Project Finance Partner Benjamin Cooper Rejoins Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Energy and Infrastructure Practice

Benjamin Cooper, an experienced project finance attorney who recently served as an associate general counsel at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), has returned to Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as a partner* in the firm’s energy and infrastructure practice.

Cooper advises multilateral and bilateral development finance institutions (DFIs), both in the US and abroad, on providing debt, equity, political risk insurance and other types of credit support to high-value infrastructure investments. He also regularly counsels government agencies and private sector clients on a range of project and structured finance transactions, including the onshoring of critical supply chain production capacity.

“Ben is a highly-respected project development and finance attorney whose public sector and private practice experience complements the strength and depth of the firm’s project finance practice and aligns with our global energy and infrastructure strategy,” said Jeff Schroeder, head of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s energy and infrastructure team. “We are excited to welcome our friend and partner back to the firm.”

As the principal attorney for DFC’s COVID-19 emergency response team, Cooper oversaw financings for the onshoring of industrial base capabilities and needs under the Defense Production Act, for healthcare systems and economic recovery in developing countries and for major energy and infrastructure projects in developing countries, including:

• Co-financing with a multilateral financial institution for the construction and rehabilitation of an international airport in Africa.
• Financing for the development, construction and operation of two wind power projects in Eastern Europe.
• Financing for the construction of a domestic facility to manufacture vials for the delivery of vaccines and therapeutics (including most leading COVID-19 vaccines).
• Financing to support the expanded production of plasmid DNA and mRNA enzymes for COVID-19 vaccine development and the construction of a domestic COVID-19 test manufacturing facility.

Prior to joining the DFC, Cooper was an associate with Hunton Andrews Kurth from 2011 to 2020, where he advised clients on project finance transactions in the energy and transportation sectors.

“We are particularly happy to add Ben to the firm’s expanding representations with DFC, which span from the provision of political risk insurance for prize-winning debt-for-nature swaps in the Caribbean, to secured loans for gas processing facilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to equity investments in sustainable forestry projects in West Africa,” said partner Jamie Head, who leads the firm’s representations of DFC. “Ben was a star during his time at Hunton Andrews Kurth and, while we are proud that he answered the call to government service at a time when the world was in a crisis, we are elated that he has come home.”

Cooper is the most recent of several key additions to Hunton Andrews Kurth’s growing roster of energy industry attorneys. Last month, partner Will Freeman and counsel Alex Choinski joined the firm’s tax and project finance practices from a prominent international energy company. In September, the firm welcomed mergers and acquisitions partner J.A. Glaccum and in June, project finance counsel Christian Rudloff joined the firm. 

Cooper earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

Hunton Andrews Kurth’s global energy and infrastructure team provides comprehensive finance, development, and infrastructure counsel to DFIs, public private partnership investors, financial institutions, regulated and unregulated power companies, distributors and transportation companies, independent electric transmission companies and others involved in the social infrastructure, transportation, renewable energy, oil, gas, LNG, petrochemical and nuclear industries.

*Not admitted in DC; Admitted Only in VA.  Work supervised by Jamie Head.