January.22.2013
Law360 has named Orrick a “Project Finance Group of the Year” for the second year in a row. Winners were selected based on the significance, size, and complexity of deals they worked on, as well as the volume of such deals.
This year, Orrick was praised for its work advising the U.S.’s largest power producer, the Tennessee Valley Authority, as the firm “worked to devise an unusual lease purchase structure to help secure a $1 billion financing deal” used to finance a power program geared toward cleaner energy.
Orrick also was recognized for its work as a part of one of “2012’s biggest instances of infrastructure growth” when it represented a number of banks including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and the Bank of Nova Scotia in the $1.1 billion Presidio Parkway project. This public-private partnership involved replacing the existing roadway between the city of San Francisco and the landmark Golden Gate Bridge.
According to Michael Meyers, co-head of the energy and infrastructure group, the E&I practice grew rapidly in 2012, with revenues rising by a third from 2011. According to Meyers, a portion of this growth was driven by its active wind industry clients rushing to complete projects before the wind production tax credit was set to expire at the end of the year, but since the PTC has now been extended, Orrick expects to see a busy 2013 in wind energy.
In addition, energy and infrastructure partner Carl Lyon was named a project finance MVP. Aside from his work for the TVA, Mr. Lyon was recognized for advising on nearly $8 billion in power plant financings for Southern and Midwestern rural cooperatives and municipal power authorities, as well as his work on behalf of the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and his advising on the first newly permitted nuclear power plant in the U.S. in more than 30 years at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Georgia.