Consistent with the firm’s established reputation as a market leader in advising the energy and financial services industries, Pillsbury has added prominent project finance partner Mona E. Dajani—one of the foremost energy and infrastructure lawyers in the world—to its New York office. Dajani comes to the firm from Baker McKenzie, where she was a partner in the New York and Chicago offices and a member of the firmwide Steering Committee for the Banking and Finance Group.
“Simply put, Mona is a star,” said Pillsbury Chair David Dekker. “Her broad experience and comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of project finance—not to mention the unique insight she offers in connection with renewable energy—are unsurpassed and will be invaluable to our clients. We are incredibly excited to have such a standout talent join us in New York.”
Dajani has advised on countless acquisitions, dispositions, financing, leasing and project development transactions involving energy and infrastructure facilities in the United States and globally. She represents a wide variety of commercial and public institutions, sponsors, equity investors, lessors and lessees, utilities, financial institutions, underwriters, energy and clean technology companies, private equity funds, investment banks and multilateral agencies in the structuring and negotiation of joint ventures, project contracts and financing documents relating to the development, financing, leasing purchase and sale of complex energy and infrastructure projects, facilities and equipment. Dajani’s tax credit transaction experience includes structuring, acquiring and divesting interests in tax credit partnerships largely relating to alternative energy credits.
Beyond her significant experience in traditional project financings, Dajani also possesses a unique understanding of complex syndicated loan and debt capital markets transactions, specialized structured financings, Rule 144A bond financings, syndicated commercial bank debt, commercial paper programs, export credit agency and other government guaranteed financing and risk insurance programs. She also has substantive experience arranging capital for new and established energy and infrastructure companies.
Dajani has repeatedly been recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500, Best Lawyers and IFLR1000, among other publications. She is also a Construction Lawyers Society Fellow, a member of the national Board of Directors for the American Council of Renewable Energy (ACORE), and one of 2018’s “most influential lawyers in the global wind energy sector” according to industry intelligence provider A Word About Wind.
“Mona is an exceptional and industry leading lawyer who fits Pillsbury’s cultural mold perfectly and whose arrival will enhance the firm’s transactional and regulatory capabilities in the electric power, oil and gas, commodities and infrastructure sectors,” said Finance Practice Section Leader Mark Lessard. “Over the past year, we’ve been intensely focused on taking our well-established finance platform to the next level. Mona’s arrival, especially coming so close on the heels of the other notable finance hires we’ve made, represents another critical step in that ongoing process.”
Dajani is the fourth New York-based partner to join Pillsbury’s finance practice in recent months. Well-known leveraged and acquisition finance partners Michael Michetti, Joel Simon and Joseph Fastiggi arrived from Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP this Summer to help build a market-leading bank finance practice at the firm. Their team has already grown to include special counsel Heidi Spalholz and senior associate Cecilia Wang. In addition, Melissa Jones-Prus—an asset finance practitioner and past Airfinance Journal Rising Star—was just promoted to Pillsbury’s partnership.
Dajani noted: “Pillsbury’s strengths align very well with the unique needs of my own clients and I am excited to be part of the firm’s strategic vision and commitment to continued growth of its well-established Projects team. The opportunity to help develop and build this practice, along with the high value the firm puts on collaboration and inclusivity as part of its culture, was very attractive. I look forward to growing, contributing to and collaborating with Pillsbury’s existing Projects team to provide our clients with an enhanced service offering on a global basis.”
Praised as one of the field’s premier legal advisors, Pillsbury’s Projects team uses its deep industry knowledge and vast deal experience to anticipate issues and find practical, cost-effective solutions to the problems its global clients face. The firm is regularly engaged to assist with the development, finance, acquisition and disposition, day-to-day operations and restructuring of complex energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and industrial projects, and has worked on every aspect of complex projects in 75 countries across six continents.
Source: www.pillsburylaw.com
