Jose Valera > Mayer Brown > Houston, United States > Lawyer Profile

Lawyer Rankings

Latin America: International firms > Corporate and M&A

Mayer Brown‘s outstanding Latin America credentials are enabling the firm to gain a greater market share of M&A transactions involving the region. Its Houston and Mexico City offices continue to make an impression, as does its associate firm in Brazil Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown. Much of the practice involves energy and oil-and-gas transactions, including the acquisitions of energy assets and interests in power projects. Clients include Ecopetrol, Mitsui & Co, The Dow Chemical Company, CNOOC Petroleum Brasil, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Taco Bell Brasil, Barzel Properties Gestora de Recursos, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Total. Recent mandates saw the team advise Ecopetrol America on its acquisition of an interest in the K2 Field in the US Gulf of Mexico from Mitsubishi subsidiary MCX Gulf of Mexico; and assist Chilean electricity generation company, Colbun, with the purchase of LNG to be regasified at the Quintero terminal, Chile. In addition, it represented Arroyo Energy Investors in the purchase from Pattern Energy of a renewable energy project portfolio in Chile, including an interest in the 115MW El Arrayan wind farm and the entire equity interest in the 104MW AC Conejo solar project. The ‘very professional‘ team includes Houston partners Pablo Ferrante and Jose Valera, who are both noted for their experience in oil-and-gas and energy transactions. New York partner Kevin Sheridan is also a frequent adviser on Latin America deals.

Latin America: International firms > Projects and energy

Mayer Brown has a rich history of bank-led project finance work, coupled with a growing standing among DFIs, export credit agencies (ECAs) and project sponsors. It is also an accomplished player in project and infrastructure bonds, including private placement-driven financings. The Latin America practice is located across in multiple centres, most notably in Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Houston, Mexico City and in Brazil through Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown. The Brazil team recently led advice to GE Capital in connection with the $1.5bn financing of CELSE – Centrais Elétricas de Sergipe’s Porto de Sergipe I thermoelectric complex project in Barra dos Coqueiros; the largest cross-border, energy-related transaction in Brazil for some years, it was financed through a mixture of a bond issuance and multilateral lenders. The firm is a major player in the renewable energy segment right across Latin America and advised MUFG, Natixis and SMBC, as lenders, on the $135m financing of the expansion of the 133MW Los Guindos diesel-fired power station in southern Chile’s Biobío region. In the private placement segment, the firm represented the note purchasers in the $103m placement of senior secured notes and $11.5m subordinated secured notes to refinance the Naranjal and Del Litoral solar power plants in Uruguay; the structure builds on the firm’s previous work in private placement project bonds, including the Campo Palomas wind project in Uruguay. In the project bonds and private placement segment, New York and Washington DC partner Christopher Erckert  is a recognised authority, though he is also an experienced traditional project finance practitioner, particularly in the renewables sector. Houston partner Robert Goldberg is an experienced figure in Latin America power and renewables projects. London’s Ian Coles is a mining sector leader with considerable experience in Latin America. Houston’s Pablo Ferrante and Jose Valera are highly rated for oil-and-gas, LNG, power and renewables deals. Ariel Ramos  is a big name in Mexico City, while Barry Machlin and Douglas Doetsch are pivotal figures in Chicago. Washington DC’s Gabriela Sakamoto is an emerging talent and Eduardo Lima is a key name in Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown‘s Sao Paulo office.