Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has advised a syndicate of commercial lenders on the financing for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear project in Suffolk, UK. The commercial lenders, who are supported by Bpifrance (France's export credit agency), will provide their financing under a platform alongside other forms of funding.
The financing will unlock the full-scale construction of the plant, which, once operational, will provide clean baseload power to the GB grid and thereby is expected to create cheaper overall power for consumers. The project will boost the British economy and its energy security, delivering home grown clean energy, thousands of high skilled British jobs across the UK-supply chain, as well as a significant number of apprenticeships.
The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer team was led by partners Matthew Job and Tom Marshall, supported by partner Charlotte Whight, senior associates Alex Shindler-Kelly, Amanda Tsangalis and Elizabeth Gadsby, and associates Wilson Lu, Michael Edwards, Perdita Shirley, Jenny Seong and Chloe Hooper from the firm's Finance and Corporate practices.
The wider team included partners William Breeze, Nick May, Tim Healey, William Turnbull, Morris Schonberg, James Woods, Jonathan Turnbull, Christine Young and Michael Aherne, consultant Tim Briggs, of counsel Stacey Pang and Nicholas Rutter, senior associates Felipe Lima, Rohy Alsaad, Antonia Smith, Leonie Timmers, John Patrick Attlee, Ezra Smith, Sian Greenley and Caroline Curran, and associates Shael Geffen, Kate Peck and Paula González Alarcón, from the firm's Finance, Real Estate, Competition, Regulation and Trade, Employment, Pensions and Incentives, ESG, and Disputes practices.
Partner Matthew Job commented: "As electricity market volatility continues to disrupt supply chains and the demand for power increases, this transaction delivers a crucial contribution to safeguarding the UK's energy infrastructure. We are very pleased to have advised the commercial lenders on the Sizewell C' project through to a successful financial close. This underscores our experience advising on market-defining energy transition projects and showcases our cross-practice capabilities in financing the biggest and most complex projects in the UK and Europe."
Partner Tom Marshall added: "Our role on Sizewell C is a testament to the strength of our practice advising on the largest and most complex projects in the UK, particularly where a regulated asset base is used to support greenfield infrastructure across sectors as diverse as sewage management, carbon capture and nuclear power generation. The UK nuclear sector is particularly important for us, with a track record of advising on the most important transactions in the sector over more than 20 years."
Partner Charlotte Whight said: "The Sizewell C nuclear power station will provide a foundation for the UK's future energy requirements, meeting 7% of the UK's energy needs for at least 60 years. We are very proud to have advised on such a flagship transaction which demonstrates how the RAB model can be used to attract private capital and debt to support the construction of major UK energy security assets."
The firm also advised La Caisse on its equity investment in Sizewell C, which was announced in July 2025 and completed in conjunction with the debt financial closing.
The Sizewell C project is supported by the development of a new RAB-based revenue model, building on Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer's experience on the Thames Tideway Tunnel project (the only previous project to adapt the RAB model for greenfield infrastructure development, other than the Northern Endurance Partnership CO2 transport and storage project). Along with the firm's experience on the Northern Endurance Partnership CO2 transport and storage project, the firm has now had prime roles on the founding projects for the application of the RAB model to greenfield projects in new nuclear and CCUS, as well as the original Thames Tideway Tunnel project.