The Public Finance Group at Davis Malm represents parties involved in tax-exempt bond financings issued through public agencies and authorities.
Private activity bond financing has been a specialty at Davis Malm since its founding in 1979. Prior to the restrictions imposed by the 1986 Tax Reform Act, the firm consistently handled more industrial revenue bond transactions with the Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency and local municipal industrial development financing authorities than any other Massachusetts law firm (more than 50 per year). The attorneys in the group have extensive, significant and longstanding experience in the use of tax-exempt bond financing for industrial development, residential rental housing and not-for-profit organizations. The firm has acted as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, trustee's counsel, borrower's counsel, credit enhancer's counsel or purchaser's counsel for more than 250 tax-exempt bond transactions. The attorneys in the group have closed bond transactions in municipalities across the Commonwealth as well as in other New England states. Furthermore, for more than sixteen years, Davis Malm has been listed as municipal bond counsel in the industry reference "Red Book."
Davis Malm was recently selected as one of only a few law firms qualified to act as bond counsel for the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, the principal state agency issuing tax-exempt private activity revenue bonds.
The attorneys in the Public Finance Group have also been involved in the use of numerous innovative financing techniques such as tax-exempt leasing and special purpose municipal districts. For example, the firm has acted as bond counsel for the Commonwealth's first private septage treatment facility (located in the Town of Carver), a project that involved modification of the then-proposed IRS regulations defining sewage treatment facilities. More recently, the firm acted as bond counsel and underwriter's counsel for a glass recycling facility in Franklin and the financing of the new Boston Seafood Center (using bond financing, empowerment zone grants and HUD Section 108 financing). The firm has also recently completed the tax-exempt bond financing through MDFA for an assisted living project in Walpole, Massachusetts.
Davis Malm has always been committed to the concept of marketing governmental economic development programs in the Commonwealth, as is reflected in its relationship with MDFA and its predecessors, and its legal representation of the Department of Housing and Community Development's Massachusetts Community Capital Fund, the Massachusetts Business Development Corporation, New England Certified Development Corporation, South Shore Economic Development Corporation, Northeastern Massachusetts Economic Development Corporation, East Boston Community Development Corporation and its designation as bond counsel under the Commonwealth's Tax-Exempt Local Loans to Encourage Rental Housing (TELLER) Program.
In addition, Davis Malm is noted for its expertise in advising lenders and borrowers on the use of economic development programs offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
The seasoned talent and extensive experience in public finance, real estate,
land use, zoning and environmental law at Davis Malm provide the resources
to efficiently staff and process the development and financing of large
or complex projects requiring multidisciplinary legal skills.
