“The team’s ability to provide an end-to-end service within the niche sector of Projects, Energy and Infrastructure has allowed them to gain universal acclaim for their efforts”.

APAC INSIDER

Large-scale projects are subject to a range of challenges, including: structuring and financing issues, government regulations, construction, offtake and other contractual issues, local law coordination and other elements that cross multiple jurisdictions and sectors, including critical elements of political risks.

The Firm’s project advisory team brings an industry focused and innovative mindset to its clients to help them identify, navigate and implement their business strategy. Drawing upon Mr. Ali Khan’s extensive experience spread over a period of two (02) decades, the Firm’s projects advisory practice leverages its unique insights to translate complex trends, identify patterns, facilitate creative thinking, maximize efficiency and turn ideas into innovation for the Firm’s clients.

Led by Mr. Ali Khan, the Firm has an outstanding reputation for delivering on complex domestic and cross-border transactions, and regularly advises sponsors and developers on matters that span the full life-cycle of projects – from acquisition or development to financing and hedging to construction, completion and operations. Mr. Ali Khan has a long and storied history that is deeply rooted in the early days of project finance and has been at the forefront of development of all manners of project financings, including commercial bank loans, bilateral / multilateral facilities, mezzanine financings, project bonds and Islamic financings.

The Firm’s clients benefit from our deep understanding and experience in all of the major sectors such as power generation and transmission (including all forms of renewable energy), mining and natural resources, oil and gas (including liquified natural gas), infrastructure (including roads, highways, bridges, ports and social infrastructure), water and wastewater treatment, special economic zones, education and healthcare sectors and LNG terminals.

The dynamic political, regulatory and legal environment is creating more business challenges than ever. Such changes can have a profound impact on businesses, operating environments and commercial decisions, and managing them effectively is critical for business success. Ali Khan Law Associates operates at the intersection of public policy and legislative drafting, helping clients find solutions to complex commercial and social development issues.

The Firm’s public policy practice led by Mr. Ali Khan is unique in having a network of lawyers with an in-depth understanding of the political processes and the mechanics of government institutions. It combines regulatory and commercial expertise, informed by the practical implementation insights of our corporate and finance practices in particular to provide an enabling environment to shape public policy debates that affect our clients.

The Firm’s public policy practice has been engaged in various critical legislative and policy making assignments including inter alia on the development of federal and provincial procurement laws, restructuring of provincial local government systems and addressing gaps in the federal public private partnership regimes, in collaboration with foreign investment agencies and multilateral organizations.

Mr. Ali Khan’s expertise in this area of legal practice is evident by his involvement in training government official including, inter alia, officials of the State Bank of Pakistan, officials of the PPP Unit, Planning & Development Department of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, capacity building of the Balochistan Planning & Development Department through various engagements. The expertise in the PPP and procurement has been developed by decades of first-hand development of the PPP and procurement regime in Sindh, based on practical issues faced by the projects as well as the continuous effort to bring the PPP and procurement regime of Sindh in line with international standards promulgated by the leading multilaterals of the world. These consistent efforts of Mr. Ali Khan have resulted in the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranking the Sindh PPP Unit as the sixth (6th) best PPP facilitator in Asia in its 2018 report.

The Firm’s exponential experience in practically implementing such legislation and public policy through, inter alia, infrastructure and social development projects under various legal frameworks, is one of the key reasons why the Firm is the counsel of choice for government entities and multilateral organizations for the development and revamping of legislation and public policy drafting on complex legal, social and economic issues.

With a very distinguished career leading the country’s key Public Private Partnership transactions, Mr. Ali Khan’s vast experience in the PPP arena and his contributions to the development of PPPs in Pakistan from transactional, legislative and policy making perspectives over the last two (02) decades is highly acclaimed and globally recognized.

Drawing upon Mr. Ali Khan’s in-depth understanding of PPP deals in Pakistan and immense knowledge of the market standards and precedents (established by Mr. Ali Khan himself), the Firm has been a part of a new chapter in history by proposing amendments in the current PPP framework to create room for the first ever Government to Government water infrastructure project based on a PPP modality in Sindh, which also holds the record for being the State of Kuwait’s first PPP transaction in Pakistan which has laid the groundwork for future collaboration between the two countries.

Notably, the Firm has undertaken ground breaking work on standardization of PPP agreements, risk allocation matrices, bidding document and ancillary documents and procedures. Besides improving the quality of the PPP procurement process in Pakistan, this standardization is envisaged to bring about fairness and transparency and reduce bid times and costs and ensuring a national-level consistency. The Firm’s efforts towards standardization have a nation-wide impact on PPP procurements as the same will now provide a consistency of approach across a wide range of projects, with sector specific standard risk allocation significantly cutting down the time involved in handling legal and procedural bottlenecks typically involved in PPP procurements.

Since its inception, the Firm has independently established a recognized dominance over the PPP sector of Pakistan. This is not only evident by the various accolades received by the Firm and Mr. Ali Khan from international forums and ranking agencies but is also practically substantiated from the fact that it is currently engaged in several major PPP projects currently being implemented in Pakistan which include: water infrastructure projects, roads and other social infrastructure projects, mining and natural resources based projects, special economic zones, bus rapid transportation systems and power projects. In addition, the Firm also regularly assists the federal and provincial governments of Pakistan and corporate giants in the clear and unequivocal interpretation of law to avoid any ambiguity and minimize potential hindrances to projects or liabilities on the Firm’s clients. Hence, the Firm and Mr. Ali Khan’s indisputable reputation and unprecedented aptitude in the PPP sector makes the Firm of paramount importance for its clients and has resulted in the Firm being the counsel of choice for governments, multilaterals and private sector entities.

Considering the extensive experience of Mr. Ali Khan and the Firm’s team members, as demonstrated in the table below, the Firm is well placed in handling all aspects of a PPP transaction. It is relevant to note that most of the transactions listed herein below have entailed an extensive scope of work spanning the entire project life-cycle.

Mr. Ali Khan has been involved in the development of some of the key components of Pakistan’s energy sector since its inception, being part of the first:

• Wind based independent power producer (IPP) established in Pakistan
• Solar based IPP established in Pakistan
• Bagasse based IPP established in Pakistan
• Gas based IPP established in Pakistan under the 2002 Policy
• Dual Fuel based IPP established in Pakistan under the 2002 Policy
• RFO based IPP established in Pakistan under the 2002 Policy
• RLNG based IPP established in Pakistan; and
• Indigenous coal (Thar) based PPP established in Pakistan.

Consequently, Mr. Ali Khan has been deeply involved (either as lenders’ / financiers’ counsel or as project company / borrower / investor counsel) in key power generation projects / IPPs established in the country since the turn of the century. Mr. Ali Khan’s work in the country’s power sector has shaped the industry’s contractual framework and policy development and the legal documentation developed by him continues to be the industry standard for contractual arrangements.

Owing to Mr. Ali Khan’s vast and extensive contributions to the development of power projects in Pakistan, Mr. Ali Khan has been consistently recognized by the prestigious Chambers and Partners in Band 1 of the “Project, Infrastructure & Energy” category. The recently established Firm has also been recognized in the same category in record time.

Under the leadership of Mr. Ali Khan, the Firm has been at the forefront of developing novel structuring models for private power facilities for major business conglomerates in Pakistan. Notably, the Firm has been involved in setting up a first of its kind hybrid power generation facility which had the effect of laying the groundwork for independent private power projects by breaking down the requirements for licensing and tariffs in Pakistan resulting in a transactional and contractual structure which enabled private parties to set up such projects expeditiously by minimizing the involvement of regulators in such transactions.

Further, drawing upon its ability to provide an end-to-end service within the niche sector of Projects, Energy and Infrastructure, and in view of its client’s commercial consideration, the Firm has also spearheaded the structuring of a comprehensive back-to-back transaction structure to enable the establishment of a hybrid power project in Sindh to operate in the realms of captive power generation until the grant of necessary licenses by the regulatory authority to the power producer.

The Firm, under the leadership of Mr. Ali Khan, regularly advises regulators, the regulated, investors and other industry participants on the implications of the regulatory framework during the planning, development and operational stages of energy projects and activities.

It is worth noting that the Firm works with a broad scope of clients ranging from leading oil and gas companies to investment banks active in energy and commodities trading and alternative energy entrepreneurs and consumers. The Firm’s highly capable resources provide strategic advice on planning, development, financing and licensing matters, as well as legislative, political and regulatory issues.