Logo for print Skip to main content

About Nick

Nicolai Sarad advises financial institutions, developers, equity investors and governmental agencies in the United States and internationally on project structuring, development and financing, acquisitions and dispositions, and restructurings, as well as operation and maintenance. He focuses on infrastructure projects, including public private partnerships (P3), thermal and renewable power, biofuels, water, mining, process plants and major manufacturing.

Nick’s experience includes working on site selection and negotiating government incentive packages on behalf of private investors and governmental agencies. In addition, Nick represents lenders and borrowers in secured and unsecured corporate, asset-based and structured financings.

Sources say he ‘brings a strong financing background to his legal reviews’ and that he ‘knows the nuts and bolts of how projects work.’
Chambers USA, 2021

Experience

Recent Notable Matters

Kuldipsingh Port Facility N.V. — as borrower in a $20 million project financing for improvements to a commercial port facility in Suriname with InterAmerican Investment Corporation (IDB Invest) as lender

Belize Electricity Ltd. — as borrower in a $60 million project financing to finance improvements to electric transmission facilities with Inter-American Investment Corporation (IDB Invest) as lender

MUFG — structuring and closing of two separate back-leverage project financings of portfolios of solid oxide fuel cell power generation projects with two unaffiliated borrowers

MUFG — structuring and closing of two project financings with respect to two portfolios aggregating more than 300MW of distributed generation gas-fired microgrids

Regional US Bank — construction loan and back leverage project financing of a battery storage system in the United States

Leading Energy and Infrastructure Investor — on its bid to acquire a portfolio of wind and hydro energy assets located in Chile

Standard Solar — represented Standard Solar, as borrower, in a back leverage loan transaction supporting several portfolios comprised of commercial & industrial and community solar projects located across the US

Lenders/Underwriters — supporting the bid of one of the teams shortlisted for the SR400 Express Lanes Project currently under procurement in Georgia

Edgemoor-Star America Hayat Brown Education Partners — on the procurement for the Prince Georges County Public Schools Project in Maryland

Acciona Industrial and DTE/Energy — as proposed operator joint venture for the John Laing-Acciona Concessions consortium on the procurement University of Iowa Energy Management project

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp — in the sale of a fully contracted utility scale solar project in Colombia and a joint venture with a European investment fund to develop approximately 30 MW of utility scale solar projects in Colombia

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp — long-term back-leverage equity financing to a subsidiary of Abengoa that holds an interest in the Vista Ridge water project in San Antonio, Texas, the largest P3 water project in North America

DIF Infra and Idaho Wind Partners — refinancing of the Idaho Wind Partners 183 MW portfolio of wind generation assets in Idaho related to the acquisition by DIF of the balance of equity in Idaho Wind Partners

Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (COFIDES) — term loan financing for a leading hospitality Group in connection with expansion of its brand in the United States

Texas Microgrid, LLC — project financing for the construction and operation of a portfolio of distributed microgrids consisting of ultra-clean natural gas-fired generators within ERCOT service territory

Citibank, N. A. — project financing for an affiliate of Metrus Energy LLC with respect to the installation and maintenance of certain energy efficiency solutions to be installed at properties owned by a leading medical device manufacturer

Edgemoor-Star America Judicial Partners — procurement and financial closing of the Howard County Maryland Courthouse P3 project, which achieved financial close in October 2018, P3 Awards winner for Best Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year and Best Social Infrastructure Financial Structure of the Year, 2019

Lenders — supporting a short listed consortium on the bid phase for the I-75 P3 road project in Michigan

Tozzi Renewable Energy and Ergon Peru (SAC) — bridge loan and term loan facilities to finance three concessions for the installation and operation of autonomous photovoltaic panels in areas not connected to the interconnected network of Peru

JP Morgan Securities and Barclays Capital — as underwriters, on the issuance of tax-exempt private activity bonds for the Portsmouth Bypass Project, the first P3 road project in Ohio which also had a TIFIA loan*

Idaho Wind Partners — development, financing and operations of a 183MW portfolio of wind generation projects under contract to Idaho Power

Lenders — supporting a shortlisted bidder for the Central 70 P3 Project in Colorado *

Sacyr Infrastructure USA LLC and John Laing — as shortlisted consortium in its bid for a light rail project under procurement in Miami Beach, Florida

Administrative agent and senior bank lenders — strict foreclosure, restructuring of debt and equity, and tax structuring of the Pocahontas Parkway toll road project in Virginia*

Puma Energy — refinancing of its acquisition of Exxon-Mobil’s Central American downstream assets located in six Central American jurisdictions*

Sacyr Industrial USA LLC — negotiation of EPC contracts for the remodeling of two biomass power plants in North Carolina*

* Work completed prior to Bracewell

Publications and Speeches

“Which financing structures are available to address Latin America’s evolving long-term infrastructure needs?” Bonds & Loans Latin America & Caribbean 2021, November-December 2021.

“Public Private Partnerships: USA,” Lexology, October 2021.

“Financing ESCO energy efficiency projects,” PFI, October 2021.

“Public Private Partnerships: Overview” Lexology, October 2021.

Moderator, “Telecoms – the hot sector of 2020 and the years ahead” Infrastructure Investors Forum – Latin America, March 3, 2021.

Moderator, “When Public-Private Partnerships Work” Project Finance & Capital Markets Latin America 2020, Miami, February 10, 2020.

Moderator, “Power Markets and Power Prices” Offshore Wind Finance & Investment Summit, San Diego, February 4, 2020

“Illustrating Public-private Partnership Applications in Construction” Construction Executive, April 2019

Moderator, “Choosing Between P3 and Traditional Funding Methods”, The Bond Buyer’s Transportation/P3 Conference, Dallas, November 29, 2018.

Moderator, “Charting the Continued Growth of P3 Utilization in Higher Education” 12th Annual North American Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum, New York, September 19, 2017.

Moderator, “What Is Driving the Growing Interest in Public Private Partnerships as a Viable Funding Method?” 11th Annual North American Energy & Infrastructure Finance Forum, New York, September 21, 2016.

Moderator, “Power Generation and Market Design – Looking Ahead,” 31st Annual Platts Global Power Markets Conference, Las Vegas, April 20, 2016.

Moderator, “Pending Repayments and Nowhere to Refinance: What Are the Options for Corporates to Refinance or Extend Maturities Over the Next Two Years?” Bonds, Loans & Derivatives Brazil 2016 Conference, São Paulo, April 13, 2016.

Moderator, “Regional Analysis: What Are the Hottest Markets for Infrastructure Investment in Latin America?”10th Anniversary Latin American Energy & Infrastructure Finance Forum, Miami, March 14, 2016.

Moderator, “To What Extent Have Derivatives Become More Important as a Result of Global Market Volatilities, and How Is This Impacting Corporate Financing Activities?” Bonds, Loans & Derivatives Andes 2016 Conference, Bogotá, Columbia, February 23, 2016.

Panelist, “The Aviation Market in Brazil and the U.S.,” Webinar, New York, November 5, 2015.

Moderator, “2 in 1 Case Study: Pennsylvania Rapid Bridge Replacement P3 and Ohio’s Portsmouth Bypass P3,” 10th Annual North American Energy & Infrastructure Finance Forum, New York, September 9, 2015.

“A New York P3 State of Mind,” Project Finance International, Issue 556, July 1, 2015.

Panelist, “Public-Private Partnerships: Why They Are Created, How They Work and What Happens When They Don’t, Part 1,” March 18, 2015.

Moderator, “Long Term Investment Opportunities in Latin America,” 9th Annual Latin American Energy & Infrastructure Finance Forum, Miami, March 11, 2015.

Moderator, “Uncovering New Sources of Liquidity and Diversifying Funding,” 8th Annual Latin American Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum, Miami, March 12, 2014.

Credentials

Education

University of California, Berkeley School of Law,
J.D.
Tufts University, The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy,
M.A.L.D.
Reed College,
Bachelor of Arts

Bar Admissions

New York

Languages

French
German
Italian
Spanish

News

News

Infra Act 'Can Catalyze TOD'

Insights

Insights

Noteworthy

Noteworthy

Chambers Global
Projects: PPP, 2020 - 2023
Chambers USA
Nationwide Projects: PPP, 2018 - 2023; Nationwide Projects, 2017 - 2018
The Legal 500 United States
Project Finance, 2014, 2016 – 2019, 2023; Finance - Commercial Lending: Advice to Lenders, 2019; Finance - Commercial Lending: Advice to Borrowers, 2019; Energy Transactions: Conventional Power, 2019; Energy: Renewable/Alternative Power, 2017 - 2018
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC
IFLR1000 Financial & Corporate and M&A Guide
Project Development, 2018 - 2023; Project Finance, 2018 - 2023

Events