Clare Bolton

A group of finance directors and CFOs from around Latin America, including Pedro Daltro, the CFO of BR Properties, will to debate the various corporate financing mechanisms open to them, and the pros and cons of each, at Latin Lawyer’s Corporate Finance Conference on 27 March.

Tickets are still available for on this link. The conference will take place on the same day as Latin Lawyer’s Charity Awards Dinner, also in the Hotel Unique.

To start the day, Jose Olympio, the high-profile CEO of Credit Suisse in Brazil, will give his perspective on how well – or not – the region’s equity markets have developed. He will present the bank’s data on the markets’ evolution, using the information to pinpoint key successes, as well as the challenges that remain for Latin America’s markets to reach the depth and value seen elsewhere.

A panel of bankers and regulators, led by the conference co-chair José Eduardo Carneiro Queiroz of Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados, will then discuss these ideas in more depth, looking at how the legal framework and business trends have affected regional development over the past decade, and predicting future evolution.

Around the region, corporate financing for infrastructure companies is of particular complexity, given the delicate interplay of public and private sources of funding, and how to balance risk and collateral issues. Claudette Christian of Hogan Lovells LLP will lead a panel discussion on this issue, featuring Luis Souza from Souza, Cescon, Barrieu e Flesch - Advogados in Brazil, Enrique Felices of Miranda & Amado Abogados in Peru, and Ricardo Fandiño from Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados in Colombia.

The mixed economic picture behind the region’s overall growth ensures that insolvency work should tick up for many firms around the region in 2014, particularly in Brazil. Among the most complex of issues to arise are disputes between creditors over their relative rights, particularly in cases of companies with large and dispersed ownership structures. Noted lawyers from around the region to discuss this issue include Giuliano Colombo from Pinheiro Neto Advogados and Eduardo Munhoz from Mattos Filho in Brazil, Carlos Aiza from Mexico’s Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez SC, and Guillermo Cabanellas from Cabanellas Etchebarne Kelly in Argentina.

As corporate financing structures get more complex around the region, so the overview of the regulators is getting tighter, with the risk of international investigations for the largest companies a real concern for general counsel. The next panel will assess the regulators themselves, asking what current enforcement priorities are, how well they might be enforced, and whether settlement is a viable opportunity for Latin American companies. Leading international investigations specialist Breon Peace from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP will debate the issue with Stuart Fleischmann from Shearman & Sterling LLP, a renowned capital markets lawyer, alongside leading counsel from around the region, including Antonio Aires of Demarest Advogados, Luis Nicolau of Ritch, Mueller, Heather y Nicolau, SC, and Cristián Eyzaguirre of Carey.

The conference will close at 7pm, and move directly into the cocktails for Latin Lawyer’s celebrated Charity Awards Dinner. The evening regularly sells out, and last year featured 250 of the region’s leading lawyers celebrating the achievements of the past year together. On the night, the results of our high-profile Deal of the Year Awards will be announced, while the winners of our noted individual awards – in areas like law firm leadership, pro bono, diversity, and lifetime achievement – will also receive their trophies.

Latin Lawyer gives the profits of the dinner to charity, last year raising US$49,000 for three pro bono clearinghouses around the region. We hope to beat that this year, and be able to give as much as possible to our three charities – Alianza Pro Bono in Peru, Brazil’s Instituto Pro Bono, and Fundación Pro Bono in the Dominican Republic. We would be delighted with the support of as many firms as possible to raise these funds, so do join us for dinner.