Hogan Lovells advised the Republic of Ecuador in the negotiation of a US$127 million financing protocol that was executed on 4 December 2012 by the Minister of Foreign Trade of France and the Minister of Finance of Ecuador. Under the protocol, the government of France will extend a loan to be used for the construction of an urban transportation project in the city of Cuenca in southern Ecuador.
As part of a local and national plan to promote sustainable development and improve quality of life for residents, the loan will finance the construction of a new 10.8 km-long tram line in Cuenca that will be used by between 110,000 to 120,000 people a day. The new tram line is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2015.
“This project demonstrates Ecuador’s commitment to the modernization of public infrastructure and improvement of urban centers across the country,” said Miguel Zaldivar, Global Co-Head of Hogan Lovells’ Infrastructure and Project Finance practice and a partner in the Miami office, who led the legal team. “The tram line will ease traffic congestion in Ecuador’s third largest city, where nearly 80 percent of the population resides within the urban center.”
In addition to Zaldivar, the Hogan Lovells team included Paris partner Bruno Cantier and associates Maria Klass, Melissa Ordoñez, and Benoit Thirion.
The closing of this transaction follows a number of recent significant deals in Latin American in which Hogan Lovells lawyers have been involved.
- In a deal that closed on 28 November 2012, Hogan Lovells also advised the Republic of Ecuador in the execution of an approximately US$260 million loan, granted by the European Investment Bank, which will be used to finance the first metro system for the country’s capital city of Quito.
- In a transaction that represents the largest bond to date by a private sector issuer from Central America, Hogan Lovells advised Banco Industrial, S.A., Guatemala’s largest bank, in a US$500 million bond issuance that closed on 1 November 2012.
- In a securitization that closed on 3 October 2012, Hogan Lovells represented underwriters HSBC Securities (USA) and Global Bank (with a separate team advising the issuer trustee HSBC Panama) in a US$600 million notes issuance to enable the government of Panama to reacquire the Corredor Norte toll road concession.
- In a deal that was finalized on 1 October 2012, Hogan Lovells helped Millicom International Cellular S.A. acquire Cablevisión Paraguay for US$172 million, representing the largest telecommunications deal ever in Paraguay.
- Hogan Lovells has advised Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.(PDVSA), the Venezuelan state oil company, on a number of transactions, including the negotiation and execution of a series of Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contracts with a total value of US$3 billion, and in obtaining US$1 billion in financing, announced on 31 August 2012, to expand the Puerto la Cruz refinery. Hogan Lovells has also advised PDVSA on a US$3 billion bond issuance announced by the company on 11 May 2012.
