Colombian printing and packaging company Carvajal has secured a US$200 million syndicated loan on behalf of several of its companies.
The five-year loans are denominated in both Colombian pesos and US dollars, with US$130 million in dollars and the remainder - 121 million Colombian pesos – in local currency.
Partner Mariana Posse of Posse, Herrera & Ruiz Abogados, Colombian counsel to the lenders, says: “it was a challenging transaction because it involved five jurisdictions and companies located in four different countries.”
The jurisdictions involved are the US, Mexico, Panama and Colombia and Brazil. The loan will fund Carvajal’s expansion in the region, where it has made a number of acquisitions in the last couple of years.
European bank ABN Amro acted as lead arranger for the US dollar leg and Banco Davivienda acted as arranger for the peso leg.
The family-owned group of companies Grupo Carvajal’s businesses include packaging, telecommunications, outsourcing, publishing, technology, and industrial engineering businesses. The group consists of 15 different companies and has divisions in China, Spain and the US.
Counsel to the banks
US
Partner Alejandro Radzyminski and associate Alejandro González
Colombia
Partner Mariana Posse and associates Natalia Escobar and Nicolás Feged
Panama
Partner Arturo Gerbaud and associate Eloy Alfaro.
Mexico
Partner Manuel Galicia and associate Daniel Perez.
Brazil
Partner Carlos José Rolim de Mello and associates Roger Boing and Felipe Gruber
Counsel to Carvajal
US
Partner Howard Kleinman and associate George Yannopoulos.
Colombia
Partner Carlos Urrutia and associates Carolina Arciniegas, Cristina Madero and Felipe Alarcón
Panama
Partner Gabriel González and associate Luis Chalhoub
Mexico
Partner Marcela García
Brazil
Partner Gyedre Palma Carneiro de Oliveira and associate Mariana Borges
(Latin Lawyer 14.07.2008)