Bank of the Year – Societe Generale
A record year for project finance in the Americas lent itself to banks that could build on solid foundations while acting nimbly to take advantage of emerging trends. Societe Generale was able to lead the progression of project finance into markets of the future, continue to deliver on its suite of bread-and-butter deals, and offer market-leading advisory, earning it the Americas Bank of the Year prize.
Societe Generale was in the top five on league tables entering the final stretch of the year, having closed US$7.7bn in financing across 57 deals as a mandated lead arranger and US$8.2bn as a bookrunner across 54 deals as at the most recent count, giving it a sizeable market share. The bank’s offerings included lead arranging, co-underwriting, hedge providing, documentation agency, placement agency, technical agency, green loan coordination, private placement agency, and appraisal coordination, among other offerings.
The bank was able to accompany clients in responding to surging AI-driven demand requiring an accentuated development of data centres and their power sources, from renewables to conventional. It continued to lead in financing of renewables plus storage projects, innovate to support decarbonisation and new infra core plus assets, and leverage its infrastructure, PPP, mining and energy expertise to create high impact deals.
In the booming tech infrastructure space, Societe Generale was one of the chief architects of the funding secured in 2025 backing the proliferation of data centres, including acting as coordinating lead arranger, appraisal coordinator, and active bookrunner for the massive US$18bn Project Miner financing in New Mexico. It was also coordinating lead arranger, bookrunner and co-green loan coordinator on the US$5.38bn Project Wave financing for Blackstone-backed QTS. It also closed deals for Vantage, OpenAI, CoreWeave, Blue Owl Capital, EdgeConnex, EQT and Oracle, aligning itself with all the major players in the space.
The bank continued to address evolving demand for renewable energy in response to big tech and government-driven clean energy needs and was key in a series of major deals, including, in the US, raising US$2.29bn backing Clenera’s solar and storage projects and US$3.13bn for that of Intersect Power. It was also key in raising upwards of US$1bn in project finance loans backing solar and storage projects in Latin America from storied sponsors including AES, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Atlas, and Blackstone’s Aypa.
Societe Generale also played a key role in a series of novel decarbonisation financings, breaking new ground in the financing of climate-related initiatives. It supported the first large-scale carbon capture and storage financing of its kind worth US$1.1bn in the US for the Trailblazer CO₂ Pipeline and CCS scheme. It was also a lender to the Kimmeridge-backed Chestnut Carbon’s non-recourse project finance credit facility of up to US$210m to support a US voluntary carbon removal afforestation project, another first.
The bank was able to deliver for clients in more traditional sectors. It was a lead on the US$1.1bn financing of Kindle Energy and GE-backed Wolf Summit Energy’s CCGT in West Virginia, marking the first financing of a greenfield CCGT in the US since 2022. It also took part in billion dollar-financings backed by the Lackawanna and Middle River power plants, while continuing to lead the way in LNG deals for companies including Freeport LNG, Macquarie, and BlackRock.
The French group also showed its strength in breadth. It expanded further in the infra core plus market via the US$248.5m refinancing of International Aerospace Coatings debt backed by a portfolio of 20 purpose-built hangars, supported a US$1.8bn deal for the EQT and T-Mobile US 50/50 JV to develop an open access fibre-to-the home platform, and strengthened its leadership in the university energy P3 sector with a sixth financial advisory and private placement mandate in the sector for the University of Iowa Utility System PPP.
The bank also leveraged its long-standing expertise in the copper mining industry to lead the project financing for the latest in a series of strategic copper mining projects in Latin America with US$375m for Pucobre’s El Espino mine. It also showed its chops in transportation deals, arranging US$424m in financing for Macquarie portfolio company International Transportation Service, operator of the container terminal located in the port of Long Beach, as well as leading the US$1.23bn refinancing via private placement of the bank debt initially raised in connection with Macquarie’s acquisition of LBCT in 2019.
Elsewhere, the bank participated in a significant new financing for the purchase and installation of Nvidia GPU chips by CoreWeave to serve OpenAI’s workloads – one of the first GPU financing transactions in the global banking sector. The US$2.6bn delayed draw term facility will be used to acquire the latest Nvidia GPU chips and while not project finance, it allowed the bank to further ingratiate itself into the booming AI space.
The Societe Generale project finance team for the Americas includes Eric Kim, head of the Energy + Group, Valentine Sallettaz, head of infrastructure finance & advisory, and Valtin Gallani, head of TMT Finance & Advisory with the bulk of the team based in New York.
LNG Deal of the Year – Louisiana LNG
The more than US$6bn, seven-year Stonepeak Wallaby financing stands out among many LNG transactions this year as the first greenfield back-leveraged LNG project financing in the US.
The Louisiana LNG project it supports was the first final investment decision since the Biden administration paused approvals on new LNG facilities. It also marked the positive end of a long saga for the export terminal formerly known as Driftwood. The project had struggled for years to make it to close prior to its sale to Woodside Energy and the subsequent deal to sell a stake to Stonepeak.
Woodside agreed to sell a 40% stake in Louisiana LNG Infrastructure to Stonepeak for US$5.7bn. The deal reduced Woodside's capex needs and marked a “material step” toward final investment decision on the project. The bank market showed strong appetite based on Woodside’s support and the tolling structure of the project and the financing saw a quick turnaround.
Stonepeak Wallaby closed on just over US$6bn in seven-year financing to fund the stake. The transaction comprised a US$5.24bn delayed draw term loan, a US$500m term loan and US$290m standby letter of credit, all due in June 2032. Santander was administrative agent, with arrangers BBVA, CIBC, CoBank, DNB, HSBC, MUFG, National Bank of Canada, OCBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank, Standard Chartered, SMBC, Truist Financial, Intesa Sanpaolo, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Mizuho.
Mizuho and its affiliate Greenhill and Santander US Capital Markets served as financial advisers to Stonepeak. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was transactional legal counsel and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison was financing legal counsel to Stonepeak. RBC Capital Markets and Evercore were financial advisers to Woodside. Norton Rose Fulbright was legal counsel to Woodside and Milbank was legal adviser to the banks.
The entirety of the project’s operating capacity is underpinned by a 20-year, take-or-pay tolling agreement backed by Woodside. The tolling agreement has a fixed start date regardless of actual project completion, insulating the borrower from cashflow risks related to construction delay
“Our partnership with Stonepeak reflects the attractiveness of Louisiana LNG and was a key milestone towards achieving a successful final investment decision”, said Woodside chief executive officer Meg O’Neill.
“Stonepeak is a high-quality partner, with extensive investment experience across US gas and LNG infrastructure. The accelerated capital contribution from Stonepeak enhances Louisiana LNG project returns and strengthens our capacity for shareholder returns ahead of first cargo from the Scarborough Energy Project in Western Australia, targeted for the second half of 2026."
Louisiana LNG is a greenfield export terminal that consists of three LNG liquefaction trains with a capacity of more than 5.5m tonnes per year each, two 235,000 m3 gas storage tanks, and two shipping berths. Stonepeak’s investment will fund 75% of capex in 2025 and 2026.
Deal of the Year – STACK Infrastructure
The financing of digital infrastructure had a breakout year in 2025 and the companies behind the US$18bn Project Miner project financing delivered the year’s standout. The deal will provide a template for the potential trillions in funding needed to deliver on the promise of artificial intelligence and the digital revolution.
Sponsors Blue Owl Capital and STACK Infrastructure closed a whopping US$18bn loan backing the 1.28GW data centre in Don Ana County, New Mexico, making it one of the largest single asset financings ever closed and the largest data centre financing in aggregate. Terms were attractive, with pricing of SOFR plus 2.5% with a four-year maturity and the option to extend for a further year twice. The loan represents 85% of the more than US$20bn in project costs.
Project Miner is one of the largest private investments in New Mexico’s history and is designed to bring thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in local New Mexican tax revenue.
The project features four data centre assets each financed under separate non-recourse financings. The data centres themselves are among the most state-of-the-art ever built for AI and their design incorporates an on-site microgrid to accelerate power availability and a closed-loop cooling system that reduces water consumption to levels comparable with office buildings.
The deal brought together a who’s who of project finance banks. BBVA, BNP Paribas, CoBank, Credit Agricole, Citi, DBS, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, MUFG, Natixis, OCBC, RBC, Santander, SMBC, Societe Generale, TD Securities, Truist, and Wells Fargo were the initial coordinating lead arrangers and bookrunners. SMBC, BNP, MUFG, and Goldman were admin agents. Skadden and Kirkland & Ellis advised the borrowers and Milbank the lenders.
Banks were able to expeditiously obtain credit approval for such a large deal in a relatively new space within compressed time frames to support the sponsors, demonstrating a streamlined credit process and efficient cross-team collaboration. A broad group of banks initially committed to the transaction and the deal was further syndicated to an expanded group of lenders.
The project is 100% leased to an investment-grade hyperscaler under a long-term NNN lease through which the tenant is responsible for all operating expenses. STACK is collaborating with BorderPlex Digital Assets. The project will be constructed by Clayco and Kiewit.
The Dona Ana County site could ultimately see investments of US$165bn for what is known as Project Jupiter. Oracle will be the anchor tenant. OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle are part of the Stargate team, which is hoping to deploy US$500bn on its data centre and AI buildout, meaning this could be the first in many mammoth deals closed in the coming years.
Infrastructure Deal of the Year – SR 400
SR 400 Peach Partners, comprised of ACS Infrastructure, Acciona, and Meridiam, broke a few records in US infrastructure project finance when it reached financial close on the SR 400 Express Lanes project in Atlanta, Georgia. The project is backed by the largest public-private partnership bond financing and the largest Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan issued to date. It also represents Georgia's first revenue-risk P3.
Public partners on the project include the Georgia Department of Transportation and the State Road and Tollway Authority. The project represents a total investment value of US$10.9bn, including US$4.6bn in construction value. The consortium placed a US$3.32bn in tax-exempt private TIFIA loan with the US Department of Transportation. The PABs were issued by Wisconsin-based Public Finance Authority as conduit issuer.
JP Morgan and RBC Capital Markets served as joint bookrunners and KeyBanc Capital Markets was co-underwriter. Keybank was financial adviser. Ashurst advised GDOT, Mayer Brown advised SR 400 Peach Partners, and A&O Shearman advised the US Department of Transportation. Orrick served as bond counsel. Winston & Strawn served as lenders’ counsel during the underwriting portion of the SR 400 financing. Close to 100 institutional investors, including high-yield muni funds and crossover buyers from the corporate market, bought the bonds.
The project will be delivered under a 50-year concession design-build-finance-operate-maintain contract, with an initial 5.5 years of construction. The 16-mile corridor will add dynamically tolled free-flow express lanes in each direction, upgrade bridges, build bus rapid transit stations, and incorporate a traffic management system. Construction is expected to start in Q3 2026, with the new express lanes anticipated to open in 2031.
SR 400 Peach Partners contributed an upfront concession fee of US$3.36bn to GDOT and SRTA. The consortium will deliver an additional US$75m for future bus rapid transit-related developments and US$26m to fund further improvements.
The success of the transaction helped build momentum for a sizeable follow-on project in the state and in March GDOT shortlisted four teams on the US$3bn I-285 East express lanes public-private partnership.
Renewables Deal of the Year – Mammoth Solar
Philadelphia-based Doral Renewables delivered a standout transaction with a US$1.5bn project finance package backing 900MW of utility-scale solar in Pulaski County, Indiana. The three projects are part of the broader 1.3GW Mammoth solar facility.
The financing funds construction of the 300MW Mammoth South, Mammoth Central I and Mammoth Central II solar projects which have long-term power purchase agreements. Bechtel has been given full notice to proceed with construction and the projects are expected to reach commercial operations in Q4 2026.
KeyBanc, Santander and HSBC were coordinating lead arrangers for the US$1.3bn construction debt financing for the projects, which comprised US$412m of construction-to-term loan facilities, US$614m of tax equity bridge loans and a US$259m letter of credit facility. The closing was completed simultaneously with Doral’s signing of a more than US$200m tax equity commitment for the Mammoth South project from Truist Bank.
Marathon Capital Markets was tax equity adviser and McDermott Will & Schulte was legal counsel to Doral on both the construction debt and the tax equity. CCA Group was tax equity adviser and Milbank provided tax equity legal counsel to Truist. Norton Rose Fulbright provided legal counsel to the lenders.
The massive size of the project brought complexities in structuring and negotiating power purchase agreements, EPC and operations and maintenance contracts, and supply agreements as well as interconnection and supply chain challenges. The project also pioneered agrivoltaics and domestic sourcing to set a benchmark for scalable renewables development in the Midwest. When the projects are complete Doral plans to expand its large-scale agrivoltaics inside the projects' area, allowing farmers to return to farming activities such as livestock grazing and food production.
Doral Renewables’ management and leadership team includes the Doral Group, Migdal Group, Clean Air Generation, APG, and Apollo Global Management.
Power Deal of the Year – Intersect Quantum
Project Quantum is a US$1.92bn financing to fund the construction of 640MW of solar and more than 1.2GWh of storage in Haskell County, Texas. The parties to the deal navigated market uncertainty due to tariffs and proposed tax law changes and also worked to accommodate a unique tax equity structure.
The project was sponsored by Intersect Power, a renewable energy developer whose shareholders include TPG Group, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, Trilantic Group, Alphabet, and Macquarie Infrastructure. Project Quantum interconnects into the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas transmission system and is fully contracted under a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement with Google.
The deal demonstrated the best of structuring to incorporate both tax equity and a tax credit transfer. It included a US$643m construction-to-term loan, a US$251m committed tax equity bridge loan, a US$63m uncommitted tax equity bridge loan, a US$758m transferability bridge loan and US$209m letter of credit facility. Intersect opted for a construction plus three-year financing tenor because of its plans to refinance the transaction with a long-term portfolio financing shortly after commercial operations start.
Deutsche Bank was administrative agent with coordinating lead arrangers Santander and MUFG. Additional banks included NordLB, SMBC, CIBC, HSBC, ING, Rabobank, Cobank, Credit Agricole, Federation des Caisses Desjardins du Quebec, Keybank, National Bank of Canada, Natixis, PNC Bank, RBC, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and Truist. Morgan Stanley committed tax equity at financial close and tax credit transferee committed shortly thereafter. Milbank was legal adviser to the banks and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe was legal adviser to the project.
Project Quantum supports the sponsor’s goal of shifting from being a pure-play renewable energy developer to building and operating data centers as well. It was structured to allow for the co-location of industrial-scale behind-the-meter data centres to be developed by the offtaker which serves to project-on-project risk while reducing basis risk. Its structure also acknowledges a heightened risk of tariff cost volatility and budgets for potential cost overruns with incremental debt, equity, and contingent parent support.
The Quantum transaction represents one of the sector’s first co-located renewable power and data centre project structures and paves the way for the continued development of clean energy to support the growing demand for digital infrastructure.
Oil & Gas Deal of the Year – VMOS Pipeline
The Vaca Muerta shale play is one of the world’s most exciting new energy sites and this year special purpose vehicle VMOS closed a US$2bn five-year project finance loan backing the US$3bn Vaca Muerta Sur oil pipeline project.
This transaction is the largest commercial loan for an infrastructure project in Argentine history, one of the top five oil and gas financings in Latin America, and the largest oil transportation infrastructure project in Argentina in the past 20 years.
VMOS is owned by a consortium of Argentine companies holding interests in the Vaca Muerta shale oil fields, comprising YPF, Pluspetrol, Pan American Energy, Vista Energy Argentina, Pampa Energia, Chevron Argentina, Shell Argentina, Tecpetrol, and Gas y Petroleo del Neuquen.
A group of seasoned banks including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Itau Unibanco, JP Morgan and Santander led the deal, which priced attractively at SOFR plus 5.5%. Sullivan & Cromwell and Bruchou & Funes de Rioja advised sponsors. Milbank and Beccar Varela advised lenders. Nixon Peabody and Tanoira Cassagne advised agents.
This financing represents the reopening of the international project finance market after years in which that market was closed to Argentina, with this the first deal since 2019. It is also the first financing of a significant project that uses Argentina’s new Regimen de Incentivos para Grandes Inversiones or RIGI programme.
The tariff structure under the transportation agreements delivers an innovative and resilient financing model. Each sponsor agrees to pay a ship-or-pay tariff in exchange for its rights to transport oil through the pipeline. A dollar-linked peso tariff supports each sponsor’s share of construction and operating costs, while a dollar tariff supports debt service regardless of oil throughput, thereby insulating lenders from demand volatility and construction risk.
The financing was also carefully designed to navigate Argentina’s complex foreign exchange controls. Through the innovative application of the RIGI regime and carefully structured contractual arrangements and account mechanics, the project structure ensures that VMOS may receive and retain offshore US dollar revenues tied to exports of crude oil. This mechanism allows lenders to be repaid in dollars, addressing convertibility and transfer risks that have long deterred cross-border investment into Argentina.
VMOS comprises a pipeline running from Argentina's shale region to the Atlantic coast. It is expected to transport 180,000 barrels per day by late 2026, with 550,000bpd in H2 2027, and may be expanded to handle 700,000bpd.
Vaca Muerta, a vast unconventional oil reserve, is seeing a lot of activity of late and will be pivotal for Argentina to cut costly imports and bolster its economy. More deals are expected soon, with some US$50bn needed for other infrastructure at Vaca Muerta, meaning this deal could also be the one to open the floodgates.
Latin America Deal of the Year – Oasis de Atacama
Chile’s Atacama Desert has the highest levels of solar radiation in the world, making it the perfect host for the world’s most ambitious and largest battery storage project Oasis de Atacama. The Grenergy-sponsored scheme was financed over the past few years, with over US$1.65bn raised in project loan markets across a series of deals, most recently in September.
Oasis de Atacama comprises three solar power plants comprising 800MW and a battery storage system with a capacity of up to 6.7GWh. The lenders across the multiple green deals include SMBC, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Bank of Nova Scotia, Natixis, KfW, Bank of America, BBVA, and Bank of China. Milbank represented lenders, with Clifford Chance and Carey acting for Grenergy.
The deal represents a strategic financing for the sponsor as it marks Grenergy’s largest storage financing to date, positioning it as a key player in the global storage market. The company was able to structure the overall financing by splitting the scheme into smaller phases, such as the 220MW/1.24GWh Quillagua phase and the 275MW/1.1GWh Gabriela phase, which allowed it to spread the borrowing out over a number of transactions.
The banks involved were able to provide a comprehensive solution including lending, green loan expertise, derivatives and interest rate hedging, accounts, and collateral agent services, all provided within a highly compressed timeline. Terms have been attractive for Grenergy, with pricing of SOFR plus 220bp to 225bp on the loans and coverage of some 80%–90% of capex required.
The deals also allowed Grenergy to sell down stakes, such as a recently complete sale of a 23% share in the first three phases to KKR's ContourGlobal for an enterprise value of up to US$$962m, including a US$50m earnout, which allows for recycling of capital.
The massive Oasis de Atacama complex supports Chile’s effort in bringing more battery storage onto the grid, which will help allow for the continued development of renewables and alleviate the recent issues in the country with regards to curtailment. The project also aligns with Chile’s plan to fully decarbonise its energy matrix by 2050.
