Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised German state-owned bank KFW on a revolving credit line of up to EUR 9.8 billion for the former Gazprom Germania.
According to Freshfields, "the revolving credit facility is intended to secure gas supplies in Germany in the longer term. Gazprom Germania operates critical energy infrastructure in Germany and is particularly active in energy trading, gas transport, and the operation of gas storage facilities."
Gazprom Germania (GPG), formerly part of the Russian Gazprom group, has been under the fiduciary management of the German Federal Network Agency since April 4, 2022. GPG will be operating under the name of Securing Energy for Europe in the future.
The KFW is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. Founded in 1948, the KFW Group has offices in Frankfurt, Berlin, Bonn, and Cologne, and its global network includes around 80 local and representative offices.
"With the loan from the KFW bank, the federal government will avert insolvency and prevent a cascade effect in the market," the German Federal Government announced. "The money will serve to secure liquidity and procure replacement gas. The loan will be ring-fenced to ensure that it can only be used for the business operations of GPG and to maintain the gas supply and cannot flow to Russia. In the next step, the government will consider ways of converting the loan to equity in order to guarantee the security of supply for the long term."
The Freshfields team was led by Frankfurt-based Partner Frank Laudenklos and included Vienna-based Partner Stephan Denk, Counsel Lukas Pomaroli, and Associate Florian Reiter-Werzin, as well as teams from the firm's Frankfurt, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, London, Washington, and Brussels offices.
