Milbank Named Global Projects and Energy Law Firm of the Year By Chambers & Partners
Chambers 2006 Global Awards Recognize the Top Global Law Firms
NEW YORK, November 17, 2006 –Chambers and Partners conferred the 2006 Global Projects and Energy Law Firm of the Year Award to the international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. In an awards ceremony in London on 16 November, Chambers recognized the top global law firms of the year in twenty-six categories. Chambers & Partners is widely recognized as one of the world’s primary arbiters of achievement in the legal profession.
Milbank was short-listed in three additional categories: Global Capital Markets Law Firm of the Year, US Law Firm of the Year and German Law Firm of the Year.
Commenting on Milbank’s accolade, Eric Silverman, co-chair of Milbank’s global project finance group, stated, “This award reflects the strength of Milbank’s global projects and energy practices and underscores our longstanding commitment to represent the leading players in these sectors.
Practice Group co-chair Ed Feo added, “This award recognizes our ability to stay ‘ahead of the curve’ and provide our clients with innovative, ‘value-added’ solutions that incorporate expertise across specializations. This approach, together with the seamless teamwork of our lawyers worldwide, allows us to provide superior client service.”
Phill Fletcher, a senior project finance partner in Milbank’s London office, added, “We are grateful that Chambers has recognized our endeavors to develop and execute ‘first-ever’ deals in jurisdictions with unique legal challenges, such as the Middle East, Africa, and Indian subcontinent, particularly in large infrastructure privatization projects.
“The scope and complexity of our transactions are illustrated by the firm’s recent representation of 52 international banks in the $2 billion financing of the Reliance Petroleum oil refinery in Jamnagar, India, the largest limited recourse financing in India and the largest in Asia (outside of China) since the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
“This year alone, our deals include the financing of the acquisition and expansion of the Hidd IWPP, the first privatization project in Bahrain, and the $2.6 billion financing for the Saudi Petrochemical shared ethane cracker/polyethylene processing facility in Al-Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. These deals followed Milbank’s leading role in the landmark financing of the $2.5 billion Shuaibah IWPP, which combined commercial bank, ECA and Islamic funding arrangements.”
Other noteworthy Milbank project finance deals include the $1.3 billion Term B recapitalization of Boston Generating, LLC; the $580 million sale of La Paloma Generating Company, one of the largest cash sales of a power generating asset owned by a creditor group in the United States and the structured gas/power credit sleeve transaction involving Reliant Energy; the $910 million financing for Petrobras’ PDET oil transport project in Brazil; and the $810 million project financing for the expansion of the Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru.
In addition to its excellence in negotiating, structuring and executing natural resources, oil and gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemicals and infrastructure privatization projects, Milbank has emerged as a leader in coal/ integrated-gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power projects and renewables technologies. Milbank is involved in the development and financing of more than 13,000 MW of new coal/IGCC power projects, having aggregate capital costs in excess of $15 billion. In the past year, Milbank has represented parties in the acquisition or financing of over 2,500 MW of renewable energy projects (including wind, solar, biomass and geothermal) in the United States with the aggregate value in excess of $2.2 billion.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance and transactions, project finance, acquisition finance, and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The firm is headquartered in New York, with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing.