Clifford Chance LLP, through its São Paulo and New York offices, and Brazilian firm Pinheiro Neto Advogados teamed up to work on both Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Banrisul) and Braskem’s bond issuances, continuing the series of debt offerings which have opened 2012 in Brazil.
The deals, which are separate transactions, both closed on 2 February. White & Case LLP and Cayman firm Maples and Calder advise Braskem, while Shearman & Sterling LLP and Brazil’s Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados provided counsel to the underwriters for the Banrisul deal.
In the Braskem deal, which saw Latin America’s largest petrochemicals company issue US$250 million of 5.75 per cent notes due 2021, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Santander acted as underwriters. They were advised by Clifford Chance and Pinheiro Neto.
For Banrisul’s issuance US$500 million of 7.375 per cent subordinated bonds due 2022, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse acted as initial purchasers, and were advised by Shearman & Sterling and Machado Meyer.
According to Pinheiro Neto associate Luiz Rafael de Vargas, the success of Banrisul’s issuance offers hope for other banks seeking to raise funds on the international markets. "Despite the international economic scenario, and considering the high demand on the bookbuilding, this first issuance of Banrisul (a bank controlled by the state of Rio Grande do Sul) demonstrates that investors are still interested in notes from companies with solid plans of investments and high potential of return," he says.
Both Pinheiro Neto and Clifford Chance have worked on several Brazilian bond issuances over the past month, including the high profile deal in which Banco do Brasil raised US$1 billion on the international markets, becoming the first bank to contemplate the pending Basel III guidelines.
More recently, they have also provided counsel to the issuer and underwriters respectively for Itaú Unibanco’s US$500 million debt issuance.
Counsel to Braskem
US
White & Case LLP
Partner Mark Bagnall and associates Geoffrey Thompson and Daniella Silva
Cayman Islands
Maples
and Calder
Partner
Kieran Walsh and associate Kerry Ann Phillips
Counsel to Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Santander
US/Brazil
Clifford
Chance LLP
Partner Anthony Oldfield and associates Anand Saha, Patrick Jackson and Demian Magalhaes
Brazil
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Partner Enrico Bentivegna and associate
Vitor Fernandes de Araujo
Counsel to Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (Banrisul)
US/Brazil
Clifford Chance LLP
Partners Anthony Oldfield, Isabel Costa Carvalho and Jon Zonis and associates
Anja Pfleger and Sarah Levitt
Brazil
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Partner José Carlos Junqueira Meirelles and associates Luiz Rafael de Vargas Maluf and Rodrigo Vinícius Dufloth
Counsel to Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse
US
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Partner Stuart Fleischmann and associates Ivana Martins, Gabriela Laufer and Samuel Liao
Brazil
Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partner Eduardo Avila de Castro and associates Andre Politi Esposito Gomes and Karina Tiaki Momose
(Latin Lawyer 17.02.2012)
(Notícia na Íntegra)
