INTERNATIONAL FIRMS FIRM BRIEFINGS Gardere Wynne Sewell
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions
Mexico
Key offices Austin, Dallas, Houston, Mexico City
Most active disciplines Disputes: Financial and corporate, Tax Financial and corporate: Commodities trading and energy derivatives, Equipment/Asset finance, Investment funds, M&A, Private equity, Project finance Public: Competition, Construction, Employment, Land, Projects, Regulatory Tax: Corporate tax, Indirect tax, Transfer pricing
Key energy sectors
LNG, Oil and gas, Power networks and distribution, Renewables, Traditional power
Key infrastructure sectors Healthcare
Law capability Mexican, US
Key partners Juan M Alcala, Roberto Arena Reyes Retana, Fernando Camarena Cardona
Gardere is known for its strength in the litigation and arbitration areas and though it has modest strengths as a transactional law firm, its abil- ity in disputes is what clients appreciate most. One client says, “I think they’re very good for middle-market matters. We don’t hire them for complicated securities law issues or international M&A, because that’s not primarily what they do. For the things we hire them for, they’re very good.” Marco Antonio Nájera Martínez is providing counsel to Consejo
Ejecutivo de Empresas Globales, a council including 40 of the largest companies with operations in Mexico, in the proposal of new laws on matters such as competition and antitrust regulations. The findings of the analysis undertaken by these firms are ultimately intended to in- fluence Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, to get behind the thor- oughgoing reform of laws that hinder healthy competition and the intelligent development of Mexico’s energy and infrastructure sectors. Partner Daniel Aranda Rabago is representing Aker Solutions in a
bid summoned by Pemex Exploration and Production for the construc- tion of the Lakach field’s subsea system. Partners Erika Benson, Hoang Quan Vu and Marco Antonio Nájera Martínez are representing Envolta in an effort to obtain debt financing for expansion of the first Mexican turnkey-distributed generation solar leasing firm. Roberto Arena Reyes Retana and Fernando Camarena Cardona pro-
vided counsel to jackup driller Seahawk Drilling in tax litigation last year. In ongoing litigation, Gardere is representing Drilling Innovation de Mexico, as it contests the Mexican Treasury’s denial of a favorable VAT balance on the grounds of several intercompany transactions. The firm is also providing counsel to Tesco Corporation in several ongoing matters relating to the application of Mexico’s tax treaties with the US and Canada.
Hogan Lovells
2012 Firm Overview Active jurisdictions Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela
Key offices
Beijing, Caracas, Houston, London, Madrid, Miami, New York, Paris, Washington
Most active disciplines Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, Tax, White-collar crime Financial and corporate: Banking, Commodities trading and energy derivatives, Equipment/Asset finance, M&A, Private equity, Project finance Public: Competition, Construction, Environmental, Land, Projects, Regulatory
Key energy sectors
LNG, Mining and metals, Oil and gas, Power networks and distribution, Renewables, Traditional power
Key infrastructure sectors Airports and aviation, Education, Healthcare, Ports and shipping, Rail, Roads, Water and sewage
Law capability Chinese, English, Spanish, US, Venezuelan
Key partners
Luis Bottaro, Bruno Ciuffetelli, Evan Koster, Keith Larson, José Valdivia
While Hogan Lovells demonstrates a particular aptitude for handling disputes and arbitrating matters in favor of its clients, that should not distract observers from the firm’s considerable transactional capabilities, including innovative cross-border financings. During the protracted “cold war” between Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and the US, this firm was able to step into the breach and engineer Venezuelan deals that other firms might have shied away from. In February 2012, Bruno Ciuffetelli and Keith Larson provided
counsel to Petróleos de Venezuela concerning a transaction that was the first of its kind in Latin America and only the second undertaken by a Chinese bank. PDV and the Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) made arrangements for a $1.5 billion self-liquidating prepayment fa- cility, based on oil and oil products. In May 2012, Ciuffetelli led a team of lawyers advising PDV on a $3 billion bond offering, having advised the same client in 2011 on a $2.4 billion bond offering. In June 2012, Ciuffetelli, José Valdivia, Gonzalo Rodriguez-Matos,
Evan Koster and Thomas Woolsey advised the same client on the draft- ing and execution of $3 billion worth of engineering and construction contracts with a consortium including Hyundai and China-based Wison Engineering. The agreements involved an Irish-incorporated SPV (special purpose vehicle) to house the credit support mechanisms established between Hyundai and Credit Suisse to ease the costs of bor- rowing that PDV would have to absorb.
16 ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE | LATIN AMERICA 2013
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