While the full impact of the combination has yet to be fully demonstrated, as of May 2024 A&O Shearman is a reality, its constituent legacy firms have bequeathed it a lengthy trajectory in Latin America energy and infrastructure projects sectors. The former Shearman team have long been active in Chile (having worked on a series of major projects including desalination plants, electric generation, power and renewables projects), and more generally, have extensive experience throughout the region – including Central America, Dominican Republic and Argentina – on matters ranging from power and renewables to mining and natural resources, oil and gas, and transport infrastructure projects. The former A&O team brings particular profile in agency finance (which has seen it land a number of significant mandates in the region), and frequently advises DFIs and ECAs in headline financings; it also represents a multitude of commercial lenders, alternative lenders and sponsors. A key figure for energy and infrastructure matters, New York partner Dorina Yessios has been growing her profile in digital infrastructure projects, alongside more traditional renewables and power transactions. With much of her focus on the Americas in their entirety, Cynthia Urda Kassis is a recognised authority in the mining and metals sector and also works more broadly across the energy and infrastructure segments. In Washington DC and New York respectively, Jean Lee and Sami Mir are at the forefront of project financings driven by ECAs, MLAs and commercial lenders. Dual-qualified (Peru/New York) Augusto Ruiloba was elected to the partnership in June 2022 and has worked on headline deals in Chile, Panama and across the region; while Robert O’Leary was similarly promoted in 2023 and -as a fluent Spanish speaker- is also heavily focused on Latin America. Since publication, Soares has left the firm, moving to DLA Piper LLP (US) in February 2024.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Robert O'Leary - always there when you need him, very good quality of work.’
‘Great team, with a lot of knowledge of the project and energy market, and especially how projects work in Chile. Very available and attentive to the operation and they interact very well with the local lawyers, which is not always the case. They understand the practical problems of different jurisdictions. Despite the challenges that the practice has faced due to the departure of partners, from the work point of view, no problem has been reflected.’
Key clients
- AES Corporation
- KfW IPEX-Bank
Work highlights
- Advised the joint mandated lead arrangers and lenders in connection with a $1.77bn secured term loan and $25m secured standby loan for the development, construction, operation and maintenance of a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Chile.
- Advised the four largest electric generation companies in Chile on the securitisation (through Chile Electricity PEC) of certain credit rights generated by the 2019 Tariff Stabilization Law, which put a temporary cap on electricity prices to Chilean households and small businesses.