Bank Of America Merrill Lynch Merger

Prologis joins giant solar-generation project

Global warehouse operator Prologis Inc. announced it’s to become part of the “largest distributed rooftop solar generation project in the world.”

San Francisco-based Prologis (NYSE: PLD), joining forces with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill) and NRG Energy, is seeking grants from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office to help finance the $2.6 billion project to install solar panels on Prologis buildings.

This distributed solar project is expected to generate employment in 28 states — including Colorado — and will create the equivalent of more than 10,000 full-year jobs, according to a Prologis news release. Once fully funded and completed, these installations are expected to provide approximately 733 megawatts (MW) of distributed solar energy, which is enough clean, renewable energy to power approximately 100,000 homes.

For the first phase, 15 MW of solar capacity is ready immediately for construction and installation in Southern California, where the power generated will be sold to a local utility under long-term power purchase agreements. NRG Energy has committed to be the lead investor for the first phase of the project in the next 18 months.

BofA Merrill acts as the sole financial and structuring adviser, and sole lender, on this transaction, which is being executed under the Department of Energy’s Financial Institutions Partnership Program (FIPP). Through FIPP, the DOE will guarantee 80 percent of the $1.4 billion debt financing for this transaction, the release states.

Prologis recently completed a merger with San Francisco’s AMB Property Corp. The deal — valued at $17.2 billion, including debt assumption — creates an industrial-real estate giant named Prologis Inc., based in San Francisco, with $46 billion in assets and 600 million square feet of space owned or managed in 22 countries.

seedawah - M&A Star Lurie Joins Guggenheim Partners

NEW YORK—Herbert Lurie, who led many of the megabank mergers of the 1990s as head of the financial institutions advisory practice at Merrill Lynch & Co., recently joined Guggenheim Partners as that firm works to raise its profile on Wall Street.

Mr. Lurie is joining senior banker ranks that also include former Bear Stearns Cos. Chief Executive Alan Schwartz, a longtime adviser to the media and telecommunications sector who joined Guggenheim as executive chairman in mid-2009. Thomas Chen, former head of financial institutions banking for Piper Jaffray Cos., joined Guggenheim earlier this year.

Closely held Guggenheim, run by CEO Mark Walter, has been expanding as much larger Wall Street rivals shrink in response to new regulations.

Separate from its banking and capital markets group , Guggenheim is setting up a proprietary trading business and has committed $500 million of capital to it, with a goal of increasing that to $2 billion over time. Guggenheim Global Trading recently hired seven senior executives and is prepared to open for business in the fall.

Merrill's financial institutions group was the top adviser to major U.S. banks during a huge wave of consolidation in the 1990s and as such had the highest profile within the investment bank. Former heads of the group went on to bigger roles, including Jeffrey Peek, who became CEO of CIT Group, and Gregory Fleming, who was president of Merrill and now is president of Morgan Stanley's wealth and asset management units.

Mr. Lurie, a lawyer by background, helped found the financial institutions group at Merrill and was among its most sought-after rainmakers. During a single week in 1998, he advised on deals worth more than $115 billion, including Bank One Corp.'s merger with First Chicago Corp., and NationsBank Corp.'s merger with BankAmerica Corp. to form Bank of America Corp., the company that now also owns Merrill Lynch.

He retired from Merrill at age 41 in 2001 and stepped away from the banking industry. Before joining Merrill, he was a merger attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.

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