Partner | Latham & Watkins
David Penna
Partner | Latham & Watkins
18
Latin America, Project Development and Finance
(Vice Chair), Banking, Mergers and Acquisitions
New York, District
of Columbia
English, German, Italian David Penna is co-chair of Latham’s project development and finance practice. He has represented lenders, developers, and governmental entities in all phases of the development and financing of projects, particularly in the energy, oil and gas and infrastructure sectors. He also has significant mergers and acquisitions experience, with a focus on deals involving power generation assets.
Penna has strong ties in almost every Latin American country and in Mexico in particular, and offers clients a deep understanding of local legal and business practices. This intimate knowledge of the region enables clients to proceed confidently with significant investments in Latin American project, and are a critical asset for leading projects and project finance players across the region on their headline mandates.
Penna advises on the full range of projects and project financing mandates across Latin America. Examples of his work as a lead-role adviser on major projects in Mexico include leading work on a ground-breaking hybrid structure for Fermaca linked to the refinancing of its 420km gas pipeline in the states of Chihuahua and Durango, and advising Caisse de Dépôt et Placement Du Québec on their investment in a portfolio of wind and solar assets throughout Mexico.
Another work highlight from the last year includes the representation of CDPQ, the leading Canada-based institutional investor that manages several public and para-public pension plans and insurance programmes in Quebec, in its acquisition of an 80% interest in a Mexico-based portfolio of wind and solar assets being developed by Enel Green Power. Latham also represented Eletrans, the leading Chile-based firm engaged in the construction, operation and maintenance of power transmission facilities.
The Latin American financing market in general, and the Mexican financing market in particular, has developed at a rapid and accelerating pace
over recent years, with deals there now rivalling US domestic deals in terms of complexity and nuance. In order to help our clients keep up with,
and in many cases set, this pace, it is vital to have both a deep understanding of the Mexican market and deep experience with the most innovative, cutting-edge structures and approaches from US deals.
This is a particularly challenging question to answer right now given political and economic uncertainties that seem to be gathering in North America and around the world – per Niels Bohr, predictions are very difficult, especially about the future.
However, with at least some major portions Mexico’s critical gas infrastructure coming on line, I would expect to see growth in sectors reliant on natural gas (power generation, petchem, etc.), as well as continued growth in both renewable power and C&I power deals. Pending political developments, I would also expect to see US and European strategic and financial investors continuing to look to Mexico for opportunities.
I expect that legal technology will continue to shrink the effects of geographic distances between the US and Mexico. We have more means of communication with Mexican clients and counsel than ever before – phone, email, text, WhatsApp, etc. – so it is easier than ever to stay in close contact, making cross-border work easier and more efficient all the time.
In my experience Mexican in-house lawyers have exactly the same priorities as their counterparts in the US or anywhere else in the world: They look for thoughtful, efficient and responsive service, and for outside counsel who view themselves as a part of the overall client legal team and not simply as an external service provider.
