The winners of Latin Lawyer’s 12th annual Deal of the Year Awards were revealed at a charity dinner in São Paulo last night, in the presence of 240 leading names of the Latin American legal community.
The winning deals are:
Private equity – Brookfield’s acquisition of Petrobras pipelines
Regulatory – Launch of Uruguay’s digital currency
Corporate finance – Loma Negra IPO
M&A – UnitedHealth acquisition of Banmédica
Project finance - The refinancing of Mexico’s Norte III power plant
Restructuring – Odebrecht Óleo e Gás’s restructuring
Disputes - Banks and depositors settle disputes from Brazil’s hyperinflation period
The proceeds from the event will go to three clearinghouses across the region: Brazil’s Instituto Pro Bono, Colombia’s Fundación Pro Bono and the Alianza Pro Bono in Peru.
Individual awards were given to lawyers for their outstanding contributions to the legal profession in 2017. Alfredo O’Farrell of Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal was presented with the Law Firm Leader of the Year Award. The two recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Awards were José Luis de Salles Freire of TozziniFreire Advogados and Marcela Hughes, former managing partner of Hughes & Hughes.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP’s David Williams took home the International Lawyer of the Year Award; and Alfredo Lewin of Lewin & Wills Abogados won the Specialist Law Firm Leader of the Year Award.
The team that spearheaded the pro bono response to Mexico’s earthquake won the Pro Bono Award, while the Diversity Initiative of the Year Award was presented to Incluir Direito, a project designed to improve black law students’ chances of working in Brazil’s corporate law firms.
Latin Lawyer congratulates all the lawyers whose hard work brought these winning deals to successful completion. Full deal teams are listed below:
Private equity
Brookfield’s acquisition of Petrobras pipelines
Counsel to Brookfield Asset Management
Torys LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Counsel to Petrobras
Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados
Hogan Lovells LLP
Counsel to Nova Infraestrutura Fundo de Investimento em Participações
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Veirano Advogados
Counsel to Itaúsa – Investimentos Itaú
Lobo de Rizzo Advogados
Counsel to CIC Capital
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Veirano Advogados
Regulatory
Launch of Uruguay’s digital currency
Counsel to The Roberto Giori Company
Guyer & Regules
Counsel to In-Switch
Ferrere (Uruguay)
Counsel to IBM
In-house counsel - Ximena Barbosa
Corporate finance
Loma Negra IPO
Counsel to Loma Negra
In-house counsel - Lucrecia Loureiro and Gaston Sayus
White & Case LLP
Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal
Counsel to Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Citi, HSBC, Bradesco, Itaú and Banco Patagonia
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Pérez Alati, Grondona, Benites & Arntsen
Mergers and acquisitions
UnitedHealth acquisition of Banmédica
Counsel to UnitedHealth Group
Brigard Urrutia
Carey
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Hogan Lovells LLP
Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogados
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Counsel to Empresas Penta
Alcaíno Abogados
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Posse Herrera Ruiz
Counsel to Santa Valeria
Claro & Cía
Posse Herrera Ruiz
Project finance
The refinancing of Mexico’s Norte III power plant
Counsel to Abengoa
DLA Piper LLP
Counsel to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as administrative agent, and bridge lenders KfW, Credit Agricole, Santander and Bancomext in the restructuring of the bridge loan for the Norte III power plant
Clifford Chance LLP
Garrigues (Mexico)
Counsel to Macquarie and Techint in the acquisition and project financing of the power plant
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
González Calvillo, SC
Counsel to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Natixis, Crédit Agricole, Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, GESF Credit, Export Development Canada, Norinchukin Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Korea Development Bank and KfW IPEX-Bank in the greenfield acquisition financing of the power plant from Abengoa and its bridge lenders
Paul Hastings LLP
Mijares, Angoitia, Cortés y Fuentes SC
Restructuring
Odebrecht Óleo e Gás’s restructuring
Counsel to Odebrecht Óleo e Gás
In-house counsel Guilherme Pacheco Britto, Danielli Santiago Pugliese and Gabriela Guimarães Sad
E.Munhoz Advogados
Ferro, Castro Neves, Daltro & Gomide Advogados
Stocche Forbes Advogados
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Counsel to the ad hoc group of bondholders
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Counsel to Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco
Machado Meyer Advogados
Counsel to Swiss Re International (payment guarantee issuer)
Clifford Chance LLP
Cescon, Barrieu, Flesch & Barreto Advogados
Counsel to Citibank (letter of credit issuer)
Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados
Counsel to ING Bank (letter of credit issuer)
Santos Neto Advogados
Disputes
Banks and depositors settle disputes from Brazil’s hyperinflation period
Advocacia Geral da Uniao (AGU) – Mediator
Minister Grace Mendonça
Counsel to Confederação Nacional do Sistema Financeiro (Consif)
Wald, Antunes, Vita, Longo e Blattner Advogados
Sergio Bermudes Advogados
Counsel to Frente Brasileira pelos Poupadores (Febrapo)
In-house counsel – Estevam Nogueira Pegoraro
Counsel to Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC)
In-house counsel – Walter José Faiad de Moura