Holland & Knight Ranked No. 1 Bond Counsel Firm in Southeastern U.S. by The Bond Buyer
Rankings Demonstrate Dominance in Georgia
ATLANTA (August 14, 2014) – Holland & Knight claimed the top spot among bond counsel firms in the Southeast during the first six months of 2014, according to The Bond Buyer, the industry’s daily trade publication. Holland & Knight partner Woody Vaughan and senior counsel Allison Dyer, both of the Atlanta office, handled two of the most significant deals in the region in 2014, which helped the firm achieve its No. 1 ranking. In addition, Holland & Knight partners Ed Vogel and Michael Wiener, both of the Lakeland, Florida office, served as bond counsel on other transactions in Florida.
Holland & Knight also rated top honors for bond counsel in the state of Georgia. Georgia was the only state in the Southeast with an increase in bond sales over the prior year, and Holland & Knight's growth in market share is evident from the bond counsel rankings. In fact, according to the rankings reported by The Bond Buyer, the firm’s total volume of transactions by dollar amount issued exceeded those of the combined remaining ranked firms.
“The firm has made a strong commitment to our bond practice in the Southeast, resulting in a tremendous increase in our volume of work. Having the opportunity to lead our Georgia public finance initiative has been a very rewarding experience,” said Mr. Vaughan.
Steve Sonberg, Holland & Knight managing partner, said, “Public finance is important to our finance practice, and we’ve made investments that are clearly paying dividends in this area.”
Mr. Vaughan also noted that these results were achieved despite a drop in volume of bond issuance in the area during 2014. “This has been a challenging year in the Southeast,” he said. “Most advance refundings have already come to market. Also, election years seem to reduce debt borrowings for infrastructure. However, we are seeing more forward refundings than in the past, which may be a developing trend for the second half of the year.”