DALLAS — Haynes and Boone, LLP announced today that client Panda Ethanol, Inc. has been awarded the first-ever “North America Ethanol Deal of the Year” award by Project Finance magazine in connection with the $188 million debt financing of its 100 million gallon-per-year ethanol facility in Hereford, Texas.
Haynes and Boone represented the company throughout the complex funding project, as well as its earlier announced merger with Cirracor, Inc.
The award was presented March 8 at the Eighth Annual Project Finance Awards Dinner at the Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
Project Finance recognized the deal as “a technologically compelling project coupled to a mix of all of the new sources of debt finance – banks, municipal finance and hedge funds.”
Panda Ethanol chief legal officer and general counsel L. Stephen Rizzieri and senior counsel Russell Petterson consulted Haynes and Boone partners Janice Sharry, Robert Ladd, Thomas Yang, Taylor Wilson, Mary Mendoza and associate Casey Cohn on both the project finance and merger deals.
Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking arranged the senior debt financing consisting of a $158.1 million senior secured credit facility which includes a $5 million working capital facility and a letter of credit supporting $50 million in tax-exempt bonds that were issued by the Red River Authority of Texas. Additionally, the project has arranged a $30 million subordinated debt credit facility. Panda had previously announced a $90 private equity placement.
Panda Ethanol’s facility in Hereford, Texas, is the largest manure-fueled ethanol project in the United States and is expected to process 1 billion pounds of cow manure annually to generate the steam necessary to turn corn into ethanol.
Panda Ethanol’s founder is Panda Energy International, a privately-held company which has built more than 9,000 MW of electric generation capacity at a cost of $5 billion.
Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Moscow, providing a full spectrum of legal services. With more than 450 attorneys, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest law firms in the nation by The National Law Journal. The firm has been recognized by Vault.com as one of the “20 Best Law Firms to Work For,” by Corporate Board Member Magazine as one of the “Best Corporate Law Firms in America,” and has received the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Thomas L. Sager Award for its commitment to diversity.
DALLAS — Haynes and Boone, LLP announced today that client Panda Etha…
