Practice
Jason Pratt has been a member of the Real Estate Practice Group since joining the firm in 1999. He became counsel of the firm in 2008. Mr. Pratt’s practice focuses on the impact of environmental laws and regulations on commercial transactions. He has advised companies and financial institutions in the context of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, financings, real estate transactions, bankruptcy proceedings, regulatory compliance matters and governmental cleanup programs. With respect to corporate transactions, Mr. Pratt has assembled and managed due diligence teams consisting of technical consultants and international counsel, and has been the lead negotiator in connection with contractual provisions that allocate environmental liabilities. Mr. Pratt also has experience in the post-closing context, including counseling companies in connection with making and responding to indemnification claims based upon environmental provisions in sale contracts.

Mr. Pratt’s practice includes advising shareholders, holders of limited partnership interests, holders of security interests, and officers and directors of business entities regarding the circumstances pursuant to which courts assign direct personal liability for environmental obligations. He has represented entities in bankruptcy against claims by governmental entities and private parties as to whether environmental liabilities are subject to discharge, and he has represented underwriters and issuers in securities offerings involving environmental disclosure and accounting matters.

• Saudi Basic Industries Corporation in its $11.6 billion acquisition of GE Plastics from GE
• ST Assembly Test Services Ltd., a Singapore public company, in its merger with California-based ChipPAC, Inc. Both companies test and package semiconductor chips. The combined entity has plants in Taiwan, China and South Korea
• Blue Pearl Mining in borrowing $402 million loan from UBS to purchase the Thompson Creek Metals Company. Thompson Creek operates molybdenum mines in the United States and Canada
• Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and UBS Securities LLC in connection with a loan of $695 million to oil and gas equipment manufacturer Dresser-Rand Group, Inc.
• Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. in lending $230 million to the mini-mill steel producer Steel Dynamics, Inc.
• Citigroup North America, Inc. in its $1 billion loan to Lubrizol Corporation
• Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc. in the $865 million loan to the developer of alternative energy products Headwaters, Inc. Headwater used a portion of the money to purchase Tapco Holdings, Inc.
• Citigroup Global Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston in the $1.2 billion exit financing for Laidlaw, Inc. Laidlaw operation bus fleets in the United States and Canada
• Merrill Lynch as lead arranger on a $315 million credit facility for Colfax Corporation. Colfax, a leading manufacturer of pump and power transmission products, has plants throughout Europe and the United States
• AIG in connection with its $453 million sale of a Mexican industrial real estate portfolio to GE
• Votorantim Participações S.A. in its $389.2 million purchase of the assets of the cement company CEMEX, Inc.
• Ispat International N.V. in its $13.3 billion acquisition of LNM Holdings N.V. to form Mittal Steel Company
• Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. in its acquisition of PRC Laser Corp. and Lee Laser Inc.
• Cinram International, Inc. in its acquisition of the DVD and CD manufacturing business of AOL Time Warner Inc.
• Groupe Danone in entering a joint venture with Suntory Ltd. to create leading home/office bottled water company, in acquisition of Sparkling Spring Water Holdings, and in entering partnership with the Coca-Cola Company for the production and distribution of bottled water
• Deere & Company regarding sufficiency of environmental disclosure in Form 10-K filings
• Insilco Technologies, Inc. regarding whether environmental claims were subject to discharge or administrative priority