
Caroline Blitzer Phillips

The Grace Building
1114 Avenue of the Americas
32nd Floor
New York, NY 10036





Caroline Blitzer Phillips advises public and private companies engaged in mergers and acquisitions. In addition, she represents private equity firms with respect to their investments in creating and growing their portfolio companies.
Caroline is also active in advising both corporate investors and private equity firms on the formation of development joint ventures. She has significant experience serving clients throughout the energy industry, including oil and gas exploration and production, transportation and midstream, power, oilfield services, coal, and renewables and clean energy.
In addition to her client work, Caroline is a co-chair of V&E’s Women’s Initiative in the firm’s New York office. She serves on the board of trustees of the LSU Law John P. Laborde Energy Law Center.
Experience Highlights
Riverstone Holdings in its formation and capitalization of Enviva Holdings, LP, now the world’s largest producer of sustainable wood pellets biomass
Enviva Holdings, LP in its formation of two joint ventures with The John Hancock Life Insurance Company for the acquisition and development of wood pellet production and marine export terminal facilities
Buckeye Partners in the $1.7 billion acquisition of Bahamas Oil Refining Company, owner of the largest storage terminal facility in the Caribbean, from First Reserve and Vopak
A private equity fund in the $343 acquisition of an asphalt terminal and storage company
Carlyle Power Partners in its acquisition, through a joint venture with EIG, of the 829 MW Panda Patriot and the 829 MW Panda Liberty power generation facilities in Pennsylvania
Morgan Stanley Energy Partners its acquisition of Specialized Desanders, a provider of sand management solutions to the oil and gas industry
Warburg Pincus in its line of equity commitments to domestic and international exploration and production companies (Latigo Petroleum, Laredo Petroleum, Canbriam Energy, Kosmos Energy and Broad Oak Energy), as well as in Competitive Power Ventures Holdings, a power industry development and asset manager
Riverstone Holdings in the formation of a new independent power producer, Onyx Strategic Investment Management I BV, and acquisition of a fleet of coal and biomass-fired power stations in Europe
American Infrastructure MLP Funds in connection with the formation of a joint venture with CenterPoint Partners for the development of the Houbolt Road bridge project in Illinois
Enviva Partners, LP in the acquisition of the Waycross, Georgia wood pellet production facility from RWE AG
Enviva Holdings, LP in the acquisition of the Greenwood, South Carolina wood pellet production facility from The Navigator Company, S.A.
Enviva Wilmington Holdings in the $130 million sale of Enviva Port of Wilmington, owner of a deep-water marine terminal, to Enviva Partners
A sponsor in the $132 million sale of Enviva Pellets Greenwood, owner of a wood pellet production plant in South Carolina, to Enviva Partners
Focus Financial Partners in the acquisition of SCS Capital Management, an independent registered investment advisory firm with $16.5 billion in regulatory assets under management
Penn Virginia Resource Partners in its $1 billion acquisition of energy pipeline company Chief Gathering
Merchant Banking Division of The Goldman Sachs Group in the acquisition of 300,000 shares of the 12% Redeemable Preferred Stock of McDermott
Natural Resource Partners in the $205 million sale of its construction aggregates business, VantaCore Partners, to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners
Buckeye Partners in its acquisition of the Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, refined petroleum products terminal from Shell
Buckeye Partners in its $260 million acquisition of a petroleum products facility and related assets from Chevron
Warburg Pincus in its acquisition and subsequent sale of its interest in APT Generation, a portfolio of three electric generating plants
Tenaska Capital Management in its acquisition of the New Covert natural gas-fired power generation facility
Copano Energy in its acquisition of the Cantera Natural Gas gathering system and the Tri-County Gas gathering system
Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in its equity investment in Sterling Investment Holdings, a natural gas gathering and processing company
Morgan Stanley Private Equity in its acquisition of the Trinity CO2 pipeline and supply companies
American Infrastructure MLP Fund in its equity investments in United Bridge Holdings and StoneMor Partners
Windy Cove Energy in the commitment by Blackstone Energy Partners and its affiliates to invest up to $700 million of equity for Windy Cove to acquire and develop CO2 enhanced oil recovery assets in the United States
Trilantic Capital Partners in its partnership with Ward Petroleum Corporation to form a new oil and gas exploration and production company, Ward Energy Partners
Pine Brook Road Partners in its line of equity commitment to Nemaha Oil & Gas and Stonegate Production Company, both exploration and production companies
Warburg Pincus in its formation of energy fund Sheridan Production Partners
Old Ironsides in its line of equity commitment to Crossing Rocks Energy II to acquire, explore and develop upstream assets in the United States
Old Ironsides in its equity financing for Caerus Oil and Gas
Credentials
- Louisiana State University Law Center, J.D., 1996 (Valedictorian; Order of the Coif; Phi Kappa Phi; Articles Editor, Louisiana Law Review)
- Duke University, A.B. with honors, 1993
- Judicial clerk to The Honorable Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 1996–1997
- Legal 500 U.S., Private Equity Buyouts, 2013 and 2014
- Selected to the New York Metro Super Lawyers list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019
- Selected to the New York Metro Rising Stars list, Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters), 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011
- Legal Media Group’s (Euromoney) Rising Star, 2015
- Board of Trustees: LSU John P. Laborde Energy Law Center
- Member: Vinson & Elkin’s COVID task force
- New York
- Texas
- Louisiana
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseJanuary 5, 2021
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseNovember 3, 2020
V&E PPP Update
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseOctober 13, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseJuly 16, 2020
- Event RecapJuly 9, 2020
- Deals & CasesJune 18, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseJune 5, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseJune 1, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 19, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 14, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 13, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 7, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 6, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMay 1, 2020
- InsightMay 1, 2020
Published in Law360
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 28, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 24, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 22, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 10, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 8, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseApril 3, 2020
- Coronavirus: Preparation & ResponseMarch 12, 2020
- Rankings & AwardsSeptember 11, 2019
- Deals & CasesApril 26, 2019
- Deals & CasesMarch 25, 2019
- Deals & CasesFebruary 19, 2019
- Deals & CasesJanuary 7, 2019
- Deals & CasesNovember 19, 2018
- Deals & CasesOctober 30, 2018
- Deals & CasesSeptember 28, 2018
- Rankings & AwardsSeptember 13, 2018
- Deals & CasesSeptember 4, 2018
- Event RecapApril 11, 2018
- InsightMarch 2, 2018
First published by WomenCorporateDirectors Boardroom Strategy Briefing
- Deals & CasesJanuary 2, 2018
- Deals & CasesMay 15, 2017
- Deals & CasesMay 10, 2017
- “Energy Sector COVID-19 Response,” Women Corporate Directors webinar, July 2020 (moderator)
- “Deconstructing the CARES Act,” Energy Infrastructure Counsel webinar, June 2020 (speaker)
- “Unconventional Views on Energy in 2020,” Citi’s Energy Conference, February 2020 (speaker)
- 3rd Annual Private Equity and Secondaries Investor Summit, December 4, 2019 (speaker)
- “Broken Deals: Lessons from Case Studies,” 8th Annual Private Equity US Spring Forum, May 7, 2019 (speaker)
- “2018 Kayo Women’s Energy & Resources Summit,” June 13, 2018 (speaker)
- “Representations and Warranties Insurance in Energy M&A: An Old Product Gets a New Look,” V&E Houston Office, April 11, 2018 (panelist)
- “Energy’s Entrepreneurs: What it Takes to Build a Business and E&P: M&A and Opportunities for Investment,” 2017 Kayo Women’s Energy Investment Conference, June 12, 2017 (speaker)
- “Delaware Chancery Court Private Arbitration Ruled Unconstitutional,” V&E M&A/Private Equity Update E-communication, September 6, 2012 (author)
News & Insights
V&E PPP Update