Singapore, April 2007 – LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – 2006 was a very successful year for Baker & McKenzie’s Asia Pacific Energy, Mining, Chemicals and Infrastructure industry team with five of the group’s deals winning ‘Deal of the Year’ awards from the Region’s leading industry and legal publications. These include:
• Gulf Cogeneration project bond transaction: Refinancing of three small power providers in Thailand – named Asia Pacific Power Deal of the Year 2006 by Project Finance Magazine. Lead partner was Komkrit Kietduriyakul in Bangkok.
• Ratchaburi Power transaction: Project development and financing of a 1,400 MW gas fired power plant in Thailand – named Asian Power Deal of the Year 2006 by Project Finance International. Lead partners were Paul Elliott in Singapore and Sawanee Sethsathira in Bangkok.
• Fujairah Independent Water and Project Producer transaction: Project financing of a 535 MW gas-fired power plant and desalination plant producing 100 million gallons of water per day in the UAE – named one of the Deals of the Year 2006 by Asian Counsel. Lead partner was Chew Chin in Singapore.
• Cepu Block Joint Operating Agreement transaction: Joint development of the Cepu Block by PT Pertamina (Persero) and ExxonMobil – named one of the Deals of the Year 2006 by Asian Counsel. Lead partner was Luke Devine in Jakarta.
• CLP-Singapore Power sale of power assets transaction: Sale of Australian merchant energy business of SPI Australia Group to CLP Power Australia Energy Holdings Limited – named Energy and Resources Deal of the Year 2006 at the Australasian Law Awards. Lead partner was Michael Kunstler in Sydney.
The Lead Partner of this team, Paul Davis, credited the Firm’s success to the breadth of the projects experience in the firm’s network of offices in the Asia Pacific. “These awards confirm the strength of our sponsor representation on projects and project finance transactions in Asia. We have probably the largest network of lawyers in Asia, with substantial presences in the main jurisdictions, and this, together with our regional project finance team in Singapore, enables us to provide seamless cross-border and local law advice throughout the region.”
Going forward, Baker & McKenzie sees the Middle East as one of the key markets for infrastructure project development, particularly with destinations such as Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia supporting a rising tourism industry. The firm also predicts the resurgence of Indonesia as a destination for foreign investment, particularly intra-Asian investment. Outflow project investment from Japan has been steadily increasing while China and India continue to be hotspots for both inflow and outflow investment. In terms of industry trends, gas is a rapidly growing area for the firm and clean energy and climate change issues are expected to remain key concerns for infrastructure project players. “Baker & McKenzie is a market leader and market maker in the global carbon and climate change sector. Our depth of knowledge on climate change is unrivalled – which is why leaders in the carbon market such as the World Bank, Japan Carbon Finance, European Carbon Fund and the Asian Development Bank retain us,” continued Paul Davis.
