Securitizations

Overview

Securitizations—the conversions of assets into marketable securities—are complicated, multifaceted transactions that require the coordination of many different legal areas of focus.

NP is one of the most active firms in securitizations, including tobacco settlement revenue, electric and gas charges, and other municipal securitizations. We are familiar with the many structures and types of issuers involved in these transactions.

Using an integrated approach, NP attorneys prepare statutes and documentation that satisfy the true sale and bankruptcy remote requirements for these structures, and deliver opinions required by market and rating agencies. With our experience, we successfully address the issues that these transactions raise.

Our attorneys have long been leaders in the creation of market standards, including serving as bond counsel in the very first settlement with tobacco companies in 1999.

Representative Experience

• Transaction counsel to the Sales Tax Securitization Corporation in connection with the creation and implementation of a sales tax securitization program for the City of Chicago
• Educational Services of America in 16 Rule 144A offerings
• Disclosure counsel and counsel to Long Island Power Authority and Utility Debt Securitization Authority, the securitization financing vehicle for the Long Island Power Authority, on six successful transactions
• Counsel to the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority in connection with electric and gas utility securitizations (four successful overlapping transactions)
• Counsel to the Missouri Public Service Commission in connection with the development of a securitization program and the issuance of securitization bonds
• Counsel to the South Carolina Public Service Authority in connection with the securitization of its settlement payments from the Toshiba Corporation
• Purchaser’s counsel and special bankruptcy counsel to Barclays Capital in connection with the creation and implementation of a sales tax securitization program for the City of Berwyn, Illinois
• Underwriters’ counsel in connection with the creation and implementation of a Matching Fund Receipts securitization program for the United States Virgin Islands
• Transaction counsel to the Suffolk Tobacco Asset Securitization Corporation for its multiple securitizations
• Disclosure counsel to the Tobacco Settlement Authority (State of Washington) in connection with its Tobacco Settlement Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2013 and Series 2018
• Transaction counsel to the District of Columbia Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation in connection with its Tobacco Settlement Asset-Backed Bonds securitization program

Recognition

• Nixon Peabody was named by U.S. News/Best Lawyers® 2021 as “Law Firm of the Year” in Public Finance Law.
• Consistently ranked Top 10 in bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, disclosure counsel, special tax counsel, and green bond counsel by Thomson Reuters.
• Nixon Peabody has been named a Tier 1 National firm by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” in 2023 for Public Finance Law.
• Nixon Peabody was also named a First Tier metropolitan firm by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” in 2023 for Public Finance Law in Rhode Island, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, DC, and for Municipal Law in Rochester.