Robert Gibbons is a retired corporate partner and former Co-Chair of the Project and Infrastructure Finance Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
He has more than 40 years of experience in public and private sector development and financing of major infrastructure projects in the US and international markets. His experience includes representation of project sponsors, project companies, infrastructure funds and other equity investors, as well as lenders, in virtually all types of infrastructure facilities, including airports, toll roads, power plants, petrochemical facilities, pipelines and paper mills. Mr. Gibbons has extensive experience in workouts and restructurings of energy and infrastructure projects. He is the author of articles related to project financing which have been published in such periodicals as
Project Finance magazine
, Transportation Finance Review, Privatization & Public Private Partnership Review, International Privatization Review and
The Bond Buyer. Mr. Gibbons received his J.D. from Fordham Law School in 1969. He is recognized as a leading project finance lawyer by the prominent lawyer rating publications, including
Chambers.
Mr. Gibbons has had a leading role in novel infrastructure privatization and public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the US, including the project company in the initial development and financing of Terminal 4 at JFK Airport ($943 million bond financing, $180 subordinated debt and related equity contributions) and development and financing of the major expansion of Terminal 4 currently under construction (bond financing of approximately $800 million which closed in December 2010), the lenders in the first three fully privatized toll roads in the US (Dulles Greenway in Virginia, SR 91 Express Lanes in California and Camino Colombia toll road in Texas) and the financial guarantor in the Chicago Skyway bond financing.
Mr. Gibbons has represented electric utilities, independent power companies and investors in the financing and development of electric power generating facilities over many years, ranging from base-load generating stations to cogeneration facilities, combined-cycle power plants and renewable energy facilities, including the project financing of the Solana Solar Power Project in Arizona currently under construction (which is expected to be the world's largest parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant, is valued at approximately $2 billion and includes a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy which closed in December 2010).
Mr. Gibbons’ international infrastructure projects have included representation of governments, sponsors and lenders in the development and financing of airline terminals at international airports in Prague, Budapest, Moscow, and Santiago (Chile) and the Inter-American Development Bank and commercial banks in the financing of pipeline facilities in Latin America.