Latham & Watkins announced Tuesday that former White & Case partner Christopher Peponis has joined the firm as part of the project development and finance practice within the energy and infrastructure industry group. He is based in Houston.
In addition, Hamad Al-Hoshan joined Latham in the New York office, also from White & Case.
Justin Stolte, global chair of the energy and infrastructure industry group in Houston, said in a statement that both Peponis and Al-Hoshan have a reputation for excellence in the space.
“Their additions help bolster our leading position in energy and infrastructure, further enabling us to assist clients not only with the current issues they face but also future opportunities and challenges,” he said.
Peponis focuses his practice on global liquefied natural gas projects as well as alternative fuels and other infrastructure facilities.
One recent notable deal was advising Vitol on a 10-year, $12 billion contract to buy LNG from Houston-based Tellurian Inc. this past June. Tellurian was co-founded by Charif Souki, who started Cheniere Energy before being forced out after a dispute with activist investor Carl Icahn in 2016.
Peponis also advised Sempra Energy’s Sempra Infrastructure Partners on the sale of a non-controlling interest to KKR for $3.37 billion.
“Latham is a global leader, not just in project development and finance but in energy and infrastructure transactional work more broadly, and I’m excited to build out the firm’s project finance offerings in the Houston market,” he said.
Peponis and Al-Hoshan are the latest additions to Latham’s energy and infrastructure industry group. The firm has recently hired several other U.S. partners including Bruce Herzog, Jason Webber, Ravi Purohit, Trina Chandler, James Garrett, Scott Miller, Caroline Blitzer Phillips, Sarah Fortt and Betty Moy Huber.
Peponis received his JD from the University of Sydney, an LLM in corporate governance from Stanford University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Sydney. He previously spent six years working for Shell in the oil giant’s legal group.