Bond House of the Year: Citi
Political ructions in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s two biggest economies, set the stage for a tumultuous period in which to sell debt. Mexico’s election of a left-wing president and Brazil’s choice of a right-wing leader didn’t give investors a trend on which they could easily ride. Instead the marketplace offered volatility and uncertainty. However,…
Equity House of the Year: JPMorgan
JPMorgan flexed its muscle in Latin America’s equity capital markets, participating in some of the region’s top IPOs. Working across several sectors, the US investment bank demonstrated its range to win LatinFinance’s Equity House of the Year award. JPMorgan was among three lead joint underwriters for Brazil payments processor, StoneCo Ltd, which raised $1.22 billion…
M&A House of the Year: Bank of America
Activity in Latin America’s mergers and acquisitions space may have tapered ever so slightly in the latest reporting period. Still, for a second year in a row, Bank of America has proven its ability to top the league tables when it comes to fee collection. BofA advised on 18 deals with Latin American involvement, according…
Loan House of the Year: HSBC
Global debt levels at the end of the awards reporting period reached an all-time high of nearly $253 trillion, according to the Institute of International Finance, with emerging market debt rising two-fold since 2010 to $72 trillion. That kind of crescendo in indebtedness occurred during a period when trade, regulatory and economic growth issues experienced…
Law Firm of the Year Latin America: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
toCommanding a broad spectrum of involvement across the region and across asset classes, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett turned in an impressive performance that earned it this year’s Law Firm of the Year award for Latin America. The team, led by Todd Crider and David Williams, found themselves working on standout deals such as América Móvil’s…
Law Firm of the Year Mexico: Ritch Mueller
The start of any new government brings uncertainty, and in Mexico this was no exception. Ritch, Mueller, Heather y Nicolau once again found itself in the center of the action, advising on some of the Year’s largest and most important transactions. “It was quite a change in government from what we had before. They are…
Law Firm of the Year Brazil: Mattos Filho
The long list of transactions taking place in Brazil in the past year invariably received advice from Mattos Filho, demonstrating the breadth and reach of the firm’s corporate practice. Its involvement cut across the range of categories, from financing innovation to domestic and cross-border M&A transactions that were among standouts in the region. Mattos Filho…
Law Firm of the Year Argentina: Tanoira Cassagne Abogados
Argentina’s deep economic troubles sent a chill across the country’s debt and equity markets over the past year. State-run energy company YPF ended a 14-month drought for Argentine issuers in the cross-border market in June with a $500 million bond sale, a deal Tanoira Cassange Abogados advised on. The transaction was one of several YPF…
Law Firm of the Year Andes: Garrigues
Garrigues has repeatedly shown a knack for working on some of Peru’s top capital markets deals and 2018-2019 was a particularly strong year for the firm. The firm was involved in two award-winning deals carried out by the Peruvian government, including the sovereign issuer’s November 2018 sale of $3.06 billion in sol-denominated bonds — the…
Venture Capital Deal of the Year: SoftBank’s investment in Rappi
Weeks after SoftBank announced the launch of a $5 billion technology fund focused on Latin America, the company made a marquee investment in the Colombian start-up and delivery app Rappi. Through two of its funds, including its new Latin America-focused Innovation Fund, Japan-based SoftBank invested $1 billion in Rappi in April 2019 — the largest…
Structured Financing of the Year: Lima Metro Line 2
Construction of the Lima Metro Line 2, a 27 km underground line aimed at easing congestion in Peru’s capital, ran into one delay after another after it was announced in 2012. The government could not secure rights of way and the technical plans for several of the stations failed to come in on time. The…
Restructuring of the Year: Mexico City Airport Trust
Selling $6 billion worth of debt is no small feat. Cancelling the project earmarked for those funds, then restructuring the debt without triggering a debt crisis that could have sunk the economy borders on extraordinary. In 2018, when then presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) threatened to cancel construction of the long-planned international airport…
Financing Innovation of the Year: Fibra Uno
The importance of environmental, social and governance covenants in the world’s financial markets is only growing. Fibra Uno, the largest real estate company in Latin America, became the first Latin company to apply ESG principles in its financing. The revolving five-year credit facility it sold in July marked a milestone for the region. BBVA served…
Domestic M&A Deal of the Year: Suzano’s acquisition of Fibria
What do you do with two of the largest, and lowest cost, players in the pulp and paper industry in one of the top markets in the world? How about a blockbuster deal to merge them into not only a domestic Brazilian leader but the world’s largest wood pulp producer? In January 2019, Suzano Papel…
Cross Border M&A Deal of the Year: Engie and CDPQ’s acquisition of TAG pipelines
The interlocking motivations were apparent: State-owned energy company Petrobras wanted to raise capital by shedding assets. French natural gas and energy provider Engie wanted to solidify its Brazil-based operations, especially after losing its bidin 2016 for the Nova Transportadora do Sudeste pipeline network. In April 2019, Engie put together a winning $8.6 billion offer in…
Private Equity Deal of the Year: Actis’ sale of Atlantic Energias Renováveis
The size and scope of Latin America’s rapidly developing renewable energy sector has only deepened in the past few years. In a related push, corporations are chasing ESG (environmental, social, governance) standards to satisfy portfolio investor’s demands. The critical mass is now attracting sizeable investment from outside the region. Benefiting from an early mover status…
Equity Follow-On of the Year: MercadoLibre
E-commerce retailer MercadoLibre raised an impressive $1.85 billion through a public share offering and two big ticket direct investments during the awards period. MercadoLibre’s $1 billion equity offering, in which GoldmanSachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were bookrunners, helped to underscore the status of MercadoLibre as a regional e-commerce powerhouse with large markets in Brazil, Mexico…
Initial Public Offering of the Year: Cencosud
Several years after initially floating the idea of spinning out its shopping mall real estate portfolio, the Chilean retailer Cencosud delivered a stunning initial public offering of Cencosud Shopping in June. The IPO turned out to be the largest transaction of its kind in Chile’s history, a $1.056 billion share offering that was executed after…
Corporate Liability Management of the Year: Petrobras
Brazil’s Petrobras is in the midst of a corporate overhaul meant to cut its gross debt levels to $60 billion, compared with $101 billion in the second quarter of 2019. Two major transactions last year brought the gross debt burden to $90 billion, not only helping to deleverage its balance sheet but also provide cash…
Sovereign Liability Management of the Year: Mexico
Mexico surprised investors by going to the market in July just two weeks after former Finance Minister Carlos Urzúa resigned from office. The operation also came on the same day that the International Monetary Fund lowered Mexico’s 2019 economic growth forecast to 0.9% from 1.6%. Mexican officials capitalized on a borrower-friendly rates environment to carry…
Corporate High-Yield Bond of the Year: YPF
Argentina’s deep economic slowdown and currency crisis closed the door to the international credit markets for most Argentine issuers for months during 2018 and 2019. State-run energy company YPF ended a 14-month drought for borrowers when it sold cross-border bonds in June, raising $500 million in 10-year, dollar-denominated notes. The company carried out a well-timed…
Corporate High-Grade Bond of the Year: Grupo Bimbo
Investor concerns about the economic policies of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mexico’s weakening public finances weighed heavily on Mexican assets last year. However, high-quality Mexican corporate issuers proved resilient. Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bread maker, demonstrated that in September with a new benchmark-sized bond. Bimbo raised $600 million from the sale of30-year…
Quasi-Sovereign Bond of the Year and Syndicated Loan of the Year: Pemex
Hoping to get its financial house in order and restore investor confidence, Mexico’s state-owned oil giant Pemex executed two eye-catching deals over the past year that included a three-tranche bond sale and the largest syndicated loan in the region. In a September deal just hours after Mexico’s government announced a $5 billion capital injection for…
Sovereign Bond of the Year and Local Currency Deal of the Year: Peru
In recent years, Peru has taken steps to develop its domestic debt market with new benchmark issues and well-executed liability management exercises. In December 2018, the sovereign achieved a new milestone, selling 10.35 billion in Peruvian soles ($3.06 billion) in what was at the time the largest debt sale in local currency for an emerging…
Corporate Issuer of the Year: América Móvil
Early signals of more dovish stance by the US Federal Reserve helped lure América Móvil back to the dollar bond market in April after a seven-year hiatus. The Mexican telecom giant demonstrated impeccable timing in its approach to the bond market last year. Two months after raising $2.25 billion in dollar bonds, América Móvil adroitly…
Sovereign Issuer of the Year: Chile
Chile broke new ground last year when it became the first sovereign issuer from Latin America to sell green bonds in two landmark transactions in the world’s deepest markets. Over the span of a week, Chile carried out inaugural green issuances in the dollar and euro markets, paving the way for other Latin American sovereigns.…