Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced today that Peter D. Cleary has joined the firm as Co-Head of its Asia Energy and Infrastructure Group, based in the Hong Kong office. Mr. Cleary will share leadership of this Asian practice group with Co-Head Yoichi Katayama, who is based in Japan.
Mr. Cleary has extensive experience handling complex cross-border energy and infrastructure projects, with a reputation for advising on first-of-a-kind transactions and other innovative projects in senior roles in the private sector, the World Bank and as a partner at major international law firms.
Mr. Cleary joins Orrick from RAK Petroleum Public Company Limited, a UAE-headquartered independent oil company, where he served as General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Directors for the last three and a half years. During his tenure with the company, Mr. Cleary structured and implemented a reverse merger of RAK Petroleum’s operating subsidiaries into DNO International ASA, a Norwegian listed oil company, which, when coupled with open market purchases of DNO shares, resulted in RAK Petroleum acquiring a 43% interest in DNO.
Prior to this role, Mr. Cleary served as Director and General Counsel of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank, from 2005 and 2010, where he successfully devised and implemented a comprehensive revision of MIGA’s Convention and Operational Regulations to expand the Agency’s permitted business activities. Together with other members of the management team, Mr. Cleary helped refocus MIGA’s business model to place increased emphasis on insuring transformative infrastructure projects in emerging markets, resulting in a significant increase in the Agency’s underwriting activities and revenues.
Prior to his general counsel roles, Mr. Cleary spent 20 years as a partner in private practice with leading New York and London law firms, principally in Hong Kong and Tokyo, specializing in project finance and infrastructure. He acted as lead partner for (i) the Export Credit Agencies on the $4.3 billion Shell/CNOOC Nanhai Petrochemical Project, one of the largest project financings in Asia, (ii) the lenders financing the Manila North Tollways Project, (iii) Asia Development Bank on Terminal III at Manila Airport, (iv) the lenders on the $1 billion First Gas Power Project in the Philippines, and (v) Philippine Airlines in connection with their debt restructuring. Mr. Cleary also represented Occidental Petroleum and Bank of China Trust and Consultancy Company in connection with the limited recourse financing of the An Tai Bao coal mine, the first project financing in China.
“In recent years, we have seen a huge amount of growth in our Asia energy and infrastructure practice with more opportunities in the emerging markets in Asia,” said Dan Mathews, co-chair of Orrick’s Global Energy and Infrastructure Group. “Mr. Cleary will be a key asset to our team. His addition to our Asia group as Co-Head—with his unique and exceptional experience at private law firms, and in private and public sectors, as well as his expertise in the energy and infrastructure industries–gives Orrick the capability to expand this practice.”
“I am pleased to be returning to Asia and to private practice with Orrick’s global Energy and Infrastructure team,” said Mr. Cleary. “Orrick is an outstanding firm with tremendous depth in energy and infrastructure. I look forward to putting my experience to work on behalf of its clients, knowing I have the support of a great platform.”
Mr. Cleary has been recognized by a number of leading legal publications such as Chambers Asia and The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and has been ranked as a leading lawyer for Project Finance and Energy and Natural Resources, as well as the Best of the Best Lawyer for Project Finance, in Expert Guides published by Euromoney.
Mr. Cleary received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and his undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
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