Latham & Watkins and Paul Weiss have scored major roles acting for Apollo as the private capital fund targets European energy infrastructure via a joint venture with German utility company RWE.
The American private equity group has committed €3.2bn to support RWE’s 25.1% stake in Amprion, one of four German companies that operates the country’s transmission grids. Latham and Paul Weiss are advising Apollo whilst Hengeler Mueller is advising RWE.
The Latham private equity infrastructure team was led by Frankfurt corporate partner Otto von Gruben, and included corporate partner Christina Mann and regional corporate department head for continental Europe Alexander Stefan Rieger, both also in Frankfurt, as well as New York corporate partner Gary Boss.
Advice was also provided on antitrust and FDI matters by Latham Germany deputy managing partner Max Hauser in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf and Hamburg partner Jana Dammann de Chapto. Hamburg partners Tobias Klass and Verena Seevers and New York partner Bora Bozkurt advised on tax, and Frankfurt and Hamburg partner Daniel Splittgerber advised on restructuring and special situations.
Munich partner Christian Jahn advised on finance, while Munich partner Anne Löhner advised on litigation.
Apollo also received advice from New York-based Paul Weiss partner Nadeem Waeen, who has an existing relationship with the PE house, having advised on their $11bn joint venture with Intel in June last year.
Hengeler Mueller acted for RWE, with a team led by corporate and M&A partners Thomas Meurer and Tobias Schneiders, and including corporate partner Hartwin Bungert.
Also advising were energy partner Jörg Meinzenbach, tax partner Gunther Wagner, employment partner Hendrik Bockenheimer, antitrust partner Markus Röhrig, and FDI partner Vera Jungkind. The firm previously advised RWE on its 2022 acquisition of the clean energy business of US energy company Con Edison.
In June, Latham acted for Apollo as it agreed to provide £4.5bn to EDF to finance the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in south-west England. The firm regularly advises Apollo, and last October oversaw a €1bn investment in German residential real estate company Vonovia. The previous year, Apollo carried out two transactions with Vonovia, each worth €1bn, that Latham also acted on.
Latham’s PE strategy has seen the firm develop teams across a range of practices in core European markets to provide full coverage on major transactions.
Apollo’s president Jim Zetler said Apollo could invest up to $100bn in Germany over the next decade as the firm eyes opportunities in ‘infrastructure, defence, re-industrialisation and power generation’, the Financial Times reported.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval. RWE and Apollo will share dividends paid out by Amprion, but RWE is set to maintain operational control.
