FIRM BRIEFINGS INTERNATIONAL FIRMS Baker & McKenzie
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela
Key offices Bogota, Brasília, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Guadalajara, Juarez, Lima, Mexico City, Monterrey, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, São Paulo, Tijuana, Valencia
Most active disciplines
Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, Tax, White-collar crime Financial and corporate: Banking, Commodities trading and energy derivatives, Equipment/Asset finance, Investment funds, M&A, Private equity, Project finance Public: Competition, Construction, Employment, Environmental, Land, Projects, Regulatory Tax: Corporate tax, Indirect tax, Transfer pricing
Key energy sectors
LNG, Mining and metals, Oil and gas, Power networks and distribution, Renewables, Traditional power
Key infrastructure sectors Airports and aviation, Defence, Healthcare, Ports and shipping, Rail, Roads, Water and sewage
Law capability
Brazilian, Chilean, Colombian, English, Mexican, Peruvian, US, Venezuelan
Key partners Antonio Ortúzar Jr, José Roberto Martins, Danielle Valois
Baker & McKenzie has demonstrated an impressive fluency with cross- border deals and unusual structures and products. In May 2012, the firm advised the State Grid Corporation of China
on the $936 million purchase of seven transmission lines, located in Brazil, from the Spanish Actividades de Construcción y Servicios. The deal was particularly complex from a regulatory standpoint. The ac- quirer’s China location and the transmission lines running across bor- ders into four different Brazilian states necessitated the reconciliation of many conflicting legal regimes. The attorneys had to advise their client on Brazilian antitrust regulations that just happened to be un- dergoing revision and were in flux at the time of this deal. In February 2012, the firm advised CPFL Energias Renovaveis on
the consortium the client set out to organise with Usina Ester to co- generate power using sugar cane. The unusual structure of this $111.5 million deal involved Usina Ester placing assets in a special purpose ve- hicle (SPV), which CPFL then acquired. In June 2012, the firm provided counsel to Sierra Gorda on the
drafting of a contract with Abengoa Chile, for the purpose of construct- ing a $45 million transmission line for northern Chile’s Sierra Gorda mining project.
Bracewell & Giuliani
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela
Key offices Houston, New York, Washington
Most active disciplines
Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, Tax, White-collar crime Financial and corporate: Commodities trading and energy derivatives, Equipment and asset finance, M&A, Private equity, Project finance Public: Construction, Environmental, Projects Tax: Corporate tax, Transfer pricing
Key energy sectors
LNG, Oil and gas, Power networks and distribution, Renewables, Traditional power
Key infrastructure sectors Airports and aviation, Healthcare, Roads
Law capability Brazilian, Mexican, Portuguese, Spanish, US
Key partners Amauri Costa, Walter Keneally, Manuel Vera
Bracewell & Giuliani’s Latin America practice has demonstrated almost equal fluency between arbitration and transactions undertaken on be- half of banks, corporations, and other major global players. Some of the firm’s most significant arbitrational matters could not be publicly disclosed as this guide went to press. A banker and long-time client who has worked on dozens of deals
with Bracewell over the years says of partner Amauri Costa, “He’s li- censed in Brazil and he’s based out of Washington. He speaks Por- tuguese as well as Spanish. He protects my bank, but at the same time, he’s a pro-business guy, he’s flexible whenever he can be flexible and he’s a very bright individual.” Another client also offers high praise for Costa, but did question the
firm’s strength in depth: “Sometimes the firm’s lawyers are very busy. They should perhaps spend a little more time training their people so they can have effective back-up staff at home.” In April and May 2012, Costa and fellow partners Manuel Vera and
Mark Holmes in Houston and Nancy Jo Nelson in Washington led a team of lawyers providing counsel to Wells Fargo in the bank’s acqui- sition of an oil and gas loan energy portfolio for an undisclosed amount. The debtors and collateral for the portfolio in question were scattered across Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Colombia, Panama, and Peru. Over an extended period of time, Vera, Costa, and Houston-based
partner JJ McAnelly represented Kinder Morgan in contentious matters arising out of the company’s $38 billion acquisition of El Paso Corpo- ration in May 2012, a deal that created North America’s fourth largest energy company, valued at more than $90 billion.
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