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Partner
Energy & Project Finance
Richmond
(804) 788-8241 Phone
(804) 343-4822 Fax
New York
(212) 309-1394 Phone
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| Practices |
Energy
Energy and
Infrastructure
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As a Partner with the firm's Energy and Project Finance team, Ryan Ketchum focuses his practice on the development, construction, financing, purchase and sale of energy and infrastructure projects worldwide. Mr. Ketchum has served as counsel to governments, sponsors and financial advisors on the development of energy and telecommunications infrastructure and the restructuring of electricity markets and the related restructuring of industry participants and their contractual relationships; lenders and equipment lessors on the financing of power projects; lenders and borrowers on the restructuring of debts; and private investors on preferred and common equity investments in energy sector participants. Mr. Ketchum has been recognized by "Virginia Super Lawyers" magazine as a "rising star" in the field of energy and natural resources.
Relevant Experience 
- Represented the Government of Uganda on the development, construction and financing of the $872 million Bujagali hydroelectric facility on the River Nile, including (i) structuring and negotiating all bidding documentation and project documentation, including the requests for proposals, power purchase agreement, implementation agreement, financing and other documents and (ii) advising on the engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the project and the limited notices to proceed issued thereunder. The deal was awarded Project Finance Magazine's 'African Power Deal of the Year'.
- Advised on all aspects of the development and financing of SEACOM Limited's $650 million fiber optic cable system connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, India, and Marseilles, France, which reached financial close in November 2007. The SEACOM deal involved eight jurisdictions, including Mauritius, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Djibouti, Egypt and South Africa, among others. The deal was recently awarded Project Finance Magazine's 'African Telecoms Deal of the Year'.
- As an independent expert, conducted a review of the energy sector in Mauritius as applicable to independent power producers on behalf of the Republic of Mauritius and the Mauritius Sugar Producers Association. The review involved a fairness examination of the Concession Agreements, Power Purchase Agreements and related project documents related to five independent power producers that are fueled by coal and bagasse.
- Advising the Tanzania Electricity Supply Company Limited ("TANESCO") on all aspects of the conversion of a heavy fuel oil fired IPP to natural gas, including advising on the engineering, procurement and construction of the modifications to the facility, the modifications to the existing Power Purchase Agreement, negotiations with the project sponsor, and negotiations with the lenders.
- Advising the Government of Tanzania on all aspects of the expansion of a natural gas processing plant and pipeline owned by an integrated gas-to-electricity project including the financing, construction, and regulatory aspects of the project.
- Advised the Government of Tanzania, in connection with the Songo Songo Gas-to-Electricity project, on the expansion of a gas-fired plant from four gas turbines to six gas turbines. This representation included extensive advice on Force Majeure and change order claims under the relevant construction contracts.
- Advised an East Africa government on litigation involving the construction of an undersea pipeline.
- Advising an independent exploration and production company on various aspects of their Production Sharing Agreements.
- Advised the first transmission-only company formed in the U.S. in connection with the contribution of transmission assets from various utilities and the issuance of equity interests in exchange for those assets.
- Counseled a financing company in connection with a loan program under which it originated loans secured by distributed generation and cogeneration equipment. On behalf of the same client, structured a leasing program for similar equipment that successfully addressed a variety of regulatory concerns.
- Represented the Public Utilities Commission of Guyana on the development of an independent power production strategy, including review of the legal and regulatory framework of the Guyana power sector, specifically the Electricity Sector Reform Act 1999, the Public Utilities Commission Act 1999, and the license of Guyana Power & Light.
- Advised the Government of the Philippines on the restructuring of the Philippine electricity sector, the privatization of its transmission system and market and regulatory reform issues arising in connection therewith, the privatization of its portfolio of generating facilities, and the integration of its portfolio of IPP plants into the Philippines' developing wholesale electricity spot market. While Mr. Ketchum was advising on this project, he lived in the Philippines.
- Advised the Ministry of Mines and Energy of the Government of Serbia in restructuring the electric power industry of Serbia.
- Assisted the Government of Macedonia with the development of market design options and requirements and developed a restructuring plan for Elektrostopanstvo Na Makedonija ("ESM"), the state-owned electric utility, in accordance with European Union requirements in anticipation of privatization. Also assisted with drafting new energy laws, including laws on energy, efficiency and renewable energy, electricity, natural gas district heating, oil and oil derivatives.
- Advised the Government of Armenia in connection with the development of an institutional framework for the regulation of public utilities in Armenia and the extension of the Armenian Energy Regulatory Commission's jurisdiction to regulation of the water sector.
- Advising a major project developer in connection with the development of, and the project agreements associated with, palm oil plantations in multiple countries in West Africa.
- Represented a lender seeking to restructure the debts of borrowers affected by volatile natural gas prices and successfully negotiated the swap of debt for a combination of participating preferred equity and warrants.
Background
- Law Clerk, Honorable Henry H. Whiting, Supreme Court of Virginia, 1998–99
Membership
- Member, Virginia State Bar
- Member, District of Columbia Bar
- Member, New York State Bar
- Member, International Law and Practice Section of the American Bar Association
Education - J.D., William & Mary School of Law, 1998
- B.S., James Madison University, magna cum laude, Mass Communications, with distinction, 1995
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Ryan Ketchum
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