Baker & McKenzie LLP′s Beijing office and Brazil′s Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados have advised a consortium of five Chinese companies in the acquisition of a 15 per cent stake in Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM).
Chinese mining companies are increasingly looking towards Brazil for investment opportunities. (Credit: DavidDennisPhotos)
Brazil′s Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão, the UK′s Allen & Overy and US firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP advised the Brazilian mining company in the deal. CDB China Development Bank, which provided the financing, turned to White & Case LLP′s Beijing office and Dias Carneiro Advogados in Brazil.
The acquisition saw the consortium – comprised of CITIC Group, Anshan Iron & Steel Group Corporation, Baosteel Group Corporation, Shougang Corporation and Taiyuan Iron & Steel Group Co – pay US$1.95 billion through a special purpose vehicle to the Moreira Salles family which holds a controlling stake in the company.
Following the transaction the family - which is also one of the owners of Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco Holding - will continue to hold a 70 per cent stake in the company.
The deal took some two years to close due to the necessity the state-owned companies making up the consortium obtain approval from the Chinese regulator, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The latest acquisition is almost identical to a previous deal, which saw a consortium of Japanese and Korean companies pay US$1.95 billion for a stake in CBMM in March.
That deal saw the Brazilian mining company draw on the same counsel, adding Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP to advise on M&A, IP and projects matters in the supply agreement. Counsel to the consortium was given by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Pinheiro Neto Advogados.
CBMM′s sale is also the latest example of an emerging flow of investment from China into the Brazilian mining sector. In June, this saw MMX secure a US$400 million investment from China′s Wuhan Iron & Steel Group - at the time the largest investment by a Chinese company in Brazil - and in October last year saw Brazil′s largest mining company Vale close a US$1.2 billion loan deal with the Export-Import Bank of China and the Bank of China.
CBMM produces 80 percent of the world′s supply of niobium - a metal used to strengthen steel widely used in the manufacture of cars and natural gas pipelines.
Counsel to CBMM
In-house counsel - Fernanda Fenga
Brazil
Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão
Partners Paulo Cezar Aragão, Monique Mavignier and Barbara Rosenber (for antitrust matters), and associates Mariane Rangel, Luciana Marsal, Gabriela Cerqueira de Carvalho and José Carlos Berardo (for antitrust matters)
UK
Allen & Overy
Partner Simon Pritchard and assoiate Claudia Mercer
US
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Partner Michael Gillespie and associate Michael McDonnell
Counsel to the consortium
China
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Partner Bee Chun Boo and associate Kai Shang Yong
Brazil
Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partners Adriano Schnur, José Prado, Eduardo Castro, Nuno Faria, Ana Cláudia de Povina Cavalcanti Norberto, and associate Paulo Markossian Nunes
Counsel to CDB China Development Bank
China
White & Case LLP
Partner Xiaoming Li and associate Xin Wang
Brazil
Dias Carneiro Advogados
Partner Rafael Dutra, and associate Gustavo Junqueira
(Latin Lawyer 09.09.2011)
(Notícia na Íntegra)
