Concentration

Corporate transactions involving energy, infrastructure, oil and gas, petrochemicals and telecommunications with a particular focus on cross-border transactions involving China 

Summary

Mr. Kuzmik is the partner-in-charge of the firm’s Beijing and Hong Kong offices and the Department Chair of the firm’s Global Projects Department in Hong Kong and Beijing.   Resident in China since 1989, he leads the firm’s China practice.  Mr. Kuzmik has more than two decades of experience advising multinational corporations, state-owned enterprises, developers, commercial and investment banks and private equity funds on investment and financing strategies and structures. 

He is noted in particular for advising strategic and financial investors in connection with landmark transactions involving mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, as well as debt and equity financing and restructuring.

Mr. Kuzmik’s representations on infrastructure project development have covered structuring of investments, bid preparation, government support and approval arrangements, and site acquisition.  These representations have involved documenting and negotiating power purchase and other offtake arrangements, government concessions, fuel and material supply, engineering, procurement and construction contracts, operation and maintenance agreements, joint venture and shareholder arrangements, as well as subordinated debt and credit support arrangements.

Mr. Kuzmik has represented international oil and gas companies since 1989 when the China National Offshore Oil Company began its Third Round of offshore bidding for 7 blocks in the Pearl River Mouth Basin.  He has direct experience with negotiation and documentation of transactions relating to the exploration, development and operation of oil and gas properties, both onshore and offshore China, as well as due diligence and documentation of acquisitions or dispositions of oil and gas producing and exploratory properties.

Mr. Kuzmik is a frequent speaker and writer on China-related topics. Mr. Kuzmik co-authored PRC Joint Ventures: Drafting & Negotiating Contracts (Euromoney Press) and was a consulting editor on both the first and second editions of the China Investment Manual (Asia Law & Practice).  He reads and writes Chinese and speaks Mandarin.

Representative Engagements

Oil & Gas

• Independent oil company - acquisition of natural gas block in China’s Sichuan province
• Independent oil company - bid for oil blocks in the Tarim Basin under a bid process administered by the China National Petroleum Corporation 
• Independent oil company - Production Sharing Contract for an offshore oil block with China National Offshore Oil Co. Ltd
• Private equity fund - acquisition of interest in the foreign participant in an oil field in Bohai Bay 
• Private company - sale its interest in an offshore block to a subsidiary of a State-owned Chinese company 
• Marine construction and service company -the building of a state-of-the-art pipe lay barge by a PRC ship yard 
• Independent oil company - bid for Production Sharing Contract in a Bohai Bay gas field with CNOOC 
• Marine construction service company - joint venture for the provision of marine construction services for oil and gas projects in China and the Asia Pacific Region 
• International oil company - acquisition of PSC interests in several oil and gas PSCs in China from an oil major 
• Oil Majors consortium - bid for the concession to construct, own and operate the Northern Taiwan LNG Terminal Project 
• Marine construction company - project involving the design, engineering, and installation of a 340-kilometer pipeline linking a gas field in the South China Sea with the Southern China gas grid 
• Australian resource company - maritime, mortgage and security issues related to the shipment of LNG to the PRC 
• Oilfield services company - documenting and negotiating contractual arrangements to provide enhanced recovery services in exchange for oil with CNPC 
• International investment bank - financing structures for foreign participants in China PSCs 
• International oil company - documentation and negotiation of contracts to develop an offshore gas field in the Xihu trough, with CNOOC and Sinopec 
• Marine construction company - construction of a 480 mile gas and condensate pipeline from Yacheng 13 gas field to Hong Kong 
• Independent oil company - documenting and negotiating a PSC with CNOOC in an area south of the disputed Spratly Island complex 
• International oil company - bid to secure an interest in gas fields in the Pinghu trough, with the Shanghai Offshore Oil Bureau of Sinopec Star Petroleum Company 
• Independent oil company - first shallow-water “onshore” contract in Bohai Bay with CNODC, and establishment of commercial operations in China 
• Independent and international oil companies - first ever Production Sharing Contract onshore China with the China National Oil Development Company (“CNODC”), and the establishment of commercial operations in China 
• International oil companies - Third and Fourth round bids for offshore blocks in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and the subsequent documentation and negotiation of PSC’s with CNOOC, and the establishment of commercial operations in China 
• Drilling Services company - contracts for the construction of a drilling rig to be constructed by PRC shipyard.

Petrochemical

• National Oil company - Sino-foreign equity joint venture arrangement with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) to build a 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery and 300 gasoline stations in China. 
• U.S. petrochemical company - joint venture and technology transfers to build and operate a propylene oxide/styrene manufacturing plant 
• National oil company - joint venture refinery and olefins plant in China, and downstream marketing joint ventures

Energy

• Private sponsor - planned LNG receiving terminal to be set up in S. China 
• International oil company - bid to acquire coal bed methane assets in China 
• European national utility - development and financing of a 1200MW Power Plant in Hubei Province, China 
• U.S. Power developer - development and financing of a 2 x 50MW coal-fired power plant in Tangshan Municipality, China. This project represented the first independent power project with no sovereign or company guarantees of any kind, nor participation by export credit agencies or multilateral lending institutions 
• International power developer - development and financing of a 2 x 300MW coal-fired power plant near Wenzhou 
• International developer - development and financing of a 100MW coal-fired thermal power plant in Beijing 
• Power Developer and Asian infrastructure fund - development and financing of a 1,200MW coal-fired co-generation plant in Shanghai
• European national utility - bid for redevelopment of existing 600MW power plant facility

Finance

• Leading international bank and syndicated lenders - dual US$/RMB loan facility extended to a glass manufacturing joint venture
• Leading international bank and syndicated lenders - extension of US$211 million equivalent multi-currency loan facility to China subsidiaries of a multinational corporation. Formosa ABS Plastics (Ningbo), Formosa Power (Ningbo) and Formosa Industries (Ningbo)
• Multilateral lender - extension of A and B loans to a steel manufacturing facility in Western China 
• International investment bank - proprietary equity investment in a mortgage origination and servicing subsidiary. 
• Major PRC bank and syndicated lenders - project financing of LNG terminal and trunkline, one of China’s largest foreign-invested, energy-related infrastructure projects

Publications, Speeches and Presentations

• Co-author, PRC Joint Ventures: Drafting and Negotiating Contracts, Asia Law & Practice, 1997
• Contributor to a number of books, including Bank of America’s Guide to Petrochemicals, Bank of America’s Guide to Telecommunications, The China Financial Manual, Dispute Resolution in the PRC, and Life and Death of a Joint Venture in China
• Author of numerous articles for leading Asian and international publications, including Tax Notes International, China Direct Investor, China Tax Review, and Hong Kong Lawyer