LOS ANGELES, August 9, 2010 – The international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented Hongsa Power Company Limited (the “Project Company”) in connection with a US$2.7 billion project financing for the 1,878-MW Hongsa Thermal Power Plant Project in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The Project sponsors are Banpu Power Limited (“Banpu”), Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Public Company (“Ratchaburi”), and Lao Holding State Enterprise, The project financing, consisting of a syndicated multi-tranched, multi-currency facility from nine Thai banks, is considered to be Thailand’s largest ever project financing syndication. A majority of the power generated from the Hongsa Thermal Power Plant will be supplied to Thailand under a 25-year power purchase agreement signed last year between the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and the Project Company with the balance to be supplied to Electricité du Laos.
“This transaction is not only Thailand’s largest project financing to date but represents the first thermal power project for Lao PDR.” said Karen B. Wong, partner in Milbank’s Global Project Finance Group, who led the Milbank team that represented the project sponsors. “After working on this complex, cross-border project for over five years, it is particularly gratifying to have been able to help the Sponsors achieve this milestone.”
The nine Thai financial institutions involved in the syndicated loan are: Siam Commercial Bank, Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Government Saving Bank, Kasikorn Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, Siam City Bank, Export-Import Bank of Thailand, and TMB Bank. The Hongsa Thermal Power Plant project is an electricity generation project using lignite as a primary fuel. It is located in Lao’s Hongsa district, Xayaburi Province, and is expected to start commercial operation in 2015.
In addition to Ms. Wong, others from Milbank involved in this transaction include Global Project Finance Group partner Mark Plenderleith (Tokyo), Global Project Finance Group of counsel Desiree Woo (Hong Kong), Global Project Finance Group associates Ada Liu (Hong Kong), Jeff Rector (Tokyo), and David Kirchblum (Tokyo), and legal assistant Marika Tanaka (Tokyo).
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Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions to many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. The firm’s 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. The firm’s 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, Beijing and São Paulo.