Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton remains at the forefront of Latin America M&A, including outbound deals from Mexico into the US, along with Brazil inbound, outbound and intra-country deals under New York law. Much of the practice continues to centre on natural resources; it advised Brazilian mining giant Vale on two major divestitures including the sale of its stake in MRN to Ananke Alumina, and on the $2.2bn sale of CSP to ArcelorMittal. The Latin America team has achieved further growth in renewables and energy transition transactions; it is advising a number of private equity funds, sovereign wealth funds and pension funds on investments into renewable energy assets. More broadly, the department has worked on many of the headline transactions in the region in recent times and has landed a number of new clients that previously engaged competitor firms. It also continued to advise the Puerto Rican P3 Authority on a series of transactions that are part of the transformation of Puerto Rico’s electricity sector. It it also noted for its presence in Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina deals, along with transactions in Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, Panama and other Latin American jurisdictions. Chantal Kordula remains at the forefront of deals involving Mexico and multiple other Latin American states. Jeffrey Lewis is a senior name in natural resources and oil-and-gas deals, including for key client Vale. Juan Giráldez is an integral figure in Sao Paulo, where he leads many of the firm’s Brazil and Southern Cone region deals. Francesca Odell has historically worked on big-ticket transactions in Brazil and elsewhere, including private equity and venture capital deals.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Excellent team from junior to senior across different partners and offices. Hiring CGSH is a certainty of quality and deliverables. The team is always ahead of the competition in terms of quality and deliverables.’

  • ‘The Cleary team that takes care of Latin America has unique seniority and experience compared to its competitors. Not only are its members global references in their respective areas of activity, the office has enormous capacity to mobilise teams from other areas and regions whenever necessary. The technical quality and ability to present business solutions is unique among international offices operating in Latin America.'

  • ‘Its lawyers have seniority and global reference experience. Accordingly, in particular, in operations that involve several areas and jurisdictions, Cleary is able to deliver solutions without disruptions or impacts. They bring this delivery capacity that only global leaders with enormous experience have.'

  • ‘The difference with the CGSH team is that they deeply understand the local culture, managing to bring the level of New York advocacy to the reality of Brazil. Additionally, they are very hands-on, with the partners (and a very experienced team) very involved in every case.’

  • ‘They have great knowledge, understand the customers and above all, they understand the minds of the customers, even the local ones. I always recommend them to clients and the feedback is always very positive.’

Key clients

  • Ami Holdings
  • Antofagasta
  • CAP
  • Central Puerto
  • Codelco
  • FEMSA
  • Grupo Bimbo
  • Grupo Popular
  • MercadoLibre
  • Mitsui
  • Natura & Co. Holding
  • Ontex
  • Puerto Rican P3 Authority
  • Suzano
  • Vale
  • Vitro
  • YPF

Work highlights

  • Represented Ontex Group in the sale of its Mexican business activities and related exports to certain regional markets to Softys.
  • Advised Mitsui & Co on its acquisition of an investment, through a holding company, in Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila.
  • Advised Vale on the sale of its 40% stake in Mineracão Rio do Norte (MRN), including all associated obligations and rights, to Ananke Alumina.

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