Since 1978, John Mercer has concentrated his law practice in the areas of finance and other complex transactions, with particular emphasis on the electric power industry, including corporate transactions and acquisitions and independent power projects.  John also chairs Troutman Sanders’ Project Development and Finance Practice Group.  According to Chambers USA’s America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, “[t]he ‘clearly outstanding’ John Mercer earned praise from interviewees for his extensive expertise in utility financing.”

Representative Experience
Lead outside finance and securities counsel for Wisconsin Energy Corporation and its subsidiaries, including Wisconsin Electric Power Company, Wisconsin Gas LLC and subsidiaries that own generating assets under construction.

Lead project and finance counsel for a major global independent power producer in tenders and acquisitions for projects and companies in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, China, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States

Lead project and finance counsel for bids and acquisitions of power generating facilities in New England, New York, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia

Lead outside counsel for Wisconsin Energy Corporation’s registered public offering of $500 million “hybrid” Subordinated Notes

Lead outside counsel for Wisconsin Electric Power Company’s pending Environmental Trust Bond Financing

Lead outside counsel for Port Washington Generating Station LLC’s private placement of $155 million Senior Notes to finance Unit 1 and $150 million Senior Notes to finance Unit 2

Lead outside counsel for Wisconsin Gas LLC’s offering of $90 million of Debentures

Lead outside counsel for Mirant Americas Generation, Inc.’s offering of $750 million Senior Notes

Lead outside counsel for Mirant Americas Generation, Inc.’s offering of $1.75 billion Senior Notes

Lead outside counsel for Mirant Mid-Atlantic, LLC’s Registration and Exchange Offer of $1.224 billion Pass Through Trust Certificates

Lead outside counsel to Mirant Americas Generation, Inc. for approximately $2.47 billion corporate banking credit facilities

Lead counsel for Southern Energy, Inc.’s offering of $700 million Senior Notes

Lead counsel for Southern Energy, Inc.’s corporate banking facilities of $1.3 billion

Lead counsel for development and financing of a waste recycling plant near Little Rock, Arkansas

Lead finance counsel for Southern Energy’s acquisition of Consolidated Electric Power Asia Limited (CEPA), including the negotiation and closing of an $850 million nonrecourse acquisition loan from a consortium of commercial banks

Lead finance counsel for Southern Investments UK plc (SIUK) offering of $85 million Capital Income Securities pursuant to Rule 144A with registration rights

Lead finance counsel for SIUK’s registered offering of $500 million Senior Unsecured Notes

Lead finance counsel for Southern Energy in negotiation and documentation of a committed nonrecourse acquisition facility of £6 billion for a potential acquisition in the United Kingdom

Lead finance counsel for Empressa Eléctrica del Norte Grande S.A. in the capital markets offering pursuant to Rule 144A of $250 million Loan Participation Certificates

Lead finance counsel for SIUK and its subsidiary, Southwestern Electricity plc (SWEB), in negotiation and closing of a £600 million revolving loan facility

Lead finance counsel for Southern Energy in connection with its acquisition of SWEB, including the offering of SIUK’s £627 million nonrecourse Floating Rate Bonds

Lead finance counsel for SEI Holdings IX, Inc. (SEI IX) in the global offering of approximately $80 million of Notes in connection with SEI IX’s acquisition of a 39 percent interest in the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited

Lead finance counsel for Mobile Energy Services Company, Inc. in connection with its offering of approximately $220 million of First Mortgage Bonds and $85 million Solid Waste Revenue Refunding Bonds

Lead project and finance counsel for SEI IX in its acquisition of a 39 percent interest in the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited

Lead finance counsel for Hidroelectrica Alicura, S.A., (Alicura) Argentina, in the global offering of $170 million Negotiable Obligations

Lead finance counsel for Alicura in the exchange with Internationale Nederlanden Bank of $25.8 million Senior Advances for Subordinated Convertible Notes

Lead finance counsel for Southern Energy in financing the 220 MW Birchwood Power Project in King George County, Virginia

Lead outside co-counsel to Wisconsin Electric Power Company in its sale of the Point Beach Nuclear Power Station for approximately $1 billion

Supervising project and finance counsel for Southern Energy in the acquisition of stock in Empressa Eléctrica del Norte Grande S.A., Chile

Supervising project counsel and finance counsel for Southern Energy in the acquisition and initial financing of Hidroelectrica Alicura, S.A., Argentina

Supervising project counsel and finance counsel for Southern Energy in the acquisition of Freeport Power Company, Bahamas

Lead Counsel for Southern Energy in the tender for Gladstone Power Station, Brisbane, Australia

Lead counsel for Southern Energy in the tender for the Petacalco Pier and Coal Handling Facility in Michoacan, Mexico

Lead project and finance counsel for Southern Energy in the tender for the Loy Yang B Power Station, Victoria, Australia

Lead project and finance counsel for Southern Energy in the tender for the Kilroot Power Station, Northern Ireland

Finance counsel for Southern Energy in the tender for the Pego Power Station, Portugal

Lead counsel for Georgia Power Company (Georgia Power) in the sale of Plant Scherer Unit No. 4 to Florida Power & Light Company and Jacksonville Electric Authority

Lead counsel for Georgia Power in its disposition of undivided ownership interests in Rocky Mountain Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project to Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC)

Lead counsel for Georgia Power in OPC’s leveraged lease of 60 percent interest in Plant Scherer Unit No. 2

In addition, Mr. Mercer has been counsel to lenders, borrowers, underwriters and other parties in numerous corporate, project and infrastructure financing transactions involving commercial bank financing and public and private sales of debt and equity securities