Complex transactions
Difficult negotiations
Clear outcomes
Tom Teerlynck
Negotiation & transaction leadership
25+ years · US$50bn+ transactions · 30+ countries
I am brought in to lead critical negotiations, strengthen decision-making and help drive complex infrastructure transactions to close, working directly with the client’s management and wider team.
Experience
25+ years of international experience across US$50bn+ of infrastructure transactions in 30+ countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
Senior leadership roles with ACWA Power, TAQA, ENGIE and DataVolt, spanning project development, infrastructure investment and complex structuring and negotiations.
Experience in major strategic infrastructure and capital projects, including: power & renewables · water · airports · digital infrastructure · PPPs & concessions.
Worked across the full stakeholder landscape, including governments, investors, boards, lenders, contractors, operators and joint-venture partners.
Trained at Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation and IMI-qualified and IMC-certified mediator.
Selected organisations I have worked with:
When to bring me in
When an infrastructure project is exceptionally complex, high-stakes and difficult to resolve through the ordinary project process alone.
A critical transaction needs experienced negotiation leadership
The transaction is high-stakes, positions are difficult to reconcile, and multiple stakeholders or senior decision-makers need to be aligned to reach agreement.
A deal or project is becoming difficult to close
Positions have hardened, interests are diverging, progress has slowed or the existing approach is no longer producing results.
A dispute or critical commercial issue puts value at risk
The priority is to regain control of the situation, reshape the negotiation and drive the parties toward a commercially sustainable resolution.
A complex project needs executive leadership
In selected situations, I take broader responsibility where a project or transaction has become exceptionally complex, high-stakes or difficult to steer through the ordinary development process.
What I bring
Executive judgment
More than 25 years spent developing, negotiating, structuring and closing major infrastructure transactions from inside leading international organizations.
Deep understanding of what drives decisions across boards, shareholders, governments, lenders, contractors and project teams — and how those interests interact.
Negotiation leadership
Leadership of critical negotiations through to agreement.
Comfortable operating at ministerial, board and CEO level, while equally engaging deeply with the commercial, financial, legal, technical and project teams where the substance of the transaction is developed.
Cross-disciplinary understanding
The ability to understand, connect and challenge the commercial, financial, technical, legal and strategic dimensions of a transaction, and translate them into a coherent negotiating strategy.
I don’t replace specialist expertise, but bring it together around the decisions that matter.
Independence with internal ownership
Being external allows me to look at the situation without the organizational history, internal positioning or assumptions that can constrain an existing team.
Once engaged, however, I work as part of the client team.
I do not arrive with a consulting team or create another layer of advisers. I work directly with management and the existing project, legal, financial and technical teams, bringing additional senior capacity where it has the greatest impact.
How I work
Depending on the situation, I act as:
Lead negotiator
Leading critical negotiations and driving them through to agreement.
Executive transaction or project lead
Taking broader responsibility for bringing a complex transaction or project to close where experienced executive leadership is required.
Dispute resolution lead
Leading the commercial resolution of disputes and difficult contractual situations.
Selected mandates
Central Asia | Major US$2.5bn international airport PPP
Led key negotiations alongside the project leadership through commercial close of a major international airport PPP.
Worked across government, consortium, EPC, operator and lender interfaces on critical contractual, commercial and strategic issues through to execution of the principal project agreements.
Central Asia | Major power sector dispute
Leading the negotiation and settlement strategy for significant contractual and commercial claims arising under a large power project.
The mandate includes negotiation positioning and engagement with senior government and counterparty stakeholders, with the objective of achieving a commercially robust negotiated resolution.
Uzbekistan | US$10bn+ power platform development
Led senior government negotiations for the development of a major new conventional and renewable power generation platform, including first-of-their-kind projects, investment frameworks and long-term government arrangements.
Türkiye | Strategic restructuring
Led negotiations with lenders and shareholders under a highly compressed timetable to restructure a major power investment, stabilise its financing position and enable the shareholder's wider strategic objectives.
Morocco | Private wind project
Led key commercial and financing negotiations for a pioneering privately owned wind project involving multiple industrial offtakers and non-recourse financing.
Broader transaction track record
My wider experience spans major transactions and projects across more than 30 countries.
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Egypt
1 GW wind and solar energy portfolio — negotiation support.
LNG infrastructure joint venture — formation of a strategic partnership around large-scale liquefaction infrastructure.
Digital infrastructure — due diligence and partnership negotiations involving data centers and ICT infrastructure.
Morocco
US$170m industrial wind portfolio — development of Morocco's first privately owned, industrial PPA-backed wind project.
Noor solar complex — stakeholder management and strategic alignment between public and private-sector interests.
Tunisia
Market entry strategy for a major international energy investor.
300 MW wind programme — development and prequalification for a national wind initiative.
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Botswana
1,200 MW Pithead Coal-to-Power – structuring and multi-party negotiations..
Ethiopia
Market entry and government relationship development.
300 MW wind power – PPA structuring and negotiation.
2×125 MWac Scaling Solar PV – bidding and negotiation.
Mauritania
Renewable energy market-entry strategy, government relationship and pipeline.
Mozambique
1,000 MW gas-to-power bids under a corporate PPA structure.
Namibia
Utility-scale wind competitive bid.
South Africa
Renewable power market entry – securing the first renewable energy projects in South Africa for a Middle Eastern sponsor.
Solar & storage (BESS) – structuring and negotiations for a 120 MWp solar project and a 150 MW solar + Battery Energy Storage System (BESS).
Peaking Power Assets – over 1,000 MW of peaking power plants negotiations.
West Africa
Multi-country infrastructure market-entry strategy.
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Azerbaijan
Market entry and development of the country's first utility-scale wind project.
240 MW wind power project – development and government negotiations through commercial close.
Kazakhstan
Strategic market entry
Sensitive divestment – complex negotiations for the divestment of power and heat generation and gas transportation assets to a state-owned entity.
Uzbekistan
$2.5B New Tashkent Airport - negotiation of concession and government support agreements in a complex stakeholder environment.
AI-ready sustainable data center – development and stakeholder negotiations.
$10B+ conventional and renewable power portfolio – market entry, government relationship, development and key contract negotiations with government and lenders for new conventional and renewable power assets, supported by a consortium of international lenders, now totaling more than $10B in asset value, including a.o. a 1,500 MW CCGT and a 2,500 MW wind power portfolio.
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India
Strategic JVs for greenfield power development.
Laos
130 MW Hydropower – strategic support to operations.
South Korea
Gas distribution divestment – negotiations for the sale of a major Korean gas distribution business.
Thailand
Initial Public Offering (IPO) of a 2,000 MW power portfolio.
Operational power business – strategic and contractual support.
Regional joint venture with a major Thai conglomerate.
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Market entry, government relationship development and growth strategies for several international energy investors.
Inter-governmental (G2G) power deal – negotiations of G2G investment agreement and development, structuring and negotiations with the government for the acquisition of a 1,400 MW power asset and a development pipeline of an additional 7,000 MW, for a total value of up to $10B.
780 MW gas-fired power plant – development and negotiations with government, international development finance institutions, and contractors.
Debt and equity restructuring for a 930 MW power plant.
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Bahrain
1,000 MW Greenfield IPP – development.
Oman
The Middle East’s first IPP – strategic operational support and shareholder relations for a 264 MW gas fired power plant.
Combined Cycle & Desalination Complex – bid and negotiations for a 585 MW greenfield CCGT plant and associated seawater desalination facility.
Saudi Arabia
Data centers – stakeholder development and market-entry for AI-ready, sustainable data centers.
Consortium building for a large-scale desalination and power bid.
United Arab Emirates
1,430 MW power & 385,000 m³/day desalination projet – bid and negotiations.
Expansion negotations for major operating power and desalination asset.
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Bulgaria
2,000 MW nuclear power mandate and government negotiations.
Germany
1,200 MW coal-to-power – development and negotiations of key contracts.
Municipal utility acquisition bids.
Greece
Negotiations for acquisition of a renewable power portfolio involving 700 MW operational assets and a development pipeline exceeding 2,000 MW.
Thermal asset acquisition – a controlling stake in a 150 MW operational asset and a 450 MW combined-cycle development project.
Hungary
Sovereign arbitration concerning a major power investment.
Strategic legal and operational support to an operating power business.
The Netherlands
900 MW gas fired power plant – turnkey EPC negotiation.
1,200 MW greenfield coal fired power development – contract negotiations.
Cross-Border Wind M&A – due diligence.
Poland
Wind project development.
Romania
Nuclear power – structuring and government negotiations.
Strategic support to an operating power businesss.
Direct involvement
I accept only a limited number of assignments, allowing for direct, hands-on involvement where my experience and judgement can have the greatest impact.
I work closely with the client’s management, team and advisers, focused on the decisions, negotiations and outcomes that matter most.
Contact
If you are facing a major transaction, a difficult negotiation or a complex situation where additional executive leadership could change the outcome, contact me directly.