Dancing With Giants

What do a U.S. lawyer and a Singaporean banker have in common? 

When it comes to infrastructure finance, Mitchell A. Silk and Seth Tan have just about seen it all. They have witnessed the inner workings of international development projects-ranging from bilateral economic agreements between countries to multibillion-dollar infrastructure financings-from both legal and financial angles. In alternating chapters, they share their experiences over the last several decades working on infrastructure projects on almost every continent and at the highest levels of government and corporate organizations. Infrastructure finance took off in the 1980s. Today, it is a major focus as the world grapples with the challenges of private capital mobilization to meet the giant global infrastructure funding gap. Mitchell A. Silk and Seth Tan were there for its growth into a giant industry.

Praise for Dancing With Giants 

"An extraordinary collection of real world experiences from the front lines of global infrastructure finance. Mitch Silk and Seth Tan, two leading practitioners of infrastructure finance over the past 30 years, illuminate the essential role of private investment

in meeting the world's energy needs." - Andrs Gluski, President and CEO, The AES Corporation

"Written by the people who did the deals, a superb and engaging account of the rise, and sometimes fall, of infrastructure projects in Asia and America since the 1980s." - Ashley C. Wilkins, former Head of Project Finance and Advisory, SocGen Asia

About the Authors

Mitchell A. Silk

Mitchell is the immediate past Assistant Secretary for International Markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that position, Mitch designed and implemented an inter-agency growth initiative in international infrastructure finance, and the $94 billion CARES Act programs that benefitted over 700,000 American aviation industry workers. Prior to joining U.S. Treasury, Mitch was a senior partner in the global law practice of Allen & Overy in Hong Kong and New York, where he specialized in energy and infrastructure matters, asset management, and banking and finance. Mitch is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, and his favorite language of Yiddish. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. He and his wife, Yocheved Rivka, are the proud parents of eight children and four grandchildren.

Seth Tan

Seth was most recently the head of Infrastructure Asia, a regional infrastructure facilitation office under the Singapore government. Initiatives he led include bringing top private sector companies to co-create bankable Asian infrastru...