Attorneys

• Charles R. Brodbeck

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Appoints
Cohen & Grigsby Appointed Bond Counsel:
Law Firm Continues Key Role in Shaping Region’s Financial Health

PITTSBURGH – The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission used Cohen & Grigsby, P.C., a Pittsburgh-based law firm, as bond counsel, to help the commission complete its planned refinancing of nearly all its $1.2 billion outstanding debt.

To complete the refinancing program, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission sold $449 million in variable-rate revenue bonds to refinance bonds issued in 1992.  The transaction is the culmination of a financing plan that was instituted in 2001 and has enabled the Commission to save an estimated $50 million and diversify its debt portfolio.  In total, the Commission will have refinanced approximately $900 million of its mainline system debt.

“The Pennsylvania Turnpike is one of the principal economic drivers in the Commonwealth,” said Charles Brodbeck, the head of Cohen & Grigsby’s Tax-Exempt Finance Group.  “The 530-mile system not only provides a primary link between all of the major industrial centers within the state, but also links the Eastern seaboard to the U.S. interstate highway system going west.  We are pleased that our work will help ensure a stronger Pennsylvania highway system for years to come.”

The project is one of many significant bond counsel assignments Cohen & Grigsby has received in recent years.  The Bond Buyer, an industry trade publication, ranked the law firm second on its list of bond counsel for municipal bond issues in 2001 in Pennsylvania.

The law firm has served on a range of financings in western Pennsylvania, including the $874 million Regional Destination Financing Plan (Plan B); the City’s Economic Development Fund backed by a portion of the City’s Regional Asset District receipts; and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s issuance of Oil Franchise Tax Bonds to finance a portion of the Mon Valley Expressway.