AWARDS: Best infrastructure Bank: Mexico.
Banamex proved its skills in executing some of Latin America’s largest infrastructure transactions this year when it helped to secure financing for the construction of a new airport in Mexico City. The bank has been at the forefront of coordinating financing of the airport, which is set to open in 2020 and alleviate bottlenecks in…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Bank: Latin America.
Months before any of the toll roads in Colombia’s 4G concessions program had reached financial close, but as the deadline approached to have funding in place, Goldman Sachs committed $1.2 billion to three projects, putting the project sponsors at ease. In the months that followed, the US bank put the finishing touches on the financing…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Bank: Brazil.
Although it was a slower year for project finance in Brazil, Itaú BBA showed a knack for executing deals. The bank found a sweet spot for dealmaking in power projects, most notably renewable energy. It also helped secure financing on two transportation projects at a time when Brazil’s market is increasingly complex. The bank’s ability…
AWARDS: Best Sponsor.
When the first concessions were awarded in Colombia’s 4G toll road program in 2014, MHC Ingeniería y Construcción de Obras Civiles was a surprise winner. Long a mostly local player, the company, also known as Mario Huerta Cotes, partnered with Costa Rican construction company Meco to win three concession auctions in the first round of…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Law Firm: Mexico.
In testament to its efforts to build up its Mexico infrastructure practice, Jones Day has played important roles on landmark transactions in the country, including deals to finance the new airport in Mexico City and to free up capital for Pemex. Jones Day advised the state-run concessionaire building the new Mexico City airport on a…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Bank: Andes.
CorpBanca’s business in Colombia has punched above its weight in the fourth generation of toll road concessions and stood alongside larger peers to finance four projects in the first round. “Our tickets are very similar to the big banks,” says Ricardo Lara, senior banker in infrastructure financing at CorpBanca in Colombia. CorpBanca’s commitment to funding…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Law Firm: Andes
Spanish law firm Garrigues was involved in two of the largest project finance transactions in the region this past year: Covipacifico and Lima Metro Line 2. Garrigues advised the sponsor on the Lima Metro Line Two project, Iridium, from when it first bid for the public-private partnership (PPP) concession. After Iridium won, Garrigues took on…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Law Firm: Brazil.
Amid Brazil’s continued economic and political turbulence and a slowdown in projects coming to market, Mattos Filho grabbed two of Brazil’s biggest infrastructure deals over the past year. The achievement was a testament to Mattos Filho’s growing focus on infrastructure. The firm has long stood out for its work in Brazil’s capital markets, and in…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Law Firm: Latin America.
The volume and variety of transactions executed by Milbank over the past year demonstrated the firm’s breadth and range in Latin American infrastructure. Not only has the firm represented critical projects through a number of different sectors, spanning oil & gas, ports, road and airport financings, but it has also represented both lenders and borrowers…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Financing: Andes, Best Road Financing.
Colombia’s 4G toll road concessions program does not depend on one project alone. But Autopista Conexión Pacífico 3 wins the distinction for being the first project to reach financial close and, perhaps, for setting an example for other 4G roads to follow. Goldman Sachs and local investment bank Structure arranged a unique package to fund…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Financing: Brazil.
When Massachusetts-based Seaborn Networks sought funding for Seabras-1, the first direct fiber optic cable between New York and São Paulo, it also logged the first project finance deal for a subsea cable project backed by an export credit agency. In a slow year in Brazil, when fewer projects came to market, the efforts to bring…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Financing: Caribbean.
Aruba has found a model for future public-private partnerships in its first-ever PPP to reach financial close. The Green Corridor project, to expand several roads to four-lane highways, renew more than 20kms of motorway and build bike paths, is being carried out by Colombian infrastructure firm Odinsa. The construction company mandated Deutsche Bank as the…
AWARDS: Best Infrastructure Financing: Central America.
When the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) sold a 20-year bond for $450 million in September 2015, it managed a feat rarely seen in Latin America. The sub-sovereign issuer got higher credit ratings than the sovereign, allowing it to price a long-term bond at a lower spread. The bond, rated A2/A-/A, was priced at 220 basis…
AWARDS: Best Local Currency Financing.
All the projects in Colombia’s 4G toll road concessions that have reached financial close so far have raised as least part of the funding in dollars. Autopistas del Nordeste, for one, raised more than 60% of debt in dollars. Two other projects, Pacífico 3 and Costera, included long-term dollar bonds as part of the financing…
AWARDS: Best Oil & Gas Financing.
Odds were stacked against the three project sponsors for the Waha natural gas pipelines. The trio tackled regulations in two countries while assembling a large funding package – and at a time when commercial banks’ appetite for long-term non-recourse finance was low. To develop pipelines reaching Presidio and San Elizario in Texas, and connecting them…
AWARDS: Best Port Financing.
Low oil and metal prices have hit Latin America’s export-heavy economies over the last year and made port-related financings tough to structure. Philippines-headquartered International Container Terminals Services Inc. (ICTSI), however, found appetite among multilateral and commercial lenders, helping the company grow beyond the Asia-Pacific with a facility on Mexico’s Pacific coast. ICTSI structured a risk-free…
AWARDS: Best Power Financing.
Financing one of Chile’s largest infrastructure projects — the Interchile transmission line — brought together one of Latin America’s largest power companies and a diverse group of international lenders. The large debt package marked the debut of Colombian power generator Interconexión Eléctrica (ISA) in the international project finance market and its first contract in Chile.…
AWARDS: Best Renewable Energy Financing.
The sponsor on the 70 MW Colonia Arias wind farm project, Uruguay’s Usinas y Transmisiones Eléctricas (UTE), corralled a mixture of debt and equity sources for one of this year’s more innovative hybrid financings that is serving as a model for future Uruguayan renewable projects. While development banks and multilaterals are a mainstay in Latin…
AWARDS: Best Transport Financing, Best Bond.
Project sponsors on Lima Metro Line 2 tapped into vast sources of liquidity to finance one of Peru’s biggest project financings. With a 20-year $800 million loan backed by Italian export credit agency Sace, a $30 million value added tax facility and a $1.15 billion project bond, the funding package is the largest for a…
AWARDS: Best Airport Financing, Best Infrastructure Financing: Mexico, Best Loan.
Building a new airport for Mexico City has been a top public works project for President Enrique Peña Nieto. A landmark international loan last year helped it move forward. Grupo Aeroportuario de Ciudad de México (GACM) closed a $3 billion five-year loan in October 2015. The revolving credit facility was the largest of its type…
AWARDS: PROJECT & INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCE 2016
Borrowers, bankers, sponsors and lenders have pushed the boundaries once again to develop innovative financing packages for Latin American infrastructure