Infrastructure

Overview

We understand the complexities of infrastructure and are involved in landmark projects nationwide—including bridges across the Ohio River, transit hubs in New York City and San Francisco, and multiple solid waste and wastewater and energy projects.

Our team serves clients in many different capacities as bond counsel, underwriters’ counsel, and disclosure counsel, among other roles. We frequently represent clients in matters involving procurement, contracts, permitting, finance, energy, real estate, environmental, and tax credit syndication.

Few firms have our proficiency in identifying and securing revenue streams that can be leveraged effectively for the useful life of revenue-producing projects.

We also help clients handle complicated combinations of capital market debt and project finance debt, the use of convertible instruments, and various forms of leasing transactions.

No matter what the challenge, we offer practical solutions to support our clients’ objectives.

Representative Experience

• Goethals Bridge Replacement Lenders’ counsel in connection with the issuance of tax-exempt bonds to fund the replacement of the Goethals’ Bridge and the demolition of the existing bridge for the benefit of the concessionaire in connection with a public-private partnership transaction with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
• Private fertilizer plant Served as lender’s counsel in connection with a $1.8 billion nitrogen-based fertilizer plant owned and operated by an affiliate of a global nitrogen-based fertilizer producer, engineering and construction company based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Privatized toll payment system We have been engaged by, and have drafted the financing portion of the submission on behalf of one of the bidders in connection with the proposal by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to install a new electronic payments program on its rail system.
• Transbay Joint Powers Authority Serving as financing counsel to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority in San Francisco, California, in connection with a multi-year, multi-billion dollar mixed use development to replace the former bus depot with a commuter rail/high-speed rail/regional bus facility that will service Bay Area commuters, portions of which will be financed with developer contributions and related real estate-based taxes. Parts of that project may be privatized.
• Dulles Toll Road—Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority(MWAA) MWAA obtained a 50-year permit to operate the Dulles Toll Road from the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the permit agreements created many obstacles to the financing of the project that our team resolved. The bonds issued by MWAA are secured by a concession agreement in the form of a 50-year Permit and Operating Agreement. The tolls on the Dulles Toll Road are being used to finance an extension of the WMATA rail system to Dulles Airport. We served as underwriters’ counsel on the first transaction and was subsequently appointed by the Authority to serve as bond counsel and disclosure counsel for their bond and commercial paper programs. We are currently working with WMATA to bond out expected payments under its full funding grant agreement.
• Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA) We served as special counsel and tax counsel to PRHTA in connection with its recently closed P3 transaction relating to two toll roads. We resolved all indenture issues in connection with the defeasance of just under $1 billion of tax-exempt bonds and the negotiation of closing agreements with the IRS and delivered legal opinions concerning the relevance of the roads as assets from the current indenture.

Recognition

• Consistently ranked by ThomsonReuters among the top bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in the country and among the most active disclosure and special tax counsel.
• In five of the last seven years, nominated as a finalist or winner as counsel to “Deals of the Year” by the Bond Buyer, the municipal market’s paper of record.
• Project Finance Magazine’s “North America Leisure Deal of the Year 2006” for the financings in connection with Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.