Paul D. Tanaka, P.C.
Overview
Paul Tanaka leads Golden Flag ’s Global Environmental Practice, serving as head environmental counsel for a large number of private equity firms and public companies. Paul’s clients rely on him to identify and strategically manage environmental regulatory compliance and other environmental liabilities. He is a big-picture thinker and creative problem solver that clients count on to be both commercial and practical, and to create bespoke and efficient solutions for everything from environmental crises to more routine matters of compliance and governance and all aspects of transactions.
Paul’s work has included hundreds of successfully closed deals, which have involved a wide range of commercial transactions from small venture capital investments to large multi-national acquisitions and divestitures. Paul has particular experience in the energy and infrastructure space, including transactions involving power generation, oil and gas and renewable energy. He routinely conducts and coordinates environmental due diligence assessments, retains and supervises consultants and technical experts, counsels clients on liability and risk allocation issues, drafts and negotiates contracts and agreements, assists in procurement of environmental insurance and other risk-mitigating solutions, and pursues post-closing resolution of environmental issues. The Practice maintains a worldwide network of environmental consulting and insurance and legal professionals to provide clients with all necessary resources during or following their transactions.
Paul is proud to serve as the Co-Chair of the Racial/Ethnic Minority Subcommittee of Golden Flag’s Firmwide Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Experience
Representative Matters
Represented Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in its $805 million convertible equity portfolio financing of a large portfolio of renewables assets owned by NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP).
Representing Murray Energy Holdings Co. and certain of its subsidiaries in their Chapter 11 cases in the Unites States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Murray is the largest privately-owned coal company in the United States, headquartered in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and has operations primarily in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Illinois, Utah, and Colombia, South America. Murray employs nearly 5,500 people, including approximately 2,400 active union members. Murray entered Chapter 11 with approximately $2.7 billion in prepetition funded debt and more than $8 billion in actual or potential pension and employee benefit obligations.
Represented Parsley Energy, Inc. in its $2.27 billion all-stock acquisition of Jagged Peak Energy Inc.
Represented Golden Gate Capital and Hillstone Environmental Partners, LLC in the $600 million sale of Hillstone to NGL Energy Partners LP.
Represented Brookfield Infrastructure in connection with a $1 billion term loan B facility and a C$200 million revolving credit facility in the financing of the acquisition of natural gas gathering and processing businesses from Enbridge Inc. The business includes 19 natural gas processing facilities with total operating processing capacity of 3.3 Bcf/d and 3,550 kilometers of gathering pipelines, with connectivity to major demand markets including the U.S. Pacific Northwest, U.S. Midwest and Western Canada.
Represented Savage Companies in its merger with Bartlett and Company and the subsequent Savage Enterprises joint venture, a leading global provider of supply chain and industrial services spanning the agriculture, energy and chemical, and environmental sectors.
Represented KKR/Venado Oil & Gas, LLC in its $765 million acquisition of Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation’s developed and undeveloped oil and gas assets in the Eagle Ford Shale.
Represented RimRock Oil & Gas and its sponsor, Warburg Pincus, in its $500 million acquisition of upstream assets in the Bakken Shale in North Dakota from Whiting Petroleum Corporation.
Represented large global investment fund in the formation of drilling participation arrangement with SandRidge Energy to develop up to $200M of wells in the NW STACK play.
Represented Cision, Inc. in its $2.4 billion merger with Capitol Acquisition Corp. III.
Represented Industrial Growth Partners in its acquisition of IOTA Engineering and affiliates.
Represented Samson Resources Corporation in its Chapter 11 restructuring in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. Samson, a leading onshore oil and gas exploration and production company with headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, held oil and gas assets primarily located in Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. In Chapter 11, Samson successfully executed on six simultaneous asset sales during its restructuring, with an aggregate purchase price of $650 million, and negotiated a global settlement with its major stakeholders, resolving all open issues in its bankruptcy. Samson’s plan of reorganization deleveraged its balance sheet by approximately $4 billion and positioned Samson for future success after emergence.
Represented Blackstone Energy Partners in their 50/50 partnership to acquire Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s working interest in approximately 318,000 gross operated acres in the Western Eagle Ford for approximately $2.3 billion.
Represented a large private global investment fund (Investor) in connection with its drilling participation arrangement with Gastar Exploration Inc. (NYSE: GST), where the Investor agrees to jointly develop up to 60 Gastar-operated wells in the STACK play in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma.
Represented GFI Energy Group of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. in its acquisition of Trench Plate Rental Co.
Represented Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. in its $85 million investment in SunOpta Inc.
Represented Industrial Growth Partners in its acquisition of SPL.
Represented Sithe Global Power, an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, in its $1.2 billion sale of interests in two coal-fired power plants in The Philippines to Aboitiz Power Corp.
Represented The Blackstone Group and ArcLight in connection with the $2.17 billion acquisition of four Midwest power plants from subsidiaries of American Electric Power.
Represented Energy Capital Partners Mezzanine Opportunities Fund in connection with its preferred equity investment in Ramaco Development, a Yorktown-backed metallurgical coal miner.
Represented The Blackstone Group in connection with the formation of the Guidon Energy joint venture and the subsequent purchase of oil and gas assets in the Midland Basin.
Represented Industrial Growth Partners in its acquisition of the parent company of Des-Case Corporation.
Represented global investment firm KKR in its investment in Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, a leader in the ecological solutions market.
Represented TPG Special Situations Partners, LLC in the formation of a $400 million drilling partnership to develop domestic unconventional resources in the Midland Basin with Hunt Oil Company.
Represented Indigo Minerals LLC in its $375 million equity capital raise and the acquisition of certain producing properties and undeveloped acreage in the core of the Cotton Valley and Haynesville plays from a private exploration and development company.
Represented Seneca Resources Corporation in the formation of a drilling partnership to develop unconventional resources in Pennsylvania with an affiliate of IOG Capital, LP and Fortress Investment Group, LLC and the subsequent modified extension of the original joint development agreement.
Represented GEP Haynesville LLC in the acquisition of Encana Corporation subsidiaries for $850 million.
Represented MACH Gen, LLC, a privately held holding company of three power plants in Arizona, New York, and Massachusetts, in its sale to Talen Energy Supply, LLC for $1.175 billion.
Represented Arc Logistics Partners LP, an affiliate of Lightfoot Capital Partners, in its acquisition of UET Midstream, LLC for approximately $76.6 million.
Represented GSO Capital Partners LP (GSO) in connection with its $500 million drilling participation arrangement with Linn Energy, LLC (Linn) and LinnCo, LLC.
Represented Air Medical Group and Bain Capital on the sale of Air Medical Group to investment firm KKR.
Represented Madison Dearborn Partners and Ikaria, Inc., a privately held critical care company, in an agreement with Mallinckrodt plc ((NYSE: MNK) under which a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt acquired Ikaria from a Madison Dearborn-led investor group in a transaction valued at approximately $2.3 billion.
Represented Arc Logistics Partners (NYSE: ARCX), an affiliate of Lightfoot Capital Partners, in connection with its $216 million acquisition of Joliet Bulk, Barge & Rail LLC from CenterPoint Properties Trust through a joint-venture arrangement with an affiliate of GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE).
Represented KKR in a partnership with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in the development of Anadarko's acreage in the Eaglebine field located in South Texas.
Represented The Blackstone Group in connection with its acquisition of the Twin Oaks power generation facility through a competitive bankruptcy auction.
Represented an investor consortium led by client Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in the environmental aspects of the $4.7 billion take-private acquisition of Cleco Corporation, a publicly traded power utility company in Louisiana.
Represented Fleur de Lis Energy, LLC on the environmental aspects of its $350 million acquisition of LINN Energy's Wolfberry positions in Ector and Midland Counties in the Permian Basin.
Represented the Blackstone Group and Vine Oil & Gas LP on the environmental aspects of their acquisition of the Haynesville assets of SWEPI LP and Shell Gulf of Mexico, Inc., affiliates of Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Represented KKR on the environmental aspects of its agreement with Riverstone Holdings LLC to merge the existing assets held by KKR Natural Resources Funds with the assets of Legend Production Holdings, LLC, a portfolio company of Riverstone, to create a new oil and gas company called Trinity River Energy, LLC.
Represented an investor on the environmental aspects of an acquisition of a 50 percent interest in a 725-megawatt combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant.
Represented Exelon Corporation on the environmental aspects of its $7 billion acquisition of Pepco Holdings, Inc.
Represented Advance Auto Parts on the environmental aspects of its $2 billion acquisition of General Parts International.
Represented KKR on the environmental aspects of its approximately $1 billion acquisition of the Crosby and Acco divisions of Melrose Industries PLC.
Represented Southwire Company on the environmental aspects of its $786 million acquisition of Coleman Cable, Inc.
Represented Danaher Corporation on the environmental aspects of its $685 million sale of its Pacific Scientific Aerospace business to Meggitt PLC.
Represented National Grid on the environmental aspects of the sale of its Seneca-Upshur shale gas business.
Clerk & Government Experience
Law ClerkHonorable Susan Oki MollwayUnited States District Court for the District of Hawaii2001–2001
Trial AttorneyUnited States Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Environmental Defense Section2004–2006
Prior Experience
More
Thought Leadership
Seminars
Panelist on “After the Deal is Done: What Can Go Wrong Post-Closing” at the 46th Spring American Bar Association Conference on Environmental Law on March 31, 2017
Panelist on “Managing Environmental Risks in Spin-Offs and Other Complex Transactions” at the 45th Spring American Bar Association Conference on Environmental Law on April 1, 2016
Recognition
Recognized by Chambers USA for Environment, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024
Recognized in The Legal 500 U.S. for Environment: Transactional, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023
Adjunct Professor, University of California Berkeley School of Law, Environmental Transactional Practice
Named an MVP for Environmental by Law360, 2019
Golden Flag’s Environmental group was named “Environmental Law Group of the Year” in 2010, 2011 and 2013 by Law360
Memberships & Affiliations
Member, 2018 Environmental Law360 Editorial Advisory Board
Member, American Bar Association Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law
Sustaining Member, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area
City Lead, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s Success in Law School Mentorship Program, San Francisco
Member, Firmwide Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Co-Chair, Firmwide Racial/Ethnic Minority Subcommittee
Member, California State Bar Environmental Law Section
Credentials
Admissions & Qualifications
- 2000, Hawaii (inactive)
- 2003, New York
- 2007, District of Columbia (inactive)
- 2008, California
- 2016, Texas
Courts
- United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
Education
- University of Hawaii School of LawJ.D.summa cum laude2000
Member, University of Hawaii Law Review
Member, University of Hawaii National Environmental Moot Court Team (National Champions in Pace Law School National Environmental Moot Court Competition in 1999)
George C. Munro Award for Environmental Law, Fall 1998
John S. Edmunds Award for Civility and Vigorous Advocacy, 1999–2000
- Claremont McKenna CollegeB.A., Government1997