Eversheds Sutherland advises Elda River in secured financing supporting expanded investment in Black Mountain’s power-proximate, shovel-ready digital infrastructure sites across Texas

HOUSTON, TX | Eversheds Sutherland advised Elda River Capital Management, LLC (“Elda River”) in the successful upsizing of a secured financing to over $200 million for an affiliate of Black Mountain Power LLC (“BMP”), a member of the Black Mountain family of companies involved in the development of energy, mining and hyperscaler-ready land assets in Texas.

The expanded credit facility builds on Elda River’s initial commitment in 2025 and provides significant additional capital to support newly implemented state regulatory requirements for several of BMP’s large load data center development sites that are advancing through ERCOT’s recently overhauled large-load interconnection process. 

The Eversheds Sutherland legal team helped Elda River close this complex financing on a very aggressive timetable, structuring it to fit within the new Batch Zero interconnection requirements set by ERCOT and the anticipated Public Utility Commission of Texas Large Load Interconnection Standards rule in the wake of SB 6. Passed last year, this legislation is designed to address interconnection constraints and cost-allocation for the development of digital infrastructure. 

“Helping Elda River close this cutting-edge transaction underscores the breadth and depth of the Eversheds Sutherland team, seamlessly bringing together sophisticated capabilities in project finance, real estate and regulatory matters, as well as a deep bench of know-how in both the energy and data center markets. This achievement demonstrates our ability to deliver practical solutions for clients navigating a changing regulatory environment in one of the most dynamic market sectors in the US,” said Eversheds Sutherland Partner Alex Choinski, an energy and infrastructure project finance partner in the Houston office, who led the deal team for both the initial financing and this most recent expansion. 

“This success also demonstrates our commitment to providing highly tailored legal services for clients investing in digital infrastructure development projects in Texas, particularly in a rapidly evolving regulatory climate.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to advise Elda River on this additional transaction amid growing interest and activity in powered-land development across Texas and beyond. The matter demonstrates the value of bringing together our multi-practice experience to advise clients pursuing strategic digital infrastructure site investments in a fast-moving and complex market,” said Partner Thomas Warren, Global Co-Head of Energy.

The Elda River press release is available here.

In addition to Mr. Choinski, the multi-disciplinary deal team included Real Estate Partner Emanuel Tsourounis in New York, who oversaw all of the matters relating to real estate in connection with the transaction, with support from Energy Counsel Christian Rudloff and Real Estate Counsel Rachel Schneidman in New York; Finance Senior Associate Christine Kim in Atlanta, Energy Regulatory Associate Shenghao Wang in Austin, Energy Associate Yongei “Yong” Jeong in Atlanta and Real Estate Associate Navroz Tharani in Atlanta.