William H. McBride

Partner

Contact

  • Raleigh
    p919.899.3030
    f919.833.6352
  • Raleigh
    p919.899.3030
    f919.833.6352

Wally's practice focuses on tax-exempt public finance transactions.

Wally is a senior partner in the public finance section at Hunton & Williams. His practice focuses on tax-exempt public finance transactions, primarily as bond counsel, tax counsel, arbitrage, securities law and general corporate matters. He has particular experience in swaps and derivatives, indenture covenants, permissible amendments and restructurings, bondholder approvals and legal challenges to indenture provisions.

Wally has been the senior Hunton & Williams attorney responsible for more than 500 bond counsel and tax counsel representations of which the following are especially notable:

  • Smallest Tax-Exempt: $10,000 Town of Newland, North Carolina Waste Water Treatment Bonds
  • Largest Taxable: $223,875,000 Carolina Corrections, LLC Taxable Bonds, Series 2001 Select Auction Variable Rate Securities (SAVRS) (State of North Carolina Correctional Facilities Projects)
  • Derivatives: $675,395,000 State of North Carolina Swap/Swaption, March 2005

Wally is a frequent contributor to comments by the National Association of Bond Lawyers (NABL) on Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations, including on Circular 230, Preparer Penalties, Private Activity Regulations, Credit Bond Structures, and author of numerous area outlines for presentations at the Bond Attorney Workshop and NABL Seminars. Wally is also a regular speaker at meetings or seminars hosted by NABL, the North Carolina Institute of Government, the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (County Attorneys), the North Carolina Association of County Finance Officers, the North Carolina Bar Foundation, the Virginia Bar Foundation, the Southern Municipal Finance Analysts Association, the Southeastern Securities Transfer Association, the Government Finance Officers Association, The Bond Buyer and the Bond Market Association.

Relevant Experience

  • Bond counsel to State of North Carolina for special debt bonds and for SIFMA and LIBOR swaps and swaptions.
  • Acted as tax counsel to State of Connecticut general obligation issues aggregating over $13 billion in tax-exempt debt.
  • Acted as expert witness on indenture covenants in Canadian court ($2 billion in Bell Canada debentures at issue) (2007).
  • Acted as part of advisory team for Guam Utility (Water) privatization (2005).
  • Acted as underwriter’s counsel (Bear Stearns) for $1 billion water and sewer refinancing for City of Atlanta (1999).
  • Acted as bond counsel for District of Columbia financing of $500 million nonprofit hospital merger (1998).
  • Acted as expert witness for Bank of America in connection with suit for unpaid funds held under municipal bond indentures - the representation required the assessment of in excess of 200 indentures (1998).
  • Helped obtain Federal District Court (NY) temporary restraining order against a tender offer in connection with the proposed amendment of a corporate indenture with less than a unanimous bondholder vote (1999).
  • Counseled (1994-present) bond trustee for largest taxable municipal bond issue ($400 million) put into default by California’s Executive Life Insurance Company insolvency, including advising on litigation in several courts, over 50 notices to bondholders, bondholder meetings and various other matters, with expected recovery of at least $0.97 for each $1.00 outstanding upon default. Also helped the same client with a large tax-exempt multifamily housing bond workout resulting from the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of New Jersey insolvency.
  • Obtained private letter rulings for airports, "two county" utility systems and others on bond financing matters.
  • Maintains active sports arena financing practice with bond deals done for the RBC (now PNC) Center in Raleigh, NC (NCSU Wolfpack and Carolina Hurricanes), Cumberland County Civic Center and Philips Arena in Atlanta (Atlanta Hawks).
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