A Haynes and Boone, LLP team led by attorneys Chad Mills and John Montgomery represented J. Aron & Company LLC (“J. Aron”), a subsidiary of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., as the energy supplier in connection with one of California's first-ever municipal bond-financed clean energy prepayment transactions.
The Clean Energy Project Revenue Bonds (the “Bonds) were issued by California Community Choice Financing Authority (“CCCFA”) for the benefit of Marin Clean Energy, a California Community Choice Aggregator.
The bond issuance on Nov. 24, 2021, generated approximately $700 million in proceeds and generated significant investor demand. The issue received an investment grade "A2" rating from Moody's and a "Green Climate Bond" designation from Kestrel Verifiers.
The bonds were used to prepay a supply of clean electricity to be delivered toretail customers and businesses in the Bay Area. For decades, municipal utilities have used the prepayment structure as an industry standard practice to reduce costs for the purchase of natural gas. This is one of the first transactions to apply this structure to the purchase of clean electricity.
”MCE began exploring prepayment bonds three years ago as a pathway to reduce the cost of our renewable energy portfolio,” Dawn Weisz, CEO of MCE, said in a press statement. “This transaction will help us deliver on our promise of cleaner power, community reinvestment and competitive rates. We are pleased to pass these cost savings on to our customers.”
Mills is a partner in the Energy Practice Group in Haynes Boone’s Houston office. His practice focuses on structured energy transactions and related energy trading agreements, project and infrastructure development and finance, mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate transactions. Montgomery is an associate in the Energy Practice Group in Haynes Boone’s Houston office with a practice focused on structured energy transactions, energy trading agreements and other corporate transactions. Camilo Godoy, an associate in the Energy Practice Group, also assisted on this matter.
Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., London, Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, technology, financial services and private equity. With 600 lawyers, Haynes Boone is ranked among the largest U.S.-based firms by The National Law Journal, The American Lawyer and The Lawyer. It was recognized for excellence in the BTI Consulting Group’s 2021 “A-Team” report, which identifies the law firms that in-house counsel commend for providing superior client service.