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


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