Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Paul Weiss are advising US private equity firm Stonepeak on its agreement with Woodside Energy, repped by Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF), to provide $5.7bn in funding for a LNG development in Louisiana. 

Simpson Thacher’s team is led by energy and infrastructure partners Eli Hunt and Javad Asghari. The firm is guiding Stonepeak, which oversees $72bn in AUM and specialises in infrastructure and real assets, on the transactional aspects of the deal. 

Meantime Paul Weiss is serving as Stonepeak’s financing legal counsel, with the effort led by US corporate partners Eric Wedel, Ben Steadman, Caroline Epstein, Ravi Purohit and Lukas Richards. 

The deal is not the first time the two firms have jointly advised Stonepeak; a Simpson Thacher team co-led by Hunt and a Paul Weiss team led by Wedel and London partners Neel Sachdev and Matthew Merkle – who joined from Kirkland & Ellis in 2023 at the helm of the firm’s UK growth push – is also guiding the firm on its $1.6bn acquisition of Italian industrial components manufacturer Forgital Group from Carlyle. 

For his part Hunt, who co-heads Simpson Thacher’s energy and infrastructure practice from New York, has acted for Stonepeak on multiple past transactions including its $8.1bn acquisition of Astound Broadband in 2021 and its $1.3bn investment in Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in 2019. 

Stonepeak’s deal with Woodside will see it acquire a 40% stake in Louisiana LNG Infrastructure, a liquefied natural gas production and export terminal in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana with direct access to the US Gulf. The project is currently under construction and was nearing final investment decision for the foundation development, Stonepeak said on Sunday (6 April). 

The NRF team guiding Woodside – Australia’s largest energy company – on the deal includes global energy co-head Noam Ayali, who works out of Washington DC, and Dallas-based M&A partners Bryn Sappington and Blake Redwine. 

Woodside also turned to the firm for counsel last year when it acquired struggling US LNG developer Tellurian for $1.2bn as it looked to reduce dependence on Australian exports and become a global power in the gas market. The company had inherited US assets in 2022 through its $43bn merger with BHP’s oil and gas portfolio, with Vinson & Elkins guiding Woodside on the deal and BHP counselled by Herbert Smith Freehills. 

Woodside said the Stonepeak deal would significantly reduce its capital expenditure and was a “material step towards readiness for a final investment decision”. The company will look for more equity partners in the project but said it plans to retain a roughly 50% stake. 

“This transaction further confirms Louisiana LNG’s position as a globally attractive investment set to deliver long-term value to our shareholders,” Meg O’Neill, chief executive of Woodside, said in a statement on Monday (7 April). 

News of the deal came as Australian markets opened sharply lower, as sweeping tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump created fears of a global recession. The Financial Times reported the deal preceded the election of Trump, who has said he wants more US oil and gas production.  

Woodside’s financial advisors on the transaction are RBC Capital Markets and Evercore, while Mizuho Bank, its affiliate Greenhill & Co and Santander US Capital Markets are serving as financial advisors to Stonepeak.