White & Case LLP - Lawyers

Practice Experience

Mr. Payne advises clients on the cross-border development, financing and privatization of infrastructure projects. He has represented sponsors and commercial, export credit and multilateral lenders in complex energy (including independent power, private cogeneration and renewable energy), manufacturing, oil and gas, petrochemical, telecommunication, transportation, and water and wastewater projects in Africa, Asia, Central Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Mr. Payne was based in the Firm’s Washington, DC office from 1999 to 2006 and the Firm’s Jakarta, Indonesia office from 1997 to 1999. Before joining the firm in 1997, Mr. Payne worked in Nairobi, Kenya, managing a large regional humanitarian assistance program, and in the banking group of another leading New York law firm, advising clients on leveraged and project financings and sovereign and corporate debt restructurings.

Mr. Payne is recognized as a leading lawyer in the 2007 edition of Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Energy and Natural Resources Lawyers and the 2008 edition of Chambers Asia.

Mr. Payne's experience includes representing:

China Development Bank (CDB) in multiple corporate and limited recourse financings of telecommunications projects, including the EUR 640 million financing for P4 z.o.o. rollout of its UMTS network in Poland and the EUR 220 million financing for Zapp (Holdings) B.V to refinance existing debt in connection with Zapp's acquisition of Qualcomm's minority interests in Portuguese and Romanian CDMA mobile network operators and to finance capital expenditures;
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) in the acquisition, development and financing of a US$2.5 billion ethylene derivatives complex in Tianjin, China through a joint venture with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec);
Saudi Aramco in the outsourcing of the construction and operation of the US$1.1 billion Rabigh IWSPP to supply utilities (desalinated water, steam and power) to the US$9.9 billion Rabigh refinery and petrochemical joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical financed with US$5.8 billion of debt facilities from JBIC and other lenders. This combined project was named Middle East Project Finance Deal of the Year 2005 by International Financial Law Review and also was one of the transactions considered when White & Case was named Asia Project Finance Team of the Year 2006 by IFLR;
Saudi Aramco in the third party outsourcing of the construction, operation and financing of the US$670 million Tihama Cogeneration Projects to supply power and steam to four oil and gas facilities in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia;
International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the US$85 million and US$120 million financings of the privatizations of the development and operation of Jamaica's Sangster International Airport and Costa Rica's Juan Santamaria International Airport;
IFC, Barclays Capital, Calyon and Société Générale in the US$680 million financing of the Port Said and Suez Gulf independent power projects in Egypt;
Société Général and a commercial bank syndicate in the US$300 million secured refinancing of Coelba, a Brazilian electricity distribution company;
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Ambac Assurance Corporation on bankability analysis of the construction and electronic collection system contracts for the Costanera Norte toll road. This financing was named the 2003 Latin American Deal of the Year by Project Finance International;
Inter-American Development Bank, ABN Amro Bank, Calyon and COFACE in the US$277 million, and ABN Amro Bank, Calyon and COFACE in the US$240 million, financings of adjacent private power projects in Mexico. This combined project was named Latin American Deal of the Year 2000 by Project Finance International;
Unocal Corporation in the negotiation of offtake agreements as part of the limited recourse financing of the development of the West Seno oil field in Indonesia;
Given Imaging, a NASDAQ-listed company, in the negotiation of contracts for the manufacturing and operation of production lines for its proprietary gastrointestinal imaging capsule; and
The World Bank in the privatization of the development and operation of municipal water and sewage facilities in Albania.

Bars and Courts
New York State Bar, 1988
District of Columbia Bar, 2001

Education
JD, Cornell University Law School, 1987
BA, Middlebury College, 1982

Languages
English

Citizenship
United States