Project Development & Finance partner Cynthia Urda Kassis has been named “Project Finance Lawyer of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal. She will be honored at an awards dinner in Washington, DC in April.

Based in the firm’s New York office, Urda Kassis represents sponsors/borrowers and lenders in project, finance and joint venture transactions worldwide, with extensive experience in the energy, infrastructure, mining and general manufacturing industries, as well as in power and infrastructure restructurings. She consistently ranks as one of the leading project finance lawyers by Chambers & Partners, IFLR 1000 and Legal 500. She has been named “Dealmaker of the Year” by The American Lawyer for her work on the historic Panama Canal expansion financing and the Quintero LNG project in Chile as well as “Projects/Energy Lawyer of the Year” by Chambers USA (Women in Law). In 2014 she was named “MVP in Project Finance” by Law360 and “Latin America Legal Star” by Latin Business Chronicle. The Who’s Who Legal recognition also follows on Urda Kassis being named among the “most highly regarded individuals in the world” in the field of project finance (where she was named one of the top 10 lawyers in the Americas) and in the field of mining (where she was named one of the top 10 lawyers in North America and the only one among the top 10 based in New York).

Recent, high-profile transactions on which Urda Kassis has advised include the:

• Gasoducto Sur Peruano Pipeline Project – Acting as designated lenders’ counsel in connection with the original bridge and current permanent financing for the $7.3 billion Gasoducto Sur Peruano project, a more than 1,000 km gas pipeline in Peru, one of the largest infrastructure projects to come to market in the history of Peru’s energy sector.
• Sasol/INEOS Petrochemical Plant – Advising Sasol and its affiliates in connection with the Sasol/INEOS joint venture to construct, finance, own and operate a high-density polyethylene plant in Texas and in connection with the project financing of such plant in the Term B market.
• Rosemont Copper Project – Advising a group of global export credit agencies, government lenders/insurers and commercial banks as the lenders in the proposed project financing for the Rosemont copper project in Arizona, sponsored by Augusta Resources, KORES and LG.
• US 36 Managed Lanes/Bus Rapid Transit Project – Advising the US Department of Transportation in connection with the extension of Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans for the US 36 Managed Lanes/Bus Rapid Transit Project in Colorado.
• Chaglla Hydropower Project – Advising BNDES, the Brazilian Development Bank, in the multi-award-winning project financing for the $1.6 billion Chaglla hydroelectric power project in Peru, with a financing plan supported by BNDES, IDB, COFIDE and a club of international commercial banks.

The Who’s Who Legal awards recognize individuals and firms that have “performed exceptionally well” in the company research.