OTHER JURISDICTIONS FIRM BRIEFINGS
CAYMAN ISLANDS Travers Thorp Alberga
2012 Firm Overview Cross-border experience
Brazil, Panama
Most active disciplines Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, 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
Key partners Nicole Pineda, Anthony Travers
Travers Thorp Alberga has reshaped itself over the past year. It added senior/name partner, Anthony Travers, the current Chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, on December 1 2012, after his six- year non-compete clause with Maples and Calder expired. Travers’s en- ergy and infrastructure practice was established two weeks later, with the hiring of Nicole Pineda, formally of Walkers, who is now the part- ner in charge of Travers’ energy and infrastructure practice. Pineda’s reputation precedes her; she has established personal con-
nections with firms and banks throughout Latin America. One client noted, “Nicole is outstanding and by far the best of the offshore lawyers in the Latin American market. She has the highest technical skills, pro- found industry knowledge, is very entrepreneurial and business minded. She is a real business partner and absolutely key to the devel- opment of our business.” The firm is currently acting for a consortium of Brazilian lenders issuing a bridge loan for special subsidiaries con- nected to Brazil’s energy market; the transaction is under a tight non- disclosure agreement. The firm’s approach has endeared them to clients who appreciate
the value for money and personal time they receive from partners. One partner described the structure as “stream-lined,” saying it appeals to start-up companies as it allows them to have access and support from many partners without having to pay the fees of a larger firm.
COLOMBIA Baker & McKenzie Colombia
2012 Firm Overview Cross-border experience
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela
Most active disciplines Disputes: Financial and Corporate, Tax Financial and corporate: Banking, Investment funds, M&A, Project finance Public: Construction, Competition, Employment, Environment, Projects, Regulatory Tax: Corporate tax, Indirect tax, Transfer pricing
Key energy sectors
Mining and metals, Oil and gas, Power networks and distribution, Traditional power
Key infrastructure sectors Airports and aviation, Defence, Healthcare, Ports and shipping, Rail
Key partners Alejandro Mesa-Neira, Jaime Trujillo, Jaime Vargas
Baker & McKenzie’s Colombian office has been active in the market for over five decades. The firm has traditionally focused on the oil and gas upstream business, the hydrocarbons transportation business, and the power generation sector, and expanded its practice into the mining sector in 2008. The firm advised China United Engineering Corporation in the
renegotiation of agreements with project owner Gecelca and with civil works subcontractor Conalvias. The project renegotiation, valued at $20 million, concluded in December 2012. In the same month, Baker & McKenzie assisted Termovalle in the $180 million debt restructuring of its project finance structure, after a reconfiguration of its power pur- chase agreement with EBSA and a gas supply accord with Ecopetrol. The firm also assisted TOTAL with its $437 million asset disposition. Baker & McKenzie handled the legal and tax structuring of the sale of TOTAL’s Indirect tax participation in the Cusiana and negotiated the share purchase agreement for the acquisition of TEPMA, a Dutch com- pany holding the Colombian branch that owns the assets.
Brigard & Urrutia
2012 Firm Overview Most active disciplines
Disputes: Financial and corporate, Public, Tax 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, Education, Healthcare, Ports and shipping, Rail, Roads, Water and sewage
Key partners
Carlos Umaña Trujillo, Manuel Quinche, Luis Gabriel Peréz, José Andrés Romero, Luis Alfredo Barragán, Carlos Fradique-Méndez
For almost eight decades, Brigard & Urrutia has participated in the de- velopment of Colombia’s infrastructure. “We understand they have a fine and serious work in infrastructure and energy,” a partner at a com- peting firm says. In 1984, the firm participated in the first infrastruc- ture project funded through a project finance system in Colombia and in 1993 helped structure the first private power plant project. This commitment to the development and financing of local industries con- tinues up to today, though not all the firm’s recent deals can be publicly disclosed. In December 2012, the firm participated in the structuring and fi-
nancing of the construction of an oil refinery in Cartagena, which is estimated to be the largest infrastructure project financing ever under- taken in Colombia.
82 ENERGY & INFRASTRUCTURE | LATIN AMERICA 2013
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