Garrigues receives three awards from LatinFinance for its project and infrastructure work
In the last edition of the awards organized by this publication, the firm has garnered further recognition for its legal advice in three key financing projects for development in Latin America. All of Garrigues’ offices in the region have come first in some category.
One year down the line and Garrigues has obtained very good results in the Project and Infrastructure Finance Awards, organized by the financial publication LatinFinance, which recognizes the most notable project and infrastructure transactions of the year in Latin America.
In this last edition, three project financing deals that Garrigues advised on came top: Actis’ acquisition of Enel’s renewable assets in Peru (in the ‘Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Andes’ category), the acquisition and refinancing of EnfraGen’s renewable assets (‘Renewable Energy Financing of the Year award) and Vinte’s sustainable bond in Mexico (‘Social Infrastructure Financing of the Year’ award).
In the first case Garrigues played a crucial role in the acquisition by Niagara Energy (owned by Actis) of two Peruvian subsidiaries of the Italian company Enel. Reaching the US$1.3 billion mark, this transaction, which represents the largest takeover bid ever registered on the Lima stock exchange, required a great deal of coordination work between a multitude of jurisdictions and interests. Garrigues brought its experience to bear in this deal, which involved managing complex and extremely valuable transactions, with a significant market impact.
In addition, Garrigues’ four Latin American offices advised the lenders on the modification of a credit facility amounting to US$1.04 billion granted to Prime Energía SpA, Enfragen Spain SAU and Enfragen Energía Sur SAU (subsidiaries of the Enfragen group). That credit facility, closed in October 2023, was used to acquire and develop multiple power plants in various jurisdictions such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Spain.
Finally, the Garrigues Mexico team advised on the participation by IDB Invest (Inter-American Development Bank) as an anchor investor in the issuance of a five-year sustainable bond by Vinte to finance the construction of sustainable low-income housing in Mexico. IDB Invest invested MXN$750 million (US$42.8 million) of the total MXN$1.5 billion bond (approximately US$87 million).
So far this year, Garrigues’ teams in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru have received various awards, for example, three for infrastructure and project finance at the IJ Global Awards; Team of the Year for the Andean States in banking and finance law by International Financial Law Review (IFLR); and best law firm in Chile by LatinFinance.