah (advising on energy regulatory matters), Litigation & Arbitration of counsel Jane Hanson (advising on labor and employment litigation and organized labor), Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits partner Joel Krasnow and associate Taylor Knowles (advising on ERISA/Benefits), Global Corporate partner Matthew Ahrens and special counsel Thomas Goslin (advising on environmental matters) and Global Corporate partner Andrew Fadale and associate Pragyan Patnaik (advising on corporate governance matters).
