About Nicholas Adkins
Nick is one of Australia's leading finance lawyers. He has almost 25 years' experience advising on a wide range of financing transactions, with his main areas of practice being project finance (including infrastructure and PPPs), acquisition finance, corporate finance and restructuring/distressed debt transactions.
Nick is recognised as a leading lawyer in several legal directories, including Chambers & Partners, Doyle's Guide - Leading Banking & Finance Lawyers NSW and Best Lawyers in Australia (including being voted by his peers as 'Lawyer of the Year' in Project Finance and Development Practice in Sydney for 2023-2024).
In 2025 alone he advised on over $15 billion of financing transactions, including market-leading transactions across a diverse range of sectors such as the financing for:
- the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone—the largest project financing in Australia in 2025 and largest ever PPP, first Renewable Energy Zone and PFI Power Deal of the Year
- a bid for Northland Corridor Road PPP in New Zealand (NZ's largest PPP)
- Sembcorp's $6.5bn acquisition of Alinta Energy
- Active Utilities' acquisition of embedded network business Real Utilities
- major social and affordable housing developments in Queensland
- Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal's $1bn senior debt facilities (refinancing by way of scheme of arrangement)
- a major Australia Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) project in Queensland.
He is a regular author and presenter, including at the Banking and Financial Services Law Association Conference, as a facilitator of the APLMA documentation training courses and as a guest lecturer for the University of Melbourne course on Public Private Partnership Law as part of the Master of Laws Program and previously for the Sydney University Faculty of Law course 'Advanced Financing Techniques'. Nick is also the co-author of the Lexis-Nexis sustainable finance guide.
Some other notable transactions he's advised on across a range of sectors are outlined below.
Project and infrastructure finance
Social infrastructure
- Sydney Light Rail Project
- New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project
- Circular Quay Redevelopment Project
- Sunshine Coast University Hospital Project
- Northland Corridor Road PPP in New Zealand (NZ's largest PPP)
- numerous social and affordable housing projects, including as part of the Qld Housing Investment Fund, NSW Social and Affordable Housing Project and Victorian Public Housing Renewal Program
- numerous other PPP bids such as Footscray Hospital, Cross River Rail, SA Courts, Queensland Schools II, Gold Coast Rapid Transit and Peninsula Link Road
- numerous student accommodation projects (including at Griffith University, Charles Darwin University, University of Melbourne, Edith Cowan University, UNSW, UWS, Macquarie University and Murdoch University).
Economic infrastructure
- Queens Wharf Brisbane Integrated Resort Development
- Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal
- Brisbane Airport and Sydney Airport
- Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group
- Port Kembla Coal Terminal.
Energy
- NSW Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (transmission infrastructure)
- New England Renewable Energy Zone (current bid)
- Yarranlea Solar Farm
- Defence NT Solar Project
- Sunraysia Solar Farm
- Eco Energy World renewables portfolio
- Worsley Cogeneration Plant
- Mackay Sugar Cogeneration Plant.
Mining, oil & gas
- Nyrstar Australia Port Pirie Transformation Project
- Pluto Gas Train 2 Project (bid)
- Phu Kham Copper-Gold Project
- Kanmantoo Copper-Gold Project
- Tui Oil Project and Kupe Gas Project
- Avebury Nickel Project
- numerous loan and prepayment transactions in the resources sector.
Acquisition financing and privatisations
- privatisations of the NSW Land Registry Services, SERV (formerly called Land Use Victoria), Victorian Motor Registry (VicRoads) and the Port of Brisbane and refinancings of those assets
- privatisations of the Port of Newcastle, SA Land Titles and NSW Lotteries (bids)
- bridge financing of Sembcorp's acquisition of Alinta Energy
- financing of Active Utilities' acquisition of embedded network business Real Utilities
- financing of Providence Equity Partners' acquisition of Study Group
- numerous mid-market leverage financings such as iseek Communications (data centres), LBNCo and Jeminex Group
- financing for Energy Infrastructure Investments and GDI Allgas Gas Network
- financing of bids for the Optus Mobile Towers business and Pluto LNG Train 2.
Corporate financing
Nick also advises on numerous corporate finance transactions, particularly across the agribusiness, food, property, infrastructure and energy sectors, including large privately owned groups such as Consolidated Pastoral Company, Blackmores and Southern Restaurants Group and for several ASX-listed clients (or their lenders) such as Collins Foods Group and Ricegrowers Limited. He has significant experience with ESG and sustainability-linked corporate finance transactions (as well as green and social loans in the project finance and infrastructure area).
Restructuring and distressed debt
Nick also regularly advises on restructuring/distressed debt transactions, including:
- numerous restructurings such as for Sydney Light Rail, New Royal Adelaide Hospital, Wiggins Island Coal Export Project, Sunraysia Solar Farm and Seafolly
- acting on the sale of numerous debt exposures, including distressed trades (such as Cross City Tunnel and Basslink)
- acting on the purchase or sale of several loan portfolio transactions (including the RBS and BOSI loan portfolios).