Bain Capital buys Latin America’s largest call centre operator

Spain’s Uría Menéndez, the London office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Argentina’s Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal, Brazil’s Souza, Cescon, Barrieu e Flesch Advogados, Chile’s Carey and Colombia’s Brigard & Urrutia Abogados, Mexico's González Calvillo, SC and Peru's Berninzon & Benavides Abogados have helped US US private equity firm Bain Capital purchase Telefónica’s Atento call centre business, the largest in Latin America.

The US$1.34 billion deal was agreed on 11 October.

Spain’s Ramon y Cajal Abogados, Houthoff Buruma in the Netherlands, Posse Herrera Ruiz in Colombia, Miranda & Amado Abogados in Peru, Larraín Rencoret & Urzúa Abogados in Chile, Mendoza, Palacios, Acedo, Borjas, Páez Pumar & Cía in Venezuela, Cabanellas, Etchebarne, Kelly & Dell´oro Maini in Argentina, Tauil & Chequer - affiliated with Mayer Brown LLP in Brazil, Consortium - Rodríguez, Archila, Castellanos, Solares & Aguilar in Guatemala and Nader, Hayaux y Goebel in Mexico advised Atento.

The deal is the result of a strategy by Telefónica, which is heavily indebted and has struggled to whet investors’ appetites as a result of Spain’s economic crisis, to raise cash through asset sales.

Atento is the second largest call centre operator in the world, operating 165 call centres in 17 countries and with a workforce of 156,000.


Counsel to Bain Capital

Uría Menéndez

Partner Juan Carlos Machuca and associate Pedro Ravina in London, and partners Rafael García-Llaneza, Eduardo Rodríguez-Rovira, Pablo González-Espejo and Juan Reyes, and associates David López Pombo, Leticia López-Lapuente, Antonio Sánchez Cerbán, Miriam Pich-Aguilera, María Ángela Álvarez, Tomás Acosta, Santiago Lobato and Eloi Colldeforns in Madrid

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Associates Justin Hutchinson, Mark Churchman, Michelle Tong, David Mathews, Valerie Goldstein and Bryan Robson in London

González Calvillo, SC

Partners Jorge Cervantes and Juan Sancho and associates Erika Olguín, David Rajunov, Alberto Bustamante and Eugenia Castañeda in Mexico City

Brigard & Urrutia Abogados in Bogotá

Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal

Partner Hernán Slemenson and associates Constanza Rudi and Valentina Vullo in Buenos Aires

Souza, Cescon, Barrieu e Flesch Advogados

Partner Ronald Herscovici in São Paulo

Carey

Partner Francisco Ugarte and associates Jorge Ugarte, Eugenio González and Camila Guarda in Santiago

Berninzon & Benavides Abogados

Partners Eduardo Benavides, Edgardo Bernuy and Claudia Chong, and associates Martha Giron, Giuliana Higushi, Pierina Loli, Julio Saenz, Carlos Ratti, Nadia Berdichevsky and Gabriela Soto in Lima

Counsel to Atento

Ramon y Cajal Abogados

Partners Daniel Alaminos, Diego Lozano, Antonio Sánchez-Montero, Israel de Diego and Francisco Palá in Madrid

Houthoff Buruma in the Netherlands

Cabanellas, Etchebarne, Kelly & Dell´oro Maini in Buenos Aires

Tauil & Chequer - affiliated with Mayer Brown LLP

Partner Guilherme Vieira and associates Gustavo Coelho and Carlos Hartveld in Rio de Janeiro

Larraín Rencoret & Urzúa Abogados

Partner Felipe Rencoret and associates Maria Isabel Villagrán, Gustavo Donoso and Marcelo Alarcón in Santiago

Posse Herrera Ruiz

Partner Jaime Herrera and associate Vivianne Baptiste in Bogotá

Consortium - Rodríguez, Archila, Castellanos, Solares & Aguilar in Guatemala City

Nader, Hayaux y Goebel

Partner Michell Nader and associates Adrian Lopez and Lucia Lagana in Mexico City

Miranda & Amado Abogados

Partner Luis De-Bernardis, counsel Marisol Haro and associates Katherine Torres and Nelly Espinoza in Lima

Mendoza, Palacios, Acedo, Borjas, Páez Pumar & Cía

Partners Luisa Acedo de Lepervanche, Carlos Eduardo Acedo and María del Carmen López, and associates Dailyng Ayestaran and José Gabaldón in Caracas

This article was amended on 31 October to include the role of González Calvillo, SC.


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