Latham Advises on Three Deals of the Year in Latin America

LatinFinance recognized Latham & Watkins’ Latin America Practice for advising on three innovative and market-leading transactions in its annual Deals of the Year awards, including:

• Follow-On Equity Offering of the Year – Latham advised Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) on its US$1.6 billion follow-on equity offering, the largest equity offering in Latin America in 2016. LatinFinance noted that, “Typically, when companies announce an equity sale, their stock price dips. But when IEnova unveiled its follow-on in October 2016, its shares rose above 83 Mexican pesos, representing a 5.6% premium from launch date to pricing day. IEnova offered the stock for 80 pesos, only a 1.1% discount to its last closing price, making it LatinFinance’s Follow-on Equity Offering of the Year.”
• Private Equity Deal of the Year – Latham advised IEnova on its acquisition of Mexico’s largest wind farm complex, Ventika, from Blackstone Energy Partners. “IEnova agreed to buy Ventika for US$375 million in cash and took on roughly US$477 million in debt from Fisterra Energy, a portfolio company owned by private equity firm Blackstone,” noted LatinFinance. “And for its execution, IEnova’s purchase of the wind farm is LatinFinance’s Private Equity Deal of the Year.”
• Financing Innovation of the Year – Latham advised Vista Oil & Gas, S.A.B. de C.V. (Vista), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) focused on oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), in its US$650 million global initial public offering (IPO), the first SPAC IPO in Latin America and the first oil and gas E&P-focused company to list in Mexico. “Vista Oil & Gas jumped on an improved equity market to raise US$650 million in an IPO. In the process, the Mexican-based company introduced a new asset class to Latin America – the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC,” noted LatinFinance. “It convinced investors to bet on an untried asset class and completed one of the largest SPAC IPOs in history, making it LatinFinance’s Financing Innovation of the Year.”

LatinFinance’s annual Deals of the Year awards recognize the outstanding institutions and transactions in the M&A and capital markets of Latin America and the Caribbean, and are determined by LatinFinance’s editors through discussions with market participants and examination of the structure, timing and execution of transactions.