Given the legal, commercial, and political complexity of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), project participants need comprehensive legal advice from lawyers who have the commercial experience, market knowledge, technical and regulatory experience, and project management skills to support them in all aspects of project procurement. Our experience with advising all types of market participants enables us to anticipate issues that may arise during a project’s procurement and to find constructive solutions.
K&L Gates PPP practice lawyers have the experience to provide well tested and centralized project management skills to support their clients’ business objectives. Our lawyers’ backgrounds in finance, construction, engineering, and government policy enable them to apply their institutional knowledge to deliver creative, cost-effective solutions to projects within established structures and procedures.
We advise clients in many sectors including the energy, transportation, sports entertainment, telecommunications, health, accommodation, social housing, emergency services, custodial, education, and waste management industries all over the world. We have successfully represented the sponsors or promoters of PPP projects as well as lenders, investors, vendors, landowners, general contractors, operators, and equipment suppliers. Our lawyers advise on all phases of the project—from the initial concept, structuring, and development through bidding, financing, construction, and beyond.
In handling complex project transactions, we draw on the knowledge and skills of our lawyers in related practice areas. This multidisciplinary, firmwide approach gives our clients seamless access to focused advice so that they can make the best decisions for their projects and execute those decisions in the most efficient and effective manner.
To facilitate the financing of PPPs, our lawyers have experience in structured finance methods including traditional project finance, Islamic finance, securitizations, project and municipal bonds, restructurings, funds, tax increment financing (TIF), and taxable and tax-advantaged debt.
In the United States, K&L Gates pioneered the use of 63-20 financings, an innovative financing vehicle well suited to financing the public portion of projects that also include separate private components. These financings have been successfully used to provide tax-exempt financings utilizing a nonprofit corporation for projects that are used by, and ultimately will be owned by, a public entity. In this way public entities are enabled to achieve their public purposes without incurring debt and with greater flexibility to negotiate contracts.
We have successfully represented both government entities and private parties in various privatization transactions—the transfer of functions or assets from a public owner/operator to a private sector operator. We have also counseled clients in the outsourcing of non-core functions from one private entity to another.
In working on these matters, our privatization lawyers collaborate with professionals in our employment and labor, government contracts, and finance practices. We have performed privatization work in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, often working closely with local lawyers in these jurisdictions.
We are highly experienced in Private Finance Initiative (PFI ) and similar project structures around the world. Our UK lawyers have advised on PPP/PFI projects since the inception of the UK Private Finance Initiative in 1993/94. They are well versed in EU procurement directives and rules and familiar with the needs and objectives of governments, sponsors, equity investors, lending institutions, construction companies, operating companies, equipment suppliers, and other stakeholders.
In recent years, our lawyers have helped municipal and private sector clients in the United States to form and manage some of the largest and most complex public/private joint ventures, including the development of major cultural and sport facilities, large-scale urban redevelopment programs, and transportation infrastructure projects. These projects require a multidisciplinary approach to legal issues across a range of legal practices within our firm and a sensitivity to the cultural differences between public and private decision-making.
Our U.S.-based PPP lawyers have extensive experience in structuring, documenting, and/or implementing numerous joint public-private transactions, including exclusive negotiating rights agreements, participation agreements, development agreements, disposition and development agreements, operating agreements, reimbursement agreements, restrictive covenants, and conditions of approval with municipalities and redevelopment agencies.