Innovative Project to Bring High-Speed Internet to Kentucky Awarded Deal of the Year by The Bond Buyer

December.03.2015

KentuckyWired, the groundbreaking P3 project to expand high-speed Internet availability statewide, was awarded Deal of the Year by The Bond Buyer at the publication’s 14th Annual Deal of the Year Awards, held on December 3 in New York. The project was also honored as the Deal of the Year for the Southeast region of the United States.

The KentuckyWired project is the first US public-private partnership concession executed to fund the construction of a fiber optic network, and was financed using a unique tax-exempt structure that was designed by Orrick's Tax Group. In particular, the structure eased regulatory hurdles which enabled a statewide project to be completed in a short time frame.

As noted by The Bond Buyer, the $324 million project “forged new territory in the P3 market with its unique, first-of-its-kind approach to broadband connectivity on a statewide basis, and was the first non-transportation P3 to use a tax-exempt governmental purpose bond structure that achieved full risk transfer.”

The Orrick team serving as bond counsel to KentuckyWired Operations Company, LLC in this transaction was led by Dan Mathews and Chas Cardall and included Susan Long, Benjamin Bass and Walter Alarkon of the Energy & Infrastructure Group, Sarah Rackoff, Marc Bauer and Jennifer Grew of the Public Finance Group and Wolfram Pohl, George Wolf and Ashley Rodriguez of the Tax Group.

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Daniel Mathews Partner, Infrastructure, Energy

New York

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D:+1 212 506 5050
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Energy & Infrastructure Sector
Infrastructure
Energy
Transportation Finance
Mergers & Acquisitions

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Daniel Mathews Partner

New York

His key clients include major strategic and financial sponsors who have been involved in many of the largest and highest profile PPP and project development transactions over the past 25 years. Dan advises clients on Public-Private Partnerships, large-scale, complex project financings, and acquisitions and divestitures of projects and project portfolios, leading a team that has the depth and breadth to deliver excellence in every phase of a project, including development, construction, financing and operations, as well as providing leading M&A, restructuring and tax advice.

Dan has long been recognized as a leading practitioner in publications such as Chambers (every year since 2005), The Legal 500 and others. Clients describe him in Chambers as a “dean in the PPP space,” the “best in the business” and added that “he has an encyclopedic memory about all the deals in the market and a negotiating style that solves problems rather than creating them.”

Dan advises on projects spanning the infrastructure sector, including toll roads, rail, airports, ports, thermal and renewable energy generation, transmission infrastructure, telecommunications infrastructure, and water and waste facilities.

Charles C. Cardall Partner, Tax

San Francisco

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D:+1 415 773 5449
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Finance Sector
Tax

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Charles C. Cardall Partner

San Francisco

He also has legal experience relating to both charter schools and the federal income tax classification of governmental and quasi-governmental entities. He has consulted on thousands of tax-exempt, build America and tax credit bond issues and has developed deep knowledge in almost every tax aspect of municipal finance. Private activity bonds for multifamily housing, solid waste, charter schools and independent schools are areas of particular focus in his practice, as are higher education, short-term and long-term working capital and the various forms of pooled financings. Chas also has advised numerous clients experiencing financial distress or bankruptcy in tax matters relating to their municipal bonds. Representative active clients include the State of California, the University of California, the Bay Area Toll Authority, and Charter School Capital.

As a legal and policy advocate, Chas represents both government and non-government clients in federal tax rulemaking matters and in IRS proceedings, including the various types of tax-exempt bond audits, voluntary compliance (VCAP) requests and requests for private letter rulings. He has successfully closed IRS examinations relating to solid waste, water and wastewater, working capital, healthcare, pooled, multifamily housing, and industrial development bond financings. He has obtained multiple private letter rulings and technical advice memoranda and has been integrally involved in numerous regulation and legislative projects. He has found that a close working relationship with IRS and Treasury Department personnel often is critical to obtaining good results for clients.