FIRM BRIEFINGS BRAZIL Pinheiro Neto Advogados
2012 Firm Overview Most active disciplines
Disputes: Financial and corporate, Tax, White-collar crime, Public Financial and corporate: Banking, Commodities trading and energy derivatives, Equipment/asset finance, Investment funds, M&A, Private equity, Project finance Public: Competition, Construction, Environmental, 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, Education, Healthcare, Ports and shipping, Rail, Roads, Water and sewage
Key partners
Marcos Chaves Ladeira, Angela Fan Chi Kung, Adolpho Júlio Camargo de Carvalho, Werner Grau Neto, Henrique Lang, Carlos Lima, Alvaro Martins dos Santos, Ricardo Pagliari Levy, Bianca Pumar, Ricardo Simões Russo, Ricardo E Vieira Coelho, Carlos Vilhena, Marcelo Viveiros de Moura
Since its foundation in 1942, Pinheiro Neto Advogados has been an important participant in Brazil’s legal market. Though it has local clients, it is anything but a local law firm. Pinheiro Neto is the firm of choice for clients working on major cross-border deals and for a global corporation dealing with potentially catastrophic litigation, as detailed below. Pinheiro Neto was involved in the R$1.2 billion ($604 million)
bridge loan to finance the expansion, maintenance and operation of São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport. The transaction, which closed on December 18 2012, represented the first financing provided by BNDES for a federal airport concession in Brazil. In October 2012, the firm handled Brazil’s first offer of infrastruc-
ture debentures – a new debt security created by the Brazilian govern- ment to promote long-term private investments in infrastructure projects. This deal entailed the infrastructure debentures issuance of CCR Autoban valued at R$1.1 billion. The firm is also defending Chevron in the aftermath of the Frade
Oil Spill that took place on November 7 2011. (For background: 2,500 barrels of oil leaked directly from the reservoir seabed after the drilling of an exploration. Four months later came a fracture of an approxi- mately 1km extension in the seabed, with exudation of oil, exacerbating the scope of the disaster and the litigation that came in its wake.) With- out a significant amount of legal precedent to rely upon, the firm’s lawyers have appeared before government bodies to set forth arguments in Chevron’s defence and have handled manifold other sides of the lit- igation arising from the spill. The firm characterises this case as a trans- formative one because of the lasting influence it is certain to have on risk allocations between operators and contractors.
Rolim Viotti & Leite Campos
2012 Firm Overview Most active disciplines
Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, Tax Financial and corporate: Investment funds, M&A, Competition, Construction, 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
Key partners
Frederico de Almeida Fonseca, Fabio Appendino, Helvécio Franco Maia Júnior, Luciana Goulart Saliba, Marciano Godoi, Rodrigo Greco, Daniela Lara, Diogo de Leite Campos, Armênio Lopes Correia, Luis Gustavo Miranda, Paula Márcia Oliveira, Alessandro Mendes Cardoso, João Dácio Rolim, Maria João Rolim, Thiago Pastor Alves Pereira, Cristian Viotti
Rolim Viotti has expanded significantly since 2009, when it was pri- marily a local firm based in Belo Horizonte. Since then the firm has hired new talent and opened offices in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazilia, Curitiba, and Lisbon. The firm has extensive experience and capabilities on both the transactional and the dispute sides of Brazilian law and regards itself as very strong in electricity and as making aggres- sive headway in the oil and gas sectors, although still not in the league of a firm like Machado Meyer in that particular area. Fabio Appendino is providing counsel to auto parts producer Cestari
Industrial e Comercial in a joint venture with electrical engine producer Weg. The attorney’s role involves drafting corporate contracts for and negotiating the sale of 50% plus one share of Cestari, in an R$80 mil- lion ($40 million) transaction subject to an earn-out clause. Appendio and Cristiano Viotti are representing Companhia Siderur-
gica Nacional in the crafting and signing of a joint venture with GPA Construcão Pesada e Mineracão for purposes of providing logistical and engineering services. This matter involves extensive due diligence and the drafting of corporate contracts amenable to both parties. Maria João Rolim and Viotti are leading a team of attorneys provid-
ing ongoing counsel to the Associação Brasiliera das Grandes Empresas be Transmissão de Energia Elétrica (ABRATE) in a lawsuit filed against a state electricity regulator over methodology used and decisions made by the regulator in a review of price controls in place in Brazil’s energy sector. From the plaintiff ’s point of view, this methodology has had a significant negative impact on the transmission companies’ income. João Dácio Rolim is heading a legal team providing counsel to Con-
strutora Norberto Odebrecht in a lawsuit seeking a moratorium on construction of luxury complexes, which the plaintiffs charge is racing ahead without the necessary and appropriate municipal authorizations.
ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE | LATIN AMERICA 2013 47
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108