Emily Darby

Campos Mello Advogados has helped a subsidiary of Brazilian private equity company Starboard Asset complete its US$191 million acquisition of a cluster of offshore and onshore oil fields from Petrobras and obtain associated financing to fund the purchase.

Machado Meyer Advogados advised Petrobras in the acquisition, which closed on 29 May.

The buyer also issued debt worth 708 million Brazilian reais (US$132 million) to finance the deal. Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados advised underwriter BTG Pactual in that transaction, which closed on 28 May.

It is understood Campos Mello advised the issuer too, but the firm did not confirm prior to publishing.

In the acquisition, Starboard’s special purpose company 3R Petroleum obtained the Macau cluster consisting of seven oil fields in the Potiguar basin, located in Brazil’s northeastern Rio Grande do Norte region. Both offshore and onshore operations will be run by 3R Petroleum.

Starboard won the seven onshore and offshore fields in an auction last August. At the deal’s signing, the buyer paid an initial instalment of US$48 million, with the remainder paid at the deal’s closing last month.

The buyer set up 3R Petroleum with the purpose to operate the fields. It is understood to be one of the first deals in which a private equity fund has taken over operations of onshore oil fields in Brazil.

The acquisition also marks Starboard’s entry into the Brazilian onshore oil market following the deal’s closing, which is the latest in Petrobras’s widescale divestment programme. In February the Brazilian company sold 50% of its exploration and production rights to Malaysia’s Petronas for US$1.3 billion. More recently, Petrobras issued US$3.25 billion worth of notes in a public offering. 

Starboard Asset is a subsidiary of Brazilian restructuring group Starboard Restructuring Partners. The parent company specialises in helping indebted companies restructure finances and has helped companies reorganise US$6 billion in debt across various high-profile transactions.

For the acquisition

Counsel to Starboard Asset and 3R Petroleum

Campos Mello Advogados

Partners Paulo Almeida Lopes, Marcus Bitencourt and Jorge Barbieri Gallo, and associates Bárbara Bittencourt, Renata Dalcol de Amorim, Tatiana Pasqualette and Flavia Cavalcanti Ferreira

Counsel to Petrobras

Machado Meyer Advogados

Partners Decio Pio Borges De Castro, Daniel Szyfman and Arthur Bardawil Penteado, and associates Antonio Carlos Amorim Castello Branco, Fernando Fernandes Xavier and Raphael Barboza Correia

For the financing

Counsel to BTG Pactual

In-house counsel - Gabriel Barreti

In- house counsel - Julia Baldacci

Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados

Partners Giovani Loss, Frederico Kerr Bullamah and Flávio Barbosa Lugão, and associates Thaís Gurjão Rodrigues, Francisco Zaninotto Mont' Alverne, Andre Franco Perdiza , Larissa Weyll de Morais and Diana Caballero Bertino Jorge

(Latin Lawyer – 22.06.2020)

(Notícia na íntegra)