Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on eight Latin American debt deals in four weeks

Total value of the closed transactions: US$3.95 billion

NEW YORK (February 8, 2012) — Leading international law firm Clifford Chance today announced that in the past 28 days its Latin American practice has advised 12 clients on eight (8) debt deals totaling nearly US$4 billion.  More deals are expected to close in the coming weeks.

One deal in particular – Clifford Chance's advisement of Banco do Brasil on its issuance of $US1 billion in 9.25% perpetual non-cumulative junior subordinated securities – stands out for being one of the first bank offerings in the world to contemplate the pending Basel III guidelines.  Partners Jon Zonis and Avrohom Gelber in New York and Isabel Carvalho in São Paulo advised on the transaction, with additional support from São Paulo associates Patrick Jackson and Konstantinos Papadopoulos.  BB Securities, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank served as joint bookrunners.  The deal closed January 20, 2012.

Following are seven other Latin American deals that have closed recently that Clifford Chance advised on:

• The firm acted for Banco Bradesco on an offering of US$800 million of 4.50% notes due in 2017.  The bookrunners were Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BB Securities, Bradesco BBI, BTG Pactual, Citigroup and HSBC.  The Clifford Chance team included São Paulo Office Managing Partner Anthony Oldfield and associates Anand Saha, Anja Pfleger and Sarah Levitt.  The deal closed January 12, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for joint book runners and joint lead managers Itau BBA, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the issue by Itaú Unibanco Holding of US$550 million of 6.20% Subordinated Notes due in 2021 under the Issuer's US$10 billion Global Medium Term Note Program.  In New York, Clifford Chance partners Jon Zonis and Avrohom Gelber advised; in São Paulo, partner Anthony Oldfield and associates Anja Pfleger and Konstantinos Papadopoulos also advised.  The deal closed January 24, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for Credit Suisse, BBVA, Citigroup and Santander as bookrunners on an offering of US$500 million of 9.750% notes due in 2022 by Mexican homebuilder Urbi, Desarrollos Urbanos.   The Clifford Chance team that advised in New York included partner Alex Camacho, co-head of US Capital Markets, and associates Anand Saha, Allein Sabel and Madalyn Miller.  The deal closed February 3, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul in its Issue of US$500 million of 7.375% subordinated notes due in 2022, with Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse as initial purchasers.  In São Paulo, Clifford Chance partners Anthony Oldfield, Isabel Costa Carvalho and associate Anja Pfleger represented the client; in New York, partner Jon Zonis and associate Sarah Levitt also advised.  The deal closed February 2, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs as bookrunners on an offering of US$300 million of 6.00% notes due in 2023 by Odebrecht Finance Ltd.  The notes are guaranteed by Construtora Norberto Odebrecht S.A., the largest engineering and infrastructure company in Latin America.  The Clifford Chance team that advised on the transaction included partner Anthony Oldfield and associates Anand Saha, Patrick Jackson and Konstantinos Papadopoulos.  The deal closed January 26, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Santander as book runners on an offering of US$250 million of 5.75% notes due in 2021 by Braskem, the largest petrochemical producer in the Americas by production capacity.  The Clifford Chance team included partner Anthony Oldfield and associates Anand Saha, Patrick Jackson and Demian Magalhaes.  The deal closed February 2, 2012.
  
• The firm acted for the issuer and Bank of America Merrill Lynch as underwriter on a US$50 million reopening of Cimento Tupi S.A.'s 9.75% Senior Unsecured Notes due in 2018.  Partner Jon Zonis and associates Sarah Levitt and Anja Pfleger advised on the deal.  The deal closed yesterday, February 7, 2012.

In total, the aforementioned eight closed transactions amount to US$3.95 billion.

Clifford Chance is one of the world’s leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivaled scale and depth of legal resources across the four key markets of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, and focuses on the core areas of commercial activity: capital markets; corporate and M&A; finance and banking; real estate; tax; pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution. Clifford Chance has 34 offices in 24 countries with 3,200 legal advisers.  The firm also operates a cooperation agreement with Al-Jadaan & Partners Law Firm in Saudi Arabia.