Expertise
Conor is a partner in Matheson's Projects and Infrastructure Group and Energy, Natural
Resources and Utilities Group.
Conor advises on large-scale infrastructure, energy and
construction projects, with specialised experience in contract negotiation,
risk allocation, development structuring, financing, transactional matters (including due diligence and
transaction document negotiation), corporate law matters and operational advice
(including regulatory issues and operational problem solving).
Conor’s primary focus is on infrastructure development and transactional
projects (greenfield and brownfield), particularly concessions, PPPs, debt-financed
and similar private sector-led development structures. Conor works with clients such as
infrastructure funders, sponsors, contractors and operational teams. Conor is ranked as a leading practitioner in the IFLR100, Legal
500 and Chambers international legal directories in the project development,
project finance, PPP and transport practice areas.
Recent matters on which Conor has led and advised include:
- Sponsors, lenders, contractors and FM providers on almost every Irish PPP, including:
- Higher Education PPP – Bundle One;
- Community Nursing Units PPP;
- DIT Grangegorman PPP;
- Primary Care Centres PPP;
- N25 New Ross Bypass PPP, N25 Waterford Bypass PPP, M7/M8 Motorway PPP, M1 Motorway PPP and M3/M4 Motorway PPP;
- Schools PPP Bundles 1 and 3;
- Greystones Harbour and Marina PPP;
- Convention Centre PPP;
- Social Housing PPP Bundle 2; and
- PPP-like Irish infrastructure projects including the National Broadband Plan (Conor advised the SPV / concessionaire on its winning bid), the Dublin Airport fuel concession (Conor advises the concessionaire) and the Metropolitan Area Networks concession (Conor advises the concessionaire).
- Asterion on its acquisition of 80% of the National Broadband Plan project, a €3 billion State intervention to deliver high speed broadband (primarily by FTTH) to all underserved homes and business in Ireland.
- Projects in the nascent Irish offshore wind sector including (1) a multinational offshore wind farm developer on its entry into the Irish market and the development of Irish project contracts; (2) a newly established Irish infrastructure fund vehicle on the development and partner-seeking process for its six offshore wind farms; and (3) a major established Irish utility on the development of its two offshore wind farms.
- GLIL Infrastructure on its acquisition of the 453MW Rathcool Portfolio of 11 Irish onshore wind farms in the largest ever Irish onshore wind farm acquisition transaction by enterprise value (including detailed project contract due diligence and transaction document mitigations).
- Highfield Solar and Ib Vogt on their sale of two Irish solar farms with a combined generating capacity of over 280MWp and their future pipeline of projects.
- AMP Capital on the sale of the Convention Centre Dublin PPP and Speed Fibre Group (including the holder of the Irish Metropolitan Area Network telecoms concession).
- EirGrid on its partnership arrangements with French transmission system operator RTE for the development and operation of the Celtic Interconnector between Ireland and France.
- Macquarie Asset Management on its potential investment in an Irish FTTH roll-out and a separate data centre campus opportunity and on its successful bid for and acquisition of Beauparc Utilities, Ireland’s largest recycling and processing led waste-to-resource business.
- A public body on all aspects of the decommissioning of the Kinsale Head and Seven Heads offshore gas fields.
- Drogheda Port Company and Bremore Ireland Port on a joint venture with a private sector partner for the development of a new deepwater multi-modal port north of Dublin.
- A multinational developer and contractor on Ireland’s first large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) (one of the largest such installations in Europe) and similar additional facilities including system services equipment.
- Exolum Aviation on all legal aspects of its services concession to design, build and operate fuel storage and distribution infrastructure at Dublin Airport, from concession negotiation through construction and operations (including in relation to COVID-19 disruption at Dublin Airport).
"He is an excellent professional and looks for solutions and to resolve things in a fast and efficient way."
IFLR1000 2023
"Highly commercial and knowledgeable across all project contracts in the renewables space. A solution-orientated lawyer."
IFLR1000 2023
"Very clear communication, which is vital when working on transactions of this nature. Knowledgeable, proactive, responsive, positive and friendly attitude."
IFLR1000 2023
"Conor is an excellent communicator and extremely responsive. He has an in-depth knowledge of the law and what is market standard practice, provides commercial solutions and has become a trusted adviser to the business."
IFLR1000 2023
"Conor Blennerhassett has been an outstanding lawyer to work with. He has been incredibly responsive and has provided top-tier advice. He develops a great understanding of the needs of a client quickly and consistently goes a step above by providing succinct
advice that is easily understood by the business which demonstrates his depth of knowledge and expertise in the Projects and PPP."
Projects & PPP: European Legal 500 2023
"Conor Blennerhassett is one of those individuals that go above and beyond what is required of him. He has a clear understanding of the deal and is able to explain issues in a way that is suitable for those who are unfamiliar with the law (particularly
Irish law). Further, he was more than willing to assist with tasks that are outside of the original scope of the engagement as the deal progressed"
Projects & PPP: European Legal 500 2023
"Conor Blennerhassett is a standout in relation to the depth of knowledge, commitment to timelines, and engagement during the negotiation stages."
Projects & PPP: European Legal 500 2023
Projects and PPP: Chambers Europe 2023
"Conor Blennerhassett and Garret Farrelly have a hands-on approach and are very knowledgeable in the field.’"
Legal 500 2022
Conor Blennerhassett is ranked as a ‘Rising Star’ in Legal 500 2022 (Projects and PPP and Transport): “Easy to talk to, straightforward, straight talking friendly people. At the same time well able to pull on the jersey
and fight for the team when the need arises. Conor Blennerhassett [was] particularly helpful.”
Legal 500 2022
"Conor Blennerhassett was extremely efficient and responsive, given our strict deadlines and timing for response assistance. We also found his expertise to be reliable and concise, considering the budgetary concerns and constrictions
we had. I would highlight the firm’s greatest strength to be their thoroughness and quality of their work product combined with their responsive and strong client relationship, which we developed over the course of our project."
IFLR1000 2022
Conor Blennerhassett is ranked as a ‘Rising Star’ in IFLR1000 2022 (Projects and PPP and Transport).
“Conor Blennerhassett was a true professional.”
Chambers Europe 2019
“Conor Blennerhassett went above and beyond to provide exceptional, timely and thorough legal services.”
Chambers Europe 2019
“Excellent and proactive.”
IFLR1000 2019
"He was exceptional in providing concise and thorough legal services. His strengths included establishing a strong client relationship. He was positioned as a trusted advisor on a major project because of his strong commercial understanding of the particular
project. He was highly responsive and very friendly and easy to work with regardless of our time zone differences."
IFLR1000 2019
“I can strongly recommend Garret Farrelly and Conor Blennerhassett. I would rate both highly.”
Chambers Europe 2018
University College Dublin, Bachelor of Business & Law (European) (Hons), 2011
Admitted as a Solicitor, Law Society of Ireland, 2016