Ben 'Bud' Levine
Ben 'Bud' Levine is a senior advisor at Wulff, Hansen, is a registered Municipal Advisor, and has many years of experience in public finance in various roles including as Municipal Advisor, investment banker and underwriter. His transaction history includes initial issuances, debt restructurings, and refunding of existing outstanding obligations for the full spectrum of debt issuers including cities, counties, water, sanitary, irrigation, fire, hospital and special districts as well as other issuers. Mr. Levine has particular expertise in managing and advising on financing renewable energy, water and wastewater projects, tax increment refundings and health care issues.
In recent years he has developed a growing practice in the renewable energy space. In this area he assists municipal clients in developing and financing energy efficiency projects which include funding of green infrastructure and building upgrades and construction of renewable generating capacity. He has advised on and participated in the process of selecting master developers and contractors for EPC (Energy Performance Contracting) projects. In this role he assists the client in negotiating terms of contractor financial guarantees and other important aspects of the contract. He has arranged financing for such projects utilizing many of the various structures available for such financing, including paid-from-savings financing, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) and other means.
He is also comfortable working with undesirably complex or troubled issuers and can provide assistance in efforts to improve or resolve a client’s financial difficulties. He has served as either advisor or underwriter on various debt restructurings and in matters resulting from the bankruptcy of issuers, providing assistance as an entity exits bankruptcy.
Mr. Levine exerts great effort to educate his clients about their options, the reasoning behind them, and the implications of a particular course of action. This is most often done in person, and he makes himself available to provide face-to-face onsite briefings on a project or situation not only to client staff but to the legislative body as well. He prides himself on his effectiveness in making complex financial transactions both transparent and understandable to the client and the general public, and he enjoys presenting at public meetings where a broader audience can learn about and come to understand the details of the project at hand.
Mr. Levine holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California (Berkeley) and attended Boalt Hall School of Law and the Graduate School of Business, both at the University of California. Professional licenses: Series 7 (General Securities), Series 50 (Municipal Advisor Representative), Series 63 (Multistate).
