Christopher J. Reitzel

Practice Areas

Chris Reitzel assists issuers, underwriters, and financial advisors with public and project finance projects across a broad range of sectors. He serves as bond counsel, disclosure counsel, and underwriters’ counsel on public offerings and private placements. His diverse transactional background includes taxable and tax-exempt debt, complex variable rate products, including subordinated and senior commercial paper, as well as direct and standby credit and liquidity facilities.

I have extensive experience representing issuers and underwriters in the areas of transportation and infrastructure, public power, environmental, higher education, health care and housing, and securitizations, including work on financings for the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), Empire State Development (ESD), Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC), the City of New York (NYC), and the Oklahoma Development Finance Authority.

COMPLEX PROJECT EXPERIENCE

I have been fortunate to be involved in some uniquely complex, multi-disciplinary transactions. I served as bond counsel to ESD (through the New York Transportation Development Corporation (an ESD-related entity)) in the approximately $2.4 billion P3 bond financing for the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport in New York City, which was awarded The Bond Buyer’s Regional Deal of the Year award in 2016.

Recently, I have been involved in a number of important transactions for the State of New York (as bond counsel for financings done through DASNY and as bond and underwriters’ counsel for financings done through ESD), MTA, LIPA, and NYC. For the State, LIPA and NYC, that work includes their initial environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) bond issuances.

DISCLOSURE

Much of my work involves serving as disclosure counsel, regularly assisting two very active issuers with multifaceted operations and diverse financing programs. Since 2000, I have been EFC’s disclosure counsel for its State Revolving Fund programs, as well as disclosure counsel to LIPA (and the Utility Debt Securitization Authority (UDSA)) since 2008. In both cases, I get to work with incredibly talented and dedicated in-house teams on cutting-edge financings.

Creative financing solutions. The recent financing environment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing our industry to develop new ways to finance growing infrastructure needs, including increased use of securitizations to finance or refinance such costs. In addition, to satisfy the investor community, we should expect an increase in ESG-type bond issuances.

Career

New York University School of Law, J.D.

Harvard University, B.A.