US firm Proskauer Rose LLP, Colombia’s Cárdenas & Cárdenas, Paraguay’s Palacios, Prono y Talavera Abogados, Peru’s Estudio Echecopar and Uruguay’s Ferrere Abogados have helped Colombia’s Gilinski group acquire HSBC’s businesses in Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay – the second Colombian company to benefit from HSBC’s Latin American asset sale.
Banco GNB Sudameris is the second Colombian bank to benefit from HSBC′s LatAm assets sale (Credit: DennisSylvesterHurd)
UK firm Linklaters LLP, Brazil’s Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice
Advogados, Colombia’sBrigard & Urrutia Abogados,
Paraguay’s Estudio Jurídico Gross Brown, Peru’s Muñiz Ramírez Pérez-Taiman &
Olaya and Uruguay’s Guyer & Regules
advised HSBC, which announced that it had agreed to sell the assets to Gilinski
subsidiary Banco GNB Sudameris for US$400 million on 11 May.
Proskauer Rose partner Carlos Martinez says that the transaction represents a
“breakthrough” for his client, Banco GNB Sudameris, “because they want to
establish a Latin American footprint and this extends their position to four
more jurisdictions”.
He notes that the transaction began 10 months ago, as a competitive bid process
with two rounds, resulting in negotiations which began last November.
The closing of the transaction, which is governed by UK law, is subject to
regulatory approvals in each jurisdiction, and sales of the Colombian and
Peruvian assets are expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, while
the Uruguayan and Paraguayan assets are expected to complete in the first
quarter of 2013.
As the four transactions are considered separate acquisitions, if one or more
are not approved, Martinez says that the others will still close. “Our
expectation is that all four will close, but HSBC wanted to have a mechanism where
they’re treated separately,” he says, adding “the parties put a premium on
establishing that there would be a high certainty of closing”.
HSBC has been steadily selling off its Latin American assets in the past year
as part of a move to cut costs by selling businesses in the bank′s less
profitable regions, drawing on either Linklaters or Clifford Chance LLP for
international counsel. In March, Clifford Chance, Mexico’s Galicia Abogados and
Machado Meyer helped the bank sell its Mexican assets to French insurer Axa,
while Clifford Chance also worked with Argentina’s Bruchou, Fernández Madero
& Lombardi and Machado Meyer to sell its Argentine insurance business to Australia’s QBE
Holdings.
In January, another Colombian bank – Banco Davivienda – paid US$801 million for HSBC’s assets in Costa Rica, El
Salvador and Honduras. For that deal, HSBC worked with Linklaters, Arias &
Muñoz’s offices in Costa Rica and El Salvador, López Rodezno & Asociados in Honduras,
Berdeja Abogados SC in Mexico and Panama′s Morgan & Morgan. Machado
Meyer was also involved. Banco Davivienda drew on Consortium - Centro
America Abogados’ offices in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, Panama′s Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega
and Dudley & Asociados and the UK′s Addleshaw Goddard LLP and US firm
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.
In October last year, HSBC worked with its in-house counsel to sell its retail banking business in Chile to Banco Itaú, which
turned to Claro y Cía.
Counsel to the Gilinski group and Banco GNB Sudameris
In-house counsel – Oliverio Lew
US
Proskauer Rose LLP
Partners Carlos Martinez, Alan Parnes, Russell Carmedy and Jennifer Wheater,
associates Adam Halper, Michael McCourt and Raquel Yutalis, and foreign
associate Andres Winter
Colombia
Cárdenas &
Cárdenas
Partners Eduardo Cárdenas, Camilo Cortés and Lorena Arámbula, and associates
Mauricio Borrero, Juanita Vera and Alicia Buitrago
Paraguay
Palacios, Prono y Talavera Abogados
Peru
Estudio Echecopar
Uruguay
Ferrere
Abogados
Partners Andrés Cerisola, Martín Cerruti, Diego Rodríguez and Verónica Raffo,
and associates Geraldine Ifrán, Julie Rothschild, Ëvelyn Harbek, Manuel
Lecuona, Carla Arellano, Carlos Falco, Sofía Klot, Alberto Baroffio, Carolina
Secondo, Rodrigo Gamarra, Rosina Buono and Stella Weng
Counsel to HSBC
US
Linklaters LLP
Partners Aedamar Comiskey, Martin Lynchehan and Conrado Tenaglia, and
associates Dominic Kendal-Ward and Peter Cohen-Millstein
Brazil
Machado, Meyer,
Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partner Eduardo Avila de Castro and associates Camila Borba Lefevre, Renato
Maggio, Bruno Duarte Ferreira and Daniel Andrade Jacintho
Colombia
Brigard &
Urrutia Abogados
Paraguay
Estudio Jurídico Gross Brown
Partner Jorge Rafael Gross Brown and associate Jorge Ignacio Gross Brown
Peru
Muñiz Ramírez
Pérez-Taiman & Olaya
Uruguay
Guyer &
Regules
Partners Juan Manuel Mercant and Alvaro Tarabal, and associates Marcos Payssé,
Federico Piano and Gastón Tarabal
(Latin Lawyer 16.05.2012)
(Notícia na Íntegra)
