About

Number of years practice: 20 Principal practice areas: Acquisition finance, leveraged finance, M&A, project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English, French and Spanish

A leader in Mexico M&A and finance transactions and a regular adviser to Grupo Bimbo on cross-border M&A transactions, Chantal Kordula has been involved with some of the most significant infrastructure financings in Mexico. Regarded by clients as ‘a great communicator’, she is praised for her ‘thorough handling’ of matters. Her representations include advising the Mexican Ministry of Transport and Communication on its $1bn (first stage) and $3bn (second stage) secured financings to develop the new Mexico City International Airport. Kordula was particularly active in the second stage of this financing, which at the time represented the largest syndicated revolving bank facility issued to a borrower in Latin America. Her work in the energy sector has also focused on transformational projects. For example, she helped raise around $1.2bn in financing for the construction and operation of the180-mile long Ramones II Sur natural gas pipeline and, as part of Cleary Gottlieb’s representation of long-time clients, the state-owned entities Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) and Pemex, she helped spearhead the first Mexican-law corporate debt securities offerings utilising the Euroclear and Clearstream international clearing systems.