Mayer Brown advises underwriters on $1.8 billion PABs issuance for major Pennsylvania bridge P3 program

Mayer Brown acted as underwriter’s counsel to Wells Fargo Bank, National Association and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC for the issuance of approximately $1.8 billion in private activity bonds for the first phase of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) Pathways Major Bridge Public Private Partnership (P3) program. This phase will support Pennsylvania’s interstate transportation system by replacing six bridges across the Commonwealth out of the nine total bridges included in the program—I-81 Susquehanna, I-80 Nescopeck Creek, I-78 Lenhartsville, I-80 Lehigh River, I-80 Canoe Creek and I-80 North Fork. This is the largest issuance of surface transportation private activity bonds ever.

The project was developed using a pre-development agreement structure, which enabled the sponsors, Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC and Shikun & Binui Concessions USA Inc., to work collaboratively with PennDOT to advance permitting, design, and key risk identification for the project. The overall cost of the project is over $2.3 billion, with the remaining sources of funds coming from nearly $202 million of equity and $140 million of mobilization and milestone payments from PennDOT.

The team was led by partners Stephanie Wagner and Nick Vallorano and included partners Joe Seliga, David Narefsky, Mitch Holzrichter and Steven Garden; counsel Kaleb Sanchez, Jeromy Cannon and Rachel Smith; and associates Grant Anderson, Casey Williams, and Gabriela Chavez Barrientos.

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