Milbank Completes $193 Million Acquisition Financing of Cross Sound Cable Project
Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s First Large-Scale U.S. Project Financing
LOS ANGELES, March 14, 2006- Underscoring its market leadership in electric utility financings, mergers and acquisitions, the international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP announced today that it closed the first large-scale U.S. project financing for Commonwealth Bank of Australia. CBA provided financing for Babcock & Brown Infrastructure’s acquisition of the Cross Sound Cable Project, a high-voltage direct-current power transmission cable linking the electricity grids of New England and Long Island, New York. The five-year term financing, in excess of $193.1 million and secured by the project, includes an interest swap fixing the project’s interest rate exposure, along with acquisition-related letters of credit. A U.S. subsidiary of BBI acquired all of the equity interests in the project’s owner, Cross Sound Cable Company LLC, from subsidiaries of Hydro Quebec and UIL Holdings.
Edwin F. Feo, co-chair of Milbank’s Global Project Finance Department and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee, said, “In New York and similar areas where there is limited grid capacity, cable projects like this is will become more essential in delivering power to the community. We’re also seeing an increase in investment in similar projects.” The Milbank team, spearheaded by Mr. Feo, also included Michael Dayen and Joe Tisuthiwongse in the firm’s Los Angeles office, and Bruce Gardner and Erika DelDuca in the New York office.
The Cross Sound Cable Project, an essential component of the New York and New England markets, includes more than 20 miles of undersea cable beneath the Long Island Sound, along with converter stations and other interconnection facilities, which can transmit up to 330 MW of electrical current in either direction. The entire transmission capacity of the cable is contracted to the Long Island Power Authority until 2032.
Milbank’s Global Project Finance Group includes 19 partners and more than 80 lawyers actively involved in the financing of infrastructure projects in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In the past several years, the group has closed more than 140 project financings, valued in excess of $85 billion, and in a range of industries, including electric power, water, mining and metals, petroleum and natural gas, petrochemicals, aerospace, environmental, telecommunications and satellites, timber and paper processing, pipelines, toll roads and airports.
Peer recognition includes:
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Euromoney’s Project Finance
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North America Infrastructure Deal of the Year – Neptune
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North America Oil & Gas Deal of the Year – Sabine Pass
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North America Single Asset Deal of the Year – La Paloma
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North America Merchant Deal of the Year – Boston Gen
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North America Bond Deal of the Year – Skyway Refinancing
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North America Refinancing Deal of the Year – Crockett
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Latin America Mining Deal of the Year – Cerro Verde
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EMEA Petrochemicals Deal of the Year – Qatofin
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Asia Pacific Acquisition Financing Deal of the Year – CBK
Milbank is a premier global law firm headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. In addition to global project finance, Milbank is a recognized leader in corporate finance and financial services law, transportation finance and other major fields of legal practice.