Mr Francisco J Illanes > Cariola Díez Pérez-Cotapos > Santiago, Chile > Lawyer Profile

Lawyer Rankings

Chile > Banking and finance

Cariola Díez Pérez-Cotapos‘ ‘lawyers are effective and responsive, and give sound advice; they are also commercially minded and work well with counterparties to close deals‘. The 12-strong practice group is highly rated for its structuring of financial transactions, particularly cross-border loans. Other key areas include project finance in relation to the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors, acquisition and corporate finance, complex restructurings, secured financing for agriculture producers, derivatives, and trade finance; the practice also has a robust finance-regulatory capability. An impressive lender-side client list includes Rabobank, Banco Santander, Banco BICE, BBVA Spain; Bank of New York, BNP and Itaú Corpbanca, as well as corporate heavywights such as Southern Cross Group and state rail entity Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE). Among recent matters, the team acted as special Chilean counsel to Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (as administrative agent), BNP Paribas (as documentation agent) and other lenders in a $500m senior unsecured revolving credit facility to Enel Américas. On the borrower’s side, it also advised Fray Leon International (a Panamanian subsidiary of Chile’s Von Appen Burose group), on a $20m term loan agreement granted by Banco de Crédito Inversiones (Miami branch) to finance the acquisition of both a maritime vessel and real estate. Rodrigo Sepúlveda, Francisco Illanes and the ‘highly talented‘ Juan Antonio Parodi are the names to note.

Chile > Corporate and M&A

At Cariola Díez Pérez-Cotapos, ‘partners and associates from all the firm’s practices really do act as a team, something that is very difficult to find nowadays‘. The corporate practice covers both domestic and cross-border acquisitions of private and public companies, complex corporate mergers and spin-offs, joint ventures, private equity and venture capital deals, and corporate restructuring transactions. The team recently advised on M&A deals involving sectors such as mining, energy, infrastructure, banking and financial services, insurance and media, while the compliance practice is focused on antitrust, unfair competition and consumer protection laws. Notable clients include Ripley, Enel, Rabobank, Principal Financial Group, Renovalia Energy Chile The Coca-Cola Company and Turner Broadcasting. Recent mandates saw the team advise Legend Holdings’ subsidiary Joyvio Group on its $880m acquisition of listed-company Australis Seafoods, and  Canadian holding company ATCO on its $340m acquisition of a 40 per cent stake in Chilean port operation and development company, Neltume Ports. Other highlights included assisting AccorHotels on its $105m purchase (together with Chilean group Algeciras), of Atton Hoteles; and -in a significant bank assurance deal- act for Chubb Seguros on its strategic alliance with Banco de Chile (and its subsidiary Banchile). The firm has a very strong bench that includes José Luis Letelier, Sergio Díez, the recently returned Gerardo Varela, Cristián Herrera and Juan Pablo Matus. Other highly-rated partners are Francisco J Illanes, Carlos Pérez-Cotapos, Gonzalo Grez, Pedro Lluch and Sebastián Obach. Jorge Boldt is the compliance contact. The team was further strengthened in January 2020 with the appointment of the transaction-focused Andrea Saffie, and Tomás Vidal (whose practice centers on corporate and commercial matters), to the partnership.