Curtis Represents Department of Energy in $100 Million Project Financing

Curtis represented the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in its guarantee of a $100 million project financing for a 49 megawatt geothermal power production facility being developed by Nevada Geothermal Power Company in Humboldt County, Nevada. The government's guarantee was issued by DOE under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The financing was the first to close under DOE's Financial Institution Partnership Program. Funding was provided by John Hancock Life Insurance Company. The senior notes issued by the project company, NGP Blue Mountain I LLC, have a 20-year term and are secured by all of the project's plant, property and equipment, including leasehold interests allowing the extraction of heat from formations underlying tracts of land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The financing structure involved the creation of a Delaware statutory trust as note purchaser, allowing the beneficial interest in the government's 80% guarantee of the loan to be stripped from the unguaranteed interest and represented by a separate series of trust certificates marketable to investors in long-term government securities. The transaction closed on September 3, 2010. The Curtis team was led by partner Daniel Lenihan and associate Darío Avram, with support from associate Shafiq Perry and partners Evan Borenstein on opinion matters, Andrew Otis on environmental matters, Martin Forman on real estate matters, and Lynn Harrison, with associate Cindi Eilbott, on bankruptcy matters.