Herbert Smith Freehills advises VTTI on the acquisition of Adriatic LNG, Italy's largest LNG terminal

Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised VTTI, a Dutch energy storage and infrastructure company, on the acquisition of a majority interest in Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l.. The target owns the Adriatic LNG regasification terminal operating in the waters off Cavarzere (Rovigo), Italy. This is Italy's largest offshore infrastructure for unloading, storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with an annual technical regasification capacity of 9.6 billion cubic meters. From completion of the transaction, VTTI now own 70% and Snam own 30% of the quotas in Terminale GNL Adriatico S.r.l..

A cross border team from Herbert Smith Freehills supported VTTI with the corporate, financing and regulatory aspects of the transaction.

The HSF London corporate team was led by Reza Dadbakhsh, assisted over the course of the transaction by senior associates Valerie Lowe and Sara Midori Martinez and associates Matt Berlansky and Tihomir Svilanovic, with tax input from partner Will Arrenberg and senior associate Graham Crocker.

The HSF London finance team was led by Dhananjaya Chak with support from senior associates Edgar Monteiro and Alex Shindler-Kelly and associates Wilson Lu and Tom Eldred. Nick May provided hedging input with support from associate Konstantin Korennoy.

The HSF Milan corporate and energy regulatory team was led by partner Francesca Morra, assisted by senior associate Giacomo Gavotti and associates Chiara Miccolis and Dimitrie Vlaiduc.

The HSF Milan finance team was led by Simone Egidi, with support from senior associate Alessandra Iandoli.

The HSF Competition team was led by Kyriakos Fountoukakos in Brussels and Vass Karadakova in London assisted by Of Counsel Peter Rowland, senior associate Ali Macgregor and associate Amy Liu.

The completion of the transaction was announced on 3 December 2024.