Rupert Baker
Rupert advises sponsors, investors and financiers on all aspects of project financing in Asia Pacific.
Rupert provides specialist project finance expertise, advising sponsors, investors and financiers (including ECAs and DFIs) on all aspects of project financing transactions in the Asia Pacific region. This includes financing of greenfield projects, brownfield asset refinancing as well as the structuring and financing related aspects of M&A and secondary market transactions.
He has considerable international experience, having advised across multiple jurisdictions, including Australia, India, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the United States.
Rupert’s primary sectors of focus are energy, with a particular focus on power, renewables and the energy transition, Infrastructure, including public-private partnerships (PPPs), in the roads, rail and ports sub-sectors, and mining and natural resources.
Rupert is featured as a leading individual in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500 Green Guide (Asia Pacific).
Background
Originally from Australia, Rupert has bachelor's degrees in law and in forensics from Murdoch University in Perth. He is an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and holds a graduate diploma of legal practice from the College of Law in Sydney.
Rupert worked with Herbert Smith Freehills from 2010 to 2019, first as a solicitor and then as a senior associate, working in the firm's Perth, Sydney and Tokyo offices, including on secondments with both SoftBank Group Corp. and Fotowatio Renewable Ventures. Prior to re-joining the firm as a Partner in Singapore in 2022, he was a Senior Counsel and Head of Legal, Project Finance & Energy at SoftBank Group Corp., where he worked from 2019 to 2021.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- Cooperative Rabobank U.A., Hong Kong in relation to their green loan financing of Renew group’s 210MW C&I solar power plant in Rajasthan
- BlackRock on the establishment of a Southeast Asia renewable energy platform (a Climate Finance Partnership investment), including the platform's first joint venture investment in up to five large scale solar projects in the Philippines with total capacity of 1GW
- a consortium on its bid to the Energy Market Authority of Singapore as part of its First Request for Proposal (RFP1) to Appoint Licensed Electricity Importers for up to 1.2GW of electricity to begin by 2027
- a major Asian trading company on its prepaid offtake arrangements (offtake agreement and prepayment debt facilities) in relation to a graphite mining project in Tanzania, Africa
- SoftBank Group Corp. and SB Energy on the development and financing of its renewable energy platform in India, together with all aspects of its associated incorporated joint venture arrangements
- Momentum Trains (an international consortium comprising CAF, UGL, Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, CAF Investment Projects and DIF Infrastructure V Coöperatief) in respect of Regional Rail Project, a PPP with TfNSW
- Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation and Windlab Limited as sponsors in Kennedy Energy Park Pty Ltd on the construction, offtake, grid connection and project financing of the Kennedy Energy Park, a combined wind, solar and battery storage project, located in central northern Queensland
- ANZ, MUFG and SMBC on the project financing of the 100MW Lilyvale Solar Farm, located 50km north east of Emerald, in the Central Highlands region of Queensland
