Mr Nicolás Balmaceda > Barros & Errázuriz > Santiago, Chile > Lawyer Profile

Barros & Errázuriz‘s sizeable banking and finance practice acts for both lenders and borrowers on high-stakes financing transactions. The group is particularly active in energy and infrastructure project finance deals; and is additionally able to leverage the firm’s strong real estate, energy, environmental and regulatory credentials. Clients further benefit from the firm’s affiliation with the Affinitas network, which fosters collaboration on regional banking, finance and capital markets developments with peers in Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The practice recently advised Ares Management on the negotiation and restructuring of mezzanine credit agreements totalling $280m. Co-leading the team, Francisco De la Barra‘s track record includes several local and international structured financings of projects; and Enrique Barros V is a corporate and structured finance specialist. The group also showcases veteran banking and finance practitioner Nicolás Balmaceda; Bernardo Simian, an adviser on both bank financings and capital markets deals; and structured and corporate finance expert María Olga Rivera. In the senior associate ranks, Nicole Ubal‘s practice covers corporate financing, projects finance and refinancing; José Miguel Poblete is experienced in project finance; and Jean Andre Petit focuses on both domestic and cross-border transactions. Former fellow senior Valentina Villalobos moved in-house at Pacific Hydro Chile in October 2023.

Delivering ‘effective solutions’, Barros & Errázuriz’s sizeable practice has longstanding experience in high-stakes infrastructure and energy projects (and related transactions). The group is consistently mandated by developers, sponsors, constructors, operators, suppliers and financiers on tendering processes, as well as public and private works concessions, in relation to highways, prisons, airports, logistics centres, seaports and land terminals. It also assists with both renewable, conventional and transmission energy projects; mining companies’ large desalination projects; and high-value project financings. The practice is co-led by Nicolás Balmaceda, who focuses on infrastructure and financing work, as well as energy projects, public works concessions, engineering, construction, and arbitration; and infrastructure and energy project expert Francisco De la Barra, a regular adviser to sponsors, financial institutions, equity investors, export credit agencies, construction companies and development banks on project development and financing. The department further includes Fernando Garrido, who assists energy industry clients with the development, permitting, environmental and contractual aspects of generation and transmission projects; Cristóbal Pellegrini, a specialist in the project financing of large generation and transmission facilities; María Olga Rivera, who has notable port industry expertise; and mining project practitioner Felipe Allende. At senior associate level, Diego Ovalle and Nicole Ubal are the names to note.