Latin America Practice

Finance

• Bladex in a $206 million credit facility to support Grupo Estrella’s acquisition of Cemex’s operations in Panama, including the Bayano cement plant and related assets for cement, concrete and aggregates production.

• Lenders, including Citibank and JPMorgan Chase, as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners, in a $189 million financing for Global Bank Corporation, a Panama-based financial institution.

• Citibank, Scotiabank and other lenders on the acquisition financing for Gerdau’s shares in Diaco and Metaldom, involving a multicurrency facility including USD, COP and DOP.

• Represented United Airlines, Inc. in a $325 million secured convertible financing for Avianca Holdings S.A. The deal was named the 2019 “Latin America Deal of the Year” by Airfinance Journal and was shortlisted for the 2019 “Deal of the Year” award by Latin Lawyer magazine.

• Represented the Republic of Paraguay in:

  • its sovereign bond issuance and debt management since 2017

  • the issuance of $732 million in bonds by a special purpose vehicle to finance the construction of the Bioceánico highway, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans across South America from Brazil to Chile

  • an unprecedented $657.6 million financing to expand two of the country’s federal highways. Proyecto Chaco was the first public-private partnership in Paraguay and the largest private investment in the history of the South American nation

• Represented the lenders in a $5 billion revolving credit facility for Petrobras.

• 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 a $2 billion revolving credit facility for Vale S.A. 

• Represented the lenders in an $875 million revolving credit facility for Gerdau S.A. and several of its subsidiaries. 

• We regularly represent lenders and companies in sustainability-linked financing transactions across the region, including, among many others: 

  • Petrobras’ $1.25 billion sustainability linked term loan

  • Inversiones CMPC S.A.’s $100 million sustainability linked revolving credit facility 

  • Suzano S.A.’s $1.57 billion sustainability linked credit facility 

  • Tereos Açúcar e Energia Brasil S.A.’s $310 million and $143 million sustainability-linked export prepayment facilities

Corporate

• Represented Austrian company Heinzel Holding GmbH, a producer of pulp and packaging paper, in its equity investment in Paracel, a $3.4 billion pulp mill project on undeveloped – or greenfield – land in Paraguay.

• Represented shareholders of BAC Florida Bank in the sale of the bank to Brazil’s Banco Bradesco. This transaction, Banco Bradesco’s first-ever acquisition in the U.S. market, was named “Financial Services Deal of the Year” in the middle market segment at The Deal Awards 2021 and nominated for “Deal of the Year.”

• Served as legal counsel to CF Acquisition Corp. V, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by New York investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald in a transaction with Argentina-based Satellogic that took the satellite earth imagery provider public.

• Assisted CI&T, a Brazil-based information technology and software development company, in its acquisition of NTERSOL, a software engineering and development company geared toward financial services. In addition to bolstering CI&T’s financial services capabilities, the acquisition is also the company’s first in the U.S.

Arbitration

• Represented a contractor in ICC arbitration involving delays and extra work claims on an offshore pipeline project in Mexico.

• Represented a South American energy company in an ICC arbitration with a natural gas supplier.

• Represented a Brazilian aviation company in a AAA-ICDR arbitration arising from sale of a joint venture.

• Represented a major pharmaceutical manufacturer in an ICC arbitration against a former Colombian distributor of a wide range of its products.

• Representing one of the largest construction materials companies in the world in a commercial dispute with two thermoelectric energy companies in Mexico, in connection with potential breach of contract allegations. If case goes to arbitration, it will be administered by AAA-ICDR, under Mexican law and seated in Houston.

Litigation

• Represented the Paraguayan central bank in an action to successfully recover millions in misappropriated assets.

• Representing a member of one of the wealthiest families in Mexico in a cross-border legal battle in the U.S., Mexico and Cayman Islands for the control of certain family assets.

• Representing one of the largest distributors of Hispanic foods in Southwest U.S. against Nestle, in a dispute in federal court regarding parallel imports/gray market products.

• Represented a foreign governmental agency, acting on behalf of Banco Popular del Ecuador, S.A., in obtaining dismissal of a $180 million RICO action filed by the Republic of Colombia based upon the alleged misappropriation of taxes and customs duties.

White Collar, Anti-Corruption and Internal Investigations

• Representing a Mexican businessperson in connection with parallel DOJ and CFTC investigations into alleged FCPA violations and market manipulation by an international commodities trading company.

• Representing a Mexican businessperson in connection with a DOJ investigation into one of the largest casinos in the U.S. for alleged money laundering.

• Assisted Petrobras contractors in connection with Petrobras’ internal anti-corruption investigations related to Operation Car Wash.

• Conducted post-resolution monitoring of a U.S. specialty chemicals company, including with respect to anti-corruption compliance, internal controls and financial reporting policies and procedures as applied to its operations in Brazil.