Latham Recognized in Three 2021 LatinFinance Project Infrastructure Finance Awards Categories

The LatinFinance Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards recognize the best of the past twelve months in Latin American infrastructure finance and investment and cite Latham's participation in winning transactions as testament to the expertise, creativity, and perseverance of the Latin America Practice team. 

LatinFinance recognized the work of Latham's Latin America Practice in three categories of the 2021 LatinFinance Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards: 

• Bond of the Year: Chile's Electricity Tariff Monetization. Latham represented Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC as the sole global coordinator, bookrunner, initial purchaser, and commitment provider in Chile Electricity PEC SpA's US$489 million offering of its Series 2021-1 Zero Coupon Senior Secured Notes due 2028. The receivables originate pursuant to Chilean Law No. 21,185, which temporarily stabilized the electricity tariffs that distribution companies are permitted to charge their regulated customers in response to the social unrest that began in Chile in October 2019. This was the first tariff stabilization bond financing in Latin America and one of the most complex financings Latham has worked on in the region — combining multiple parties, a novel legal structure behind the receivables, and the creation of the first Chilean special purpose vehicle for an international securitization. 
• Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Blackstone's Tierra Mojada $1.1bn Refinancing in Mexico. A multi-disciplinary team from Latham's Capital Markets, Project Development & Finance, and Latin America Practices and Energy & Infrastructure Industry Group counseled the financing sources in concurrent US$1.1 billion bank and bond transactions for Tierra Mojada, a newly constructed, state-of-the-art 874.5-megawatt natural gas-fired combined-cycle power generation facility located in the Mexican state of Jalisco. The project is owned and operated by Fisterra Energy, a Madrid-based portfolio company that specializes in energy infrastructure investments worldwide and is controlled by The Blackstone Group. The proceeds of the offering were used to repay the project's construction loan and other financing arrangements, to fund debt service reserves, and to make a distribution to the project sponsors. The power generation facility, which achieved commercial operation shortly before the offering was consummated, benefits from long-term US dollar-denominated power purchase agreements with Mexican government and private-sector offtakers that account for a substantial portion of its projected output over the bonds' 20-year life. It is strategically located near the city of Guadalajara, Mexico, which is expected to remain an energy-importing region for the foreseeable future due to continued growth in energy demand.
• Local Currency Financing of the Year: Puerta de Hierro's Social Bond. Latham represented BTG Pactual and Santander as joint bookrunners, and Santander as social bond structuring agent, in the inaugural US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)-Guaranteed project bond in Latin America. The offering by Patrimonio Autónomo Montes de María of COP$760 billion (approximately US$209 million) of its 4.1% Senior Secured UVR Indexed Notes due 2045 is also the first social bond issued in connection with an infrastructure project in Latin America. The proceeds of the notes were used to refinance existing debt and complete the construction of the Puerta de Hierro – Palmar de Varela y Carreto – Cruz del Viso toll road awarded to Sociedad Concesionaria Vial Montes de María S.A.S. by the Colombian Government under its Fourth Generation (4G) toll road program. The project is sponsored by Spanish construction and concession conglomerate Sacyr.