Watson

Anna is an attorney in our Finance, Real Estate and Restructuring and Public Finance, Tax Incentives and Credit Markets groups. She focuses her practice on Municipal Bonds, New Markets Tax Credits, Public Finance and Economic Development Incentives.

• Public Finance
• Tax Credits
• Governmental Finance

• Served as Bond Counsel in connection with closing numerous municipal bond and loan transactions for the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation, the Mississippi Development Bank and local government issuers in Mississippi. Representative transactions include:
  • Mississippi Business Finance Corporation $19,040,000 Taxable Industrial Development Revenue Bond, Series 2016A (Oxford Galleria II, LLC Project), Mississippi Business Finance Corporation $2,672,070 Taxable Industrial Development Revenue Bond, Series 2016B (Oxford Galleria II, LLC Project), and Mississippi Business Finance Corporation $12,787,930 Taxable Industrial Development Revenue Bond, Series 2016C (Oxford Galleria II, LLC Project).
  • Mississippi Business Finance Corporation $22,432,000 Taxable Revenue Bonds, Series 2016 (District Phase Two, LLC Project).
  • Delta State University Educational Building Corporation $15,105,000 Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2016 (Facilities Refinancing Project).
  • Alcorn State University Educational Building Corporation $43,630,000 Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2016 (Facilities Refinancing Project).
• Anna has represented borrowers, developers, leverage lenders and community development entities on tax credit transactions utilizing new markets tax credits, historic rehabilitation tax credits and various state tax credits. Representative transactions include:
  • Represented a higher education institution on a $9 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction and development of an education facility located in Indio, California.
  • Represented a developer in connection with the redeployment of federal NMTCs following foreclosure.
  • Represented a hospital system on a $8 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the acquisition, construction and equipping of a federally qualified health center located in Chicago, Illinois.
  • Represented a technology service provider and manufacturer on a $18 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the expansion of its headquarters located in Dallas, Texas.
  • Represented a manufacturer on a $12 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the purchasing of equipment for a plywood and veneer manufacturing facility located in Louisville, Mississippi.
  • Represented a community development entity on a $10 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the construction of a public educational science center located in Birmingham, Alabama.
  • Represented a community hospital on a $44.5 million financing that combined federal NMTCs, state NMTCs and FEMA insurance proceeds in connection with the construction of a new hospital located in Louisville, Mississippi.
  • Represented a community development entity on a $23.8 million financing that combined federal NMTCs, state NMTCs and taxable bonds in connection with the acquisition, construction, installation and equipping of a sawmill located in Newton County, Mississippi.
  • Represented a community development entity on a $20 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the acquisition and installation of certain equipment in a copper tube and line sets manufacturing facility located in Fulton, Mississippi.
  • Represented a developer on a $8 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction of a creative office and flex-industrial complex located in Austin, Texas.
  • Represented a developer on a $6 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction, development and rehabilitation of a historic hotel building into a mixed-use facility located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
  • Represented a large grocery chain on a $7 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the purchase and installation of equipment in two stores located in Gainesville, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Represented a community development entity on a $17 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the acquisition of inventory and financing of working capital in order to provide new and used agriculture equipment to rural farming communities located in Great Bend, Kansas.
  • Represented a medical office building developer on a $24.5 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction, development, and leasing of a community healthcare facility located in El Centro, California.
  • Represented a community college on a $14 million financing that combined federal NMTCs, state NMTCs and a taxable note in connection with the construction, equipping and leasing of an academic and career-technical building located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • Represented a foundation and joint-venture partnership on a $26 Million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the first phase of development of a business incubator for small businesses in the Pittsburg neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Represented a manufacturer on a $20 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and taxable bonds in connection with acquisition and installation of equipment required for the manufacturing of biochemical products developed from the by-product resulting from the operation of a pulp mill located in Dayton, Washington.
  • Represented a nonprofit organization on a $7 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the construction, development and equipping of a community facility located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • Represented a biodiesel manufacturer on a $12 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the equipping of a biodiesel plant located in Greenwood, Mississippi.
  • Represented a metropolitan housing agency on a $29 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction, development and leasing of a school facility located in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Represented a public high school on a $19 million financing that combined federal NMTCs, state NMTCs, taxable bonds and tax-exempt bonds in connection with the development and construction of certain renovations and additions to a school located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • Represented a developer on a $16 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with the construction, development and renovation of a dilapidated mill into a mixed-use development located in Johnson City, Tennessee.
  • Represented a nonprofit organization on a $17 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the construction, development and equipping of a children’s museum located in Meridian, Mississippi.
  • Represented a community development entity on a $16 million financing that utilized federal NMTCs and state NMTCs in connection with the acquisition, assembly and installation of equipment and business assets at a manufacturing facility located in Greenville, Mississippi.
  • Represented a developer on a $15 million financing that combined federal NMTCs, state NMTCs, federal HTCs and state HTCs in connection with the construction, renovation, rehabilitation and equipping of a vacant 47,000 square foot historic commercial building into a regional high-tech job creation and training center located in Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • Represented a manufacturing company on an $8m financing that utilized federal NMTCs in connection with purchasing equipment and providing working capital for the expansion and re-equipping of a hair product manufacturing facility located in Memphis, Tennessee.

• The Legal 500 US
  • Recognized in the editorial for nationwide Finance: Project Finance, 2024
• Best Lawyers in America®
  • Ones to Watch, Public Finance Law, 2021-2025

• Mississippi, 2013
• U.S. District Courts
• Mississippi: Northern, Southern
• U.S. Court of Appeals
• 5th Circuit

• Mississippi College, J.D., cum laude, 2013
• Mississippi College, M.B.A., 2013
• University of Mississippi, B.S., Business Administration, 2008

• National Association of Bond Lawyers
• New Markets Tax Credits Working Group
• American Bar Association
• Mississippi Bar
• Capital Area Bar Association
• Jackson Young Lawyers

• Presenter, “Financing Projects with New Markets Tax Credits – Manufacturing Projects,” Butler Snow Spring Webinar Series, April 21, 2021.
• Speaker, “New Markets Tax Credits: An Innovative Alternative for Funding School Projects,” Association of School Business Officials International, Washington, D.C., October 2019.
• Co-Author, “How Companies Can Subsidize Project Costs with the New Markets Tax Credit Program,” Mississippi Business Journal, July 2019 Issue.
• Panelist, “New Markets Tax Credits and Opportunity Zones,” Mississippi Main Street Association Economic Vitality Summit, June 2019.
• Author, “How Manufacturers Can Subsidize Project Costs up to 25% in Mississippi,” Manufactured in Mississippi, Spring and Summer 2015 Issue.
• Speaker, “New Markets and Other Incentives,” Mississippi Association of Realtors, July 2014.