The Firm represented ITC Holdings Corp. and its subsidiary ITC Midwest LLC in the acquisition, and related temporary and permanent financings, of the electric transmission assets of Interstate Power and Light Company, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corporation. The transaction was valued at approximately $780 million. ITC Holdings closed the transaction on December 21, 2007 with the proceeds of temporary financing which included borrowings under a $765 million bridge loan agreement (with certain lenders led by Lehman Brothers Inc., as sole lead arranger and sole bookrunner). On January 24, 2008, ITC Holdings refinanced the temporary financing through the issuance of (i) 6,420,737 shares of common stock (including full exercise of the over-allotment option) by ITC Holdings in a registered offering (ii) $385,000,000 of 6.050% Senior Notes, due January 31, 2018, by ITC Holdings in a Rule 144A / Regulation S offering and (iii) $175,000,000 of 6.150% First Mortgage Bonds, Series A, due 2038, by ITC Midwest in a Rule 144A / Regulation S offering. The underwriters/initial purchasers were led by Lehman Brothers Inc. and Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, as joint book-running managers.
Through its operating subsidiaries, ITCTransmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company and ITC Midwest, ITC Holdings is the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States. This transaction follows the Firm's representation of ITC Holdings in its acquisition of Michigan Electric Transmission Company in October 2006 and ITC Holdings’ July 2005 IPO. The Firm also represented International Transmission Holdings Limited Partnership in connection with its acquisition of ITCTransmission from DTE Energy Company.
The STB team that worked on the financings for the transaction included: Risë Norman, Ben Garcia, Caroline Teisseire, Sean Murphy and Michele Murphy (Capital Markets) and James Cross, Vanessa Bressler and Alex Delacruz (Credit). In addition, the following attorneys worked on the underlying acquisition: Andrew Smith, Edward Shen, Matthew King and Dov Gottlieb (M&A); Brian Chisling and Amy Beller (Energy Regulatory); Greg Grogan and Andrew O'Brien (Employee Benefits); Steve Todrys, Jonathan Cantor, Nancy Mehlman and Seojung Park (Tax); Adeeb Fadil and Noreen Lavan (Environmental); Mardi Merjian, Aaron Rosenberg and Jennifer Lai (Real Estate) and Lori Lesser (Intellectual Property).