Steptoe has a well-developed international and domestic project finance and infrastructure practice. Representing clients in a variety of industries, from construction and real estate, to energy generation and natural resource management, and telecommunications, our lawyers develop comprehensive, tailored solutions for clients across the globe and in some of the most challenging financial markets. Using the resources of our offices working in concert around the world, we structure transactions that meet the business goals of our clients.
The lawyers on Steptoe's project finance and infrastructure development team handle matters that arise at every point of a project lifecycle, from the design phase through financing, permitting, completion, and operation. We recognize the complex legal and dynamic business environments in which our clients operate, and take an integrated approach that encompasses numerous key practice areas.
Our breadth and depth allow us to represent clients across a variety of industries, from construction and real estate to transportation, energy and pipelines, mining, and telecommunications. We develop tailored solutions for clients across the globe and in some of the most challenging financial markets, with particular focus on negotiation of private-governmental partnerships, project finance and other fundraising initiatives, litigation over proper financing and valuation issues, and furthering our clients’ policy positions before Congress, the Executive Branch, and independent agencies. We handle all facets of developments and disputes for modernization and rebuilding of infrastructure and other physical assets at the local, state, national, and international levels. We represent clients on deals that include:
- Broker-dealers
- Domestic and international financial institutions
- Equity investors
- Government entities
- International development agencies
- International financing agencies
- Joint venture financing
- Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
- Project lenders
- Venture capital providers
Noteworthy
- Legal 500 US, Finance: Corporate Restructuring, including bankruptcy (2013-2015)
Representative Matters
- Counsel to the government of Lesotho and the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission in the negotiation process to create a framework treaty between Lesotho and South Africa for Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The project involves the expansion of the existing dam and tunnel facilities in Lesotho which generate electricity and transfer water to South Africa.
- Counsel to a major pipeline company in a joint venture with a large oil company for the operation of a pipeline and in representing the pipeline company as a participant in a joint venture to build, finance, and operate a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline in Canada and the United States.
- Counsel to the developer in connection with a $5 billion satellite telecommunications communications project, involving a global network of satellites and related ground-based telecommunications facilities.
- Counsel to the Government of Ecuador in the estimated $1.2 billion project financing of the nation’s largest crude oil pipeline, spanning from the Amazon fields to a port on the Pacific Coast.
- Represented a development financial institution in connection with its participation as a syndicate member in a multi-lender project financing for a $1 billion power plant in India.
- Counsel to a Caribbean government in its negotiations with an independent power producer, owned by United States and Caribbean parties and involving approximately $770 million of financing, which has become insolvent.
- Counsel to the lender in connection with a major restructuring of the leveraged lease project financing of a $350 million newsprint plant facility, including several series of secured notes issues pursuant to a mortgage indenture.
- Counsel to a joint venture company comprised primarily of large western oil companies in connection with the $300 million project financing of an oil and gas exploration, production, and export venture in Russia.
- Counsel to an international financing agency in connection with its proposed $105 million revolving credit facility to the Sakhalin II project, a new petroleum refining project in Sakhalin Island of Eastern Siberia.
- Represented a development financial institution in connection with its $65 million commitment to finance the development, construction, and operation of a water desalination facility in the Caribbean that upon completion will be the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
- Represented a development financial institution in connection with its credit facility to Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, Ltd., the project company in the multibillion-dollar petroleum refining project in Sakhalin Island, Eastern Russia.
- Counsel to a major Finnish construction company in connection with various projects in the United States, including the development of a major condominium and apartment project in Louisville, Kentucky, financed by the Finnish Export Bank with a guarantee from the company.
- Counsel to a major international construction company that received financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in connection with a joint venture to retrofit Russian railroad cars and tankwagons with heating systems.
- Counsel to an international financing agency in connection with a hydroelectric power project in Armenia.
- Counsel to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in connection with the loans associated with the construction of the enhanced digital telecommunications system in the city of Moscow. This was the first limited recourse project financing under the Russian law on mortgages.
News & Publications
Press Releases
Four Steptoe Lawyers Named to Lawyers of Color Law Firm Leaders Issue 2022
February 2, 2023
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 67 Rankings in 2021 US News - Best Lawyers' 'Best Law Firms'
November 5, 2020
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 125 Individual Mentions in Best Lawyers in America 2021
August 20, 2020
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 64 Rankings in 2020 US News - Best Lawyers' 'Best Law Firms'
November 1, 2019
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 75 Rankings in 2019 US News - Best Lawyers' 'Best Law Firms'
November 1, 2018
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 75 Rankings in US News - Best Lawyers' ‘Best Law Firms’
November 1, 2017
Press Releases
Steptoe Receives 68 Rankings in US News - Best Lawyers' ‘Best Law Firms’
November 1, 2016