The Major Projects/Project Finance Practice Group offers a comprehensive approach to assist corporate clients, banks (and other financing entities) and public authorities in handling all the legal, tax and financial aspects involved in the structuring and development of major projects.
Area of Expertise
The Group provides a complete range of legal, consulting and advisory services in the following areas:
· Major projects in the utilities industries (water, electricity, communications)
· Transportation activities (road, air, sea and railroad)
· Exploitation of natural resources (oil, gas and petrochemicals)
· Real estate major projects
· Regulatory impacts on major projects
· Health Care Facilities
· Waste to Energy
· Implementation of the most optimally suited legal, tax and financing structures
· Drafting and negotiation of joint venture, consortium and co-operation agreements
· Drafting of project documents (purchase, marketing, technical assistance, lease and infrastructure access agreements)
· Negotiation and procurement of licenses and permits from the relevant authorities
· Negotiation of financing arrangements with commercial and investment banks, International Financial Institutions and export credit agencies
The Major Projects/Project Finance Practice Group closely co-operates with other groups (mainly Banking & Finance, Tax, Administrative Law and General Commercial Practice Groups) in order to provide clients with integrated solutions. The Group also draws on the experience of all projects lawyers from the entire firm, in order to always offer state of the art and cutting-edge solutions.
The arrangement of a project finance structure involves and requires expertise in:
· following the procedures for award of works (either for the sponsors or the banks) in order to ensure full compliance with local regulations
· evaluating the regulatory impacts of the project and interfacing with the authorities
· creating and implementing the most suitable legal, tax and financing structure
· drafting and negotiating (or sometimes only reviewing and commenting) the relevant documents, and particularly:
- joint venture, consortium and co-operation agreements
- main projects documents (Concession, EPC, construction, etc.)
- other project documents (purchase, marketing, technical assistance, lease and infrastructure access agreements)
- licenses and permits from the relevant authorities
· drafting/negotiating the financing arrangements with commercial and investment banks, International Financial Institutions and export credit agencies, and relative security package, in co-operation with the Banking, Finance & Securities Practice Group