Legal teams from Burges Salmon, the Bristol-headquartered national law firm, have advised on three major cross-border deals spanning the learning tech and renewable energy sectors.
The firm’s corporate and M&A team worked with UK-based learning technology company Think Learning on its acquisition by Totara Learning Group, a global leader in learning management technologies. 
Meanwhile its banking and finance team advised on a long-term financing deal to support the provision of renewable energy to commercial and industrial businesses in Zimbabwe.
And in a third transaction, its energy and utilities team helped close a £152m financing for a major UK battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
Totara’s acquisition of Brighton-based Think Learning is part of the company’s ambition to boost its healthcare market reach outside North America and enhance customer-driven innovation in learning solutions.
Think Learning was already a long-standing partner of Totara, which has offices in London, San Francisco and Wellington, New Zealand, and will now benefit from the group’s global resources and expertise to further its public sector and healthcare specialisms and diversify its client portfolio.
The Burges Salmon team advising Think Learning and its shareholders was led by partner Dominic Davis, director Tim Roberts and associate Dan Wood from its corporate and M&A team. Director Silvana Van der Velde also provided advice on tax-related matters.
Burges Salmon worked closely alongside Investec’s corporate finance team, including Scott Williams, William Godfrey and Mary Martin in advising Think Learning.
The Zimbabwe deal was handled by a multi-disciplinary team from across Burges Salmon’s energy and infrastructure sectors made up of Stuart McMillan, Luke Addison, James Horton, Uba Emole, Emily Cranston, Alice Burns and Zar Wilson.
They advised the Facility for Energy Inclusion (FEI) on its $10m (£7.8m) long-term senior debt financing to Cicada Solar, a leading provider of commercial and industrial solar solutions in Zimbabwe.
FEI, which was created to provide flexible, sustainable and efficient financing to support the expansion of sustainable energy infrastructure across Africa, believes Zimbabwe’s current growth trajectory is constrained by its limited power supply, and needs to be supported by sustainable and affordable energy solutions.
Cicada aims to provide much-needed support to commercial and industrial businesses in Zimbabwe, in bridging the capacity gap.
The financing will support Cicada to scale-up its operations across Zimbabwe, providing credible businesses with renewable energy and vendor financing solutions.
FEI managing director Carmen de Castro said: “Further demonstrating its leading role in the C&I [commercial and industrial] sector in Africa, the Facility for Energy Inclusion has been able to leverage its experience to deliver this milestone transaction in Zimbabwe.
“It was a pleasure to work with the Burges Salmon team, whose experience, responsiveness, and thoroughness were instrumental in supporting us throughout this transaction.”
The firm’s Energy and Utilities team supported the £152m financing for Atlantic Green’s 624 MWh Cellarhead battery energy storage project near Stoke-on-Trent.
The landmark project, with a capacity of 624 MWh – one of the largest UK BESS projects being developed – will significantly support the reliability of the UK’s electricity grid and the transition towards clean energy.
The financing was provided by an international consortium of lenders, including Goldman Sachs, Santander, Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi, with Goldman Sachs acting as the sole structuring bank, mandated lead arranger, and lender.
Atlantic Green investment director Rob Kesterton said: “We thank the Burges Salmon team for their excellent legal advice in helping us make this happen.
“Working with the various teams across Burges Salmon has been a positive experience and their joined-up approach in each specialist area have been instrumental in achieving this milestone.”
Burges Salmon employs around 1,100 people across its offices in Bristol, Edinburgh and London.
