Emilio Saiz

Emilio Saiz is Chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s Latin America practice group and Managing Partner of the Miami Office. He is also a member of the firm’s Finance, Aviation and Corporate practices. He regularly advises corporations and financial institutions in corporate and structured finance transactions, including acquisition financings, syndicated, club and credit enhanced loan facilities, sustainability-linked and green/blue financings, aircraft lending/leasing, multi-currency and synthetic loans, project financings, trade financings, convertible loans, restructurings and derivative products. Emilio also advises corporations and financial institutions in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity investments and other general corporate and commercial matters.

Emilio has extensive experience with sovereigns and private and quasi-sovereign companies across a diverse range of industries, including aviation, oil and gas, energy, pulp and paper, agribusiness, mining, financial services (including fintech), consumer products, software and media, among others. His experience extends across the globe, most notably Latin America, and he regularly advises on transactions with complex cross-border structures and collateral packages.

Emilio has been recognized as a leading cross-border financing practitioner in publications such as Chambers, The Legal 500 and Latinvex, and has been lead counsel for various transactions awarded Deal of the Year by Airfinance Journal, International Financing Review, Latin Finance and Trade Finance, and for a transaction shortlisted for the Latin Lawyer Deal of the Year award.

• Represented the lenders in various financings to pulp and paper manufacturer Suzano S.A., including its $1.275 billion revolver and its $1.2 billion, $750 million, $780 million and $1.57 billion sustainability-linked credit facilities. Suzano has been a pioneer of SLL facilities in Latin America, including through the use of biodiversity key performance indicators.
• Represented the lenders in various financings to Petrobras, including a $1.25 billion sustainability-linked term loan and several revolvers totaling over $12 billion. One such deal was named the 2018 “Deal of Year” by LatinFinance magazine.
• Represented a bank club led by Bank of America in connection with a $400 million facility to Mexico-based grocery and department store chain Chedraui.
• Represented the lenders in a $1.45 billion acquisition financing to a Colombian energy company in connection with its bid to acquire a Chilean energy company.
• Represented 7 Chinese banks in a dual tranche USD/RMB facility in an amount equal to $1.1 billion to a Brazilian energy company.
• Represented United Airlines, Inc. in a $10.75 billion debt financing secured by liens on the company’s international route authorities, take-off and landing slots and airport gate leaseholds - the largest debt financing by an airline in history.
• Represented the lenders in a $1.26 billion revolving credit facility for Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the Mexican state-owned electric company.
• Represented the lenders in various term loan and revolving loan facilities to Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A. totaling over $15 billion.
• Represented the Republic of Paraguay in connection with the issuance of $732 million in bonds by a special purpose vehicle to finance the construction of the Bioceánico highway and in a $657.6 million financing to improve two of the country’s federal highways, the first public-private partnership in Paraguay. The latter was named the “Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Southern Cone” by LatinFinance magazine.
• Represented a nine-bank club led in connection with a $1.5 billion term loan credit facility to Vale Base Metals Limited, a subsidiary of Vale S.A. focused on the mining of energy transition metals.
• Represented United Airlines in a $325 million convertible loan to Avianca Holdings S.A. The deal was named the “Latin America Deal of the Year” by Airfinance Journal and was shortlisted for the “Deal of the Year” award by Latin Lawyer magazine.
• Represented Mexican clinical laboratory group Grupo de Diagnóstico Aries in its syndicated term loan facility for the acquisition of a majority stake in Access Medical Laboratories in the United States.
• Represented the lenders in a $1 billion revolver to Enel Americas S.A., the Chilean holding company of Enel energy group throughout Latin America.
• Represented Wells Fargo as administrative agent and lender in various syndicated and bilateral facilities totaling well over $1 billion to financial services institutions, including in Chile, Colombia, Panama and Peru.
• Represented Citibank N.A. and Goldman Sachs USA as joint mandated lead arrangers for a $2 billion senior secured credit facility to Setanta Aircraft Leasing DAC, a special purpose borrower of AerCap Holdings Group.
• Represented the lenders in a R$5.5 billion acquisition financing to a Brazilian power company.
• Represented United Airlines in several public offerings of enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETCs) totaling over $5.5 billion secured by a mix of aircraft, spare engines and aircraft spare parts. One such transaction was named the 2020 “EETC Deal of the Year” by Airfinance Journal.
• Represented bank groups led by Rabobank in a $132 million and a $143 million separate sustainability-linked export prepayment facilities for sugar company Tereos Açúcar e Energia Brasil S.A, the Brazilian subsidiary of global agricultural cooperative conglomerate Tereos.
• Represented Rheinmetall AG (RHM) in its $950 million acquisition of Loc Performance Products.
• Represented a syndicate of banks led by Mizuho in a $500 million syndicated revolving loan facility to Brazilian multinational food company JBS S.A. and certain of its subsidiaries.
• Represented a syndicate of banks in an $875 million revolving credit facility for Brazilian steel producer Gerdau S.A. and various of its subsidiaries throughout the world.
• Represented Republic Airways on a loan agreement with Agência Especial de Financiamento Industrial S.A. – FINAME, a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), for up to 14 new Embraer 175LR aircraft, with a total lending commitment of up to $293,250,000.
• Represented a syndicate of 7 banks in connection with a $600 million secured term loan pre-export finance facility for Brazilian joint venture that produces sugar, ethanol and bioenergy.
• Represented the lenders in connection with various facilities to Brazilian energy company Raízen, including several term loans totaling over $1.5 billion and a $300 million sustainability-linked revolving credit facility.
• Represented an international accounting firm on the restructuring of all of its debt facilities and derivative products, including a syndicated MXN revolver to its Mexican subsidiary.
• Represented JOST Werke SE in the acquisition of Crenlo do Brasil from Angeles Equity Partners.
• Represented Brambles Ltd. in the financing of its joint venture with First Reserve relating to their oil and gas containers solutions businesses.
• Represented United Airlines in a $7.491 billion secured loan under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s CARES Act airline loan program.
• Represented Citibank as issuing bank, lender, and administrative and collateral agent in connection with several secured transactions aggregating over $150 million with the owner of several oil drill ships in Brazil, including a term loan and the issuance of several letters of credit.
• Represented a leading Central American company in the acquisition of a group of companies that produces, exports, ships and distributes frozen orange juice concentrate from Costa Rica.
• Represented MediaNews Group (d/b/a Digital First Media) in the acquisition of full ownership of its California operations, and the sale to Gannett Co. of 11 media organizations.
• Represented the Central Bank of Paraguay (“BCP”) in a landmark currency swap agreement with the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”).
• Represented a private equity fund in an auction sale of its controlling equity stake in a large media company.
• Represented a Latin American plastics manufacturer and distributor in the acquisition of plastics manufacturing and distribution companies in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay from a distressed European company.
• Represented the lenders in various facilities to members of the Votorantim group totaling over $5 billion, including a $3.3 billion aggregation in connection with a corporate restructuring and a $3 billion revolving credit facility transaction, named “Loan of the Year 2011” by IFR magazine.
• Represented HSBC Securities Inc. and Société Générale as joint lead arrangers in two loan facility transactions for a Brazilian pulp and paper group aggregating $2.65 billion, named “Deal of the Year 2011” by Trade Finance magazine.
• Represented an investment group led by Smithfield Group and Kensington Capital Partners in connection with secured debt financing relating to the acquisition of Pure Power Technologies from Navistar International Corp.
• Represented the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. as joint lead arrangers in a $100 million loan to Peruvian electricity generator EnerSur.
• Represented a Colombian bank in a bid to acquire the Latin American banking subsidiary of a major European bank.
• Represented a syndicate of 25 banks in a $1 billion loan to a major aircraft manufacturer in Brazil, Cayman Islands and Spain.
• Represented the central bank of a Latin American country in connection with a currency swap agreement with International Finance Corp. (IFC)
• Represented a major Uruguayan bread manufacturer in establishing operations in the United States, including with respect to real estate acquisition, construction and general corporate advice.
• Represented Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex) in connection with a risk-sharing facility of up to $350 million with IFC to expand access to trade finance for agribusinesses in Latin America and contribute to regional food security.
• Represented Bladex as arranger in connection with a $100 million pre-export loan to a Guatemalan agro-industrial company that produces sugar.
• Represented broker-dealers in connection with the unwind of failed derivatives, and repurchase and securities lending transactions.