Baker & McKenzie is pleased to announce that the BLCP Power Limited deal it has been working on in Thailand recently was named by Asiamoney as “Project Finance Deal of the Year for 2003”.
The award relates to the US$1.3 billion project financing of a 1,400 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Rayong Province in Thailand. Baker & McKenzie acted as English and Thai legal advisors to the sponsors, CLP Holdings Limited and Banpu Public Company Limited, and to the project company, BLCP Power Limited. Baker & McKenzie’s offices in Singapore and Bangkok were involved in the development and financing of this project, which involved a mix of Thai and offshore banks, multi-laterals and private political risk insurance providers.
The project was the largest IPP project to be developed in Thailand and the largest project financing into Thailand since the Asian financial crisis. It also represents the largest power project finance using foreign sourced financing in Asia for 2003.
Speaking on the win, Paul Elliott, a partner based in Singapore who led the team, said, “It is a great honour to have the project acknowledged by Asiamoney in this way. We are delighted to have worked with BLCP and the various parties on this significant transaction over the past year. There continues to be a lot of activity in Thailand in the infrastructure sector, particularly power, and we are pleased to be a part of the country’s progress.”
The award comes just weeks after Global Counsel 3000 named Baker & McKenzie both as the Asia Pacific Law Firm of the Year and International Law Firm of the Year for 2003. In addition, the following three Baker & McKenzie deals were named winning transactions by the Finance Asia Awards for 2003:
Deal of the Year, Best Equity Deal, Best IPO, Best Privatisation, Best China Deal of the Year – China Life $3.021 billion IPO
Best Secondary Offering, Best Taiwan Deal of the Year – Chunghwa Telecom $1.58 billion ADR
Best Indonesian Deal of the Year – Bank Mandiri $327 million IPO
