Six project finance transactions handled by Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP in 2016 were honored at Project Finance International’s PFI annual awards ceremony, held on February 1 in London.
PFI cited projects Milbank advised on around the globe in North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa, across industry sectors including oil & gas, transportation infrastructure, water supply and power generation.
Dan Bartfeld, practice group leader of the firm’s Global Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance Group, said: “Milbank continues to advise on complex and innovative projects around the world and we are very pleased that Project Finance International has recognized us once again. These awards highlight Milbank’s prominence and market share in a broad array of landmark financings in multiple industries and multiple locales around the world. We are honored that our clients entrust their largest and most important transactions to our global team of attorneys.”
Milbank advised on the following six projects recognized by Project Finance International PFI:
Americas Oil and Gas – Continuing its strong presence in US-Mexico natural gas pipeline deal work, Milbank advised international lenders behind approximately $1 billion in financing for a pair of pipelines (La Laguna-El Encino and La-Laguna-Aguascalientes) running more than 680 miles in central Mexico. Developed by Mexico’s leading energy infrastructure company, Fermaca, the conduits will carry US natural gas originating in Texas. PFI called the transactions “the best deal done in the oil and gas sector in the Americas.”
Americas Power Deal – Milbank advised lead arrangers in financing for the $755.3 million CPV Towantic Energy Center, a gas-fired combined cycle gas turbine in Connecticut that will sell electricity into the regional marketplace. The 785-megawatt turbine is one of the largest ever to become a supplier for New England’s multi-state electric grid coordinator.
Latin America P3 – Colombia’s 4G highway program has become a “shining light in Latin America and the first major deal to reach financial close as part of the build-out is a testament to the work of a variety of players in the market,” according to PFI. Noting that the Pacífico Tres highway project had been years in the making and required cooperation of many stakeholders to be achieved, PFI said: “[F]rom government, to agencies, to law firms, to developers, to banks–this deal saw a lot of work done to a very high level.” Milbank advised Colombian and Costa Rican companies in connection with the structuring of a dual-currency project bond and financing package that was the first project bond issued in Colombia for 4G concessions – in this case, an ambitious undertaking to link three of Colombia’s most commercially important regions with a key port on the west coast.
North American Deal – PFI described financing for San Antonio, Texas’s Vista Ridge water supply project as “the standout project finance transaction in North America for 2016 based on what seemed like nearly insurmountable challenges as well as innovation.” Milbank acted as counsel to the lenders for the $923 million project, comprising a water well field, pumping stations and a 142-mile pipeline which will increase the municipal water supply for San Antonio by 20%.
Asia Pacific Power - In the first financing for an independent power project (IPP) under Indonesia’s new public-private partnership program, Milbank advised Japan Bank for International Cooperation and commercial bank lenders on the development and financing of a $4.3 billion coal-powered electricity generation plant in Central Java. “The financing indeed heralds the start of a new era of Indonesian power project financings,” wrote PFI, noting that the country is aiming to generate 35,000 megawatts of new power by 2019.
African Oil & Gas - Heralding the firm’s greatly expanded work in Africa and its reputation for pioneering projects, Milbank advised the World Bank-affiliated International Finance Corporation, UKEF, the United Kingdom’s Export Credit agency and eight commercial banks led by HSBC, ING, Société Générale and Standard Chartered Bank in the $1.5 billion financing by Vitol for development of Ghana’s OCTP oil and gas field. The multi-sourced financing also included a facility covered by the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The project’s overall cost of approximately $7 billion represents the largest foreign direct investment in Ghana’s history, and UKEF’s largest direct loan to date.
Milbank has one of the largest dedicated project finance groups in the world with over 100 dedicated lawyers in its offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. In 2016, the firm advised on more than 35 project, energy and infrastructure transactions globally with capital costs in excess of $1 billion.
