CHRIS GROOBEY
CHRIS GROOBEYPartner
Project Development & Finance
Energy & Clean Technology
Corporate Finance
Chris Groobey is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice is focused on project finance, corporate finance, and merger and acquisition transactions involving the energy and clean technology industries. He has particular expertise with respect to syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions; the development, financing, sale, and acquisition of domestic and international energy projects; and arranging capital for new and established energy companies.
Chris's practice is focused on the financing of renewable energy and clean technology companies and their projects. He has extensive experience with all types of renewable energy technologies, including wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and biogas power generation, first- and next-generation biofuels, and new technologies such as fuel cells, wave power, clean water, and agricultural products. He has represented energy and clean technology companies, private equity funds, investment banks, commercial banks, and multilateral agencies in transactions throughout the United States, Latin America, and Asia.
Prior to joining the firm, Chris was a partner at Baker & McKenzie. Earlier in his career, he practiced at Chadbourne & Parke and Perkins Coie.
SELECT CLIENTS:
- Cobalt Technologies
- Energy Power Partners
- FuelCell Energy
- KiOR
- Leaf Clean Energy
- OPX Biotechnologies
- POET
- Silicon Valley Bank
- Simbol
- TD Bank
- Tioga Energy
- Total S.A.
- Union Bank
- USRG Renewable Finance
- Virdia
- WestLB
- Represent Silicon Valley Bank in connection with multiple USDA-guaranteed loans to advanced fuels companies, including Sapphire Energy and Range Fuels
- Represent POET LLC in connection with its DOE loan guarantee for the Project Liberty cellulosic ethanol facility and subsequent joint venture with DSM
- Represent Total S.A. and affiliates in the $1.4 billion control acquisition of SunPower Corporation, related $1 billion credit support transaction, and subsequent $600 million liquidity support transaction for the CVSR solar project
- Represent TD Bank, Union Bank, and WestLB in connection with numerous project financings of wind, solar, biomass, and biofuels projects
- Represent Energy Power Partners and Leaf Clean Energy in numerous equity, debt, and M&A transactions relating to portfolio companies and their projects
- Represent FuelCell Energy in project development and finance matters
- Represent numerous first- and second-generation biofuels, distributed generation, and clean technology companies in corporate financing, project development, and finance matters and domestic and international joint venture transactions
- J.D., University of Chicago Law School, 1991
- B.A., Hampshire College, 1987
- Named among the country's top projects attorneys in the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, where reviewers cited his "impressive experience of representing East Coast financial institutions and private equity investors on projects covering virtually all alternative energy sources"
- Recognized in Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business in the Projects & Energy category in 2008 and the Renewables & Alternative Energy Projects category in 2011, 2012, and 2013, with commentators calling him a "great lawyer – very energetic, upbeat, client-friendly and well plugged-in to the flow of the industry"
- Selected for inclusion in the Project Finance category of Legal 500
- Listed in the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 editions of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Project Finance Law
- "Project Finance Primer for Renewable Energy Projects," published in the Clean Technology Primer by Jefferies & Company each year since 2008 in conjunction with their Global Clean Technology Conferences
- "Refi Re-Energizes Termovalle," 2007 Yearbook, Project Finance International
- "Power Contract Monetization Back in Vogue," Hart's Energy Markets, May 2005
- "Financing Ethanol Plants Provides Challenges and Opportunities," Natural Gas and Electricity, June 2004
- "Enron Accusations Force Banking Rethink," International Financial Law Review, November 2003
- "Longer Road to Closing for Power Contract Monetizations," Natural Gas & Electricity, April 2002
- Chris is a frequent speaker on topics related to renewable energy and project finance and has spoken at numerous conferences, including the Platt's Global Power Markets Conference and the Euromoney/ACORE Renewable Energy Finance Forum. Most recently, Chris participated in a panel discussion addressing the topic of biofuels at the Milken Institute's 2012 Global Conference; click here to view a video of the panel presentation
- Bar of the District of Columbia
- State Bar of New York
