The Bond Buyer Selects Maynard Public Finance Transaction as National 2022 Innovative Financing Deal of the Year

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Maynard Cooper & Gale (Maynard®) is proud to announce that the firm’s Public Finance Practice served as Bond Counsel and Disclosure Counsel in a municipal financing which received the prestigious Bond Buyer Deal of the Year award in the “Innovative Financing” category at the 21^st annual Deal of the Year Awards Gala hosted by The Bond Buyer held in New York City on December 6, 2022.

Maynard’s Joseph “Jodie” E. Smith and Alina Arbuthnot handled the $1.5 billion offering of taxable and tax-exempt special obligation bonds on behalf of the client, the Alabama Federal Aid Highway Finance Authority (the Authority), to raise new financial proceeds and refinance its existing debt to provide future flexibilities for the Alabama Department of Transportation. The transaction, previously recognized by The Bond Buyer as the largest municipal bond deal in the southeast in 2021, financed significant capital improvement projects, including the I- 59/20 Bridge Project and City Walk BHAM. The transaction also introduced a new credit structure that helped the Authority garner credit ratings that remain among the highest amongst GARVEE bonds in the nation. Along with the Authority, the Alabama Department of Transportation, the underwriters, and financial advisors, Maynard successfully developed the innovative financing and managed strategic aspects of the transaction, including drafting new legislation – all under challenging and volatile market conditions the weeks leading up to the pricing. The finance deal represents the largest taxable municipal transaction ever completed in Alabama.

The Bond Buyer’s annual Deal of the Year ceremony recognizes the year’s outstanding achievements in municipal finance. The winning transactions were selected based on various criteria, including “creativity, the ability to pull a complex transaction together under challenging conditions, the ability to serve as a model for other financings, and the public purpose for which a deal’s proceeds were used.”

Shareholders Jodie Smith and Alina Arbuthnot are members of Maynard’s Public Finance Practice which is one of the largest in the Southeast. Smith has more than 25 years of experience in Public Finance Law, and he is the current President of the National Association of Bond Lawyers. Arbuthnot is in her ninth year of practice, and she is a founding director and the current Vice President of the Alabama Chapter of Women in Public Finance.

The attorneys in Maynard’s Public Finance Practice offer a full complement of services, including planning prior to a debt issue, guidance during financing, and ongoing post-issuance tax and securities compliance. They handle projects involving economic development, education, energy, ESG, health care, historic tax credits, housing, major infrastructure, municipalities, new markets tax credits, opportunity zone financing, public private partnerships (P3s), regulatory compliance, senior living, and stadiums and convention centers. Over the past decade, the attorneys in Maynard’s Public Finance Practice have handled transactions totaling in the tens of billions in aggregate principal amount.

About Maynard Cooper & Gale

Maynard Cooper & Gale (Maynard®) is a full-service law firm with more than 350 attorneys representing established national and international companies, emerging businesses, investment firms, government entities, municipalities, and nonprofits. Our entrepreneurial culture inspires collaboration among our attorneys, resulting in comprehensive legal solutions and seamless client experiences. Maynard serves clients across the United States and globally from its offices in Alabama (Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery), California (Los Angeles and San Francisco), Florida (Miami and Orlando), Georgia (Atlanta), Iowa (Des Moines), New York (New York City), Tennessee (Nashville), Texas (Dallas), and Washington, D.C. For more information on the Firm, visit maynardcooper.com.