Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance advises on acquisition financing for steel-producing joint venture

Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and The Bank of Nova Scotia, as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners, in connection with a secured US$330 million syndicated loan to a vehicle of Inicia, an asset management company with investments in Latin America. The innovative financing includes tranches for disbursements in USD and DOP, to facilitate the acquisition by Inicia of all shares held by Gerdau in Gerdau Diaco and Gerdau Metaldom Corp., which are joint ventures between Inicia and Gerdau. The joint ventures operate industrial facilities dedicated to producing long steel in Colombia and the Caribbean.

The Clifford Chance team advising on the deal included partner Hugo Triaca, associates Andrés Berry, Fernando Liu and Lucía Guardone and foreign law clerk Juan Andrés Bosch Muñoz. Partners Avrohom Gelber and Paul Koppel advised on tax and ERISA matters, respectively.

Clifford Chance advises on many acquisition financing transactions in the Latin American market, most recently on a financing to LNG Energy Group to acquire an entity with O&G assets in Colombia.