Americas: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance advised IDB Invest, as purchaser of record and arranger, and Banco Santander, S.A. and BNP Paribas Securities Corp. as co-arrangers, in connection with an A/B purchase facility in connection with the sale and purchase of receivables created under the Tariff Stabilization Mechanism of Chile for approximately US$139 million.
This transaction is Latin America’s first ever tariff stabilization A/B purchase facility and was closed under a temporary Chilean electricity tariff stabilization law (Chilean Law No. 21,185) that was enacted in October 2019.
Partner Fabricio Longhin led the transaction, with support from lead associate Alejandro Leon and law clerk Rossmery Romero.
“Differing from the securitization of tariff stabilization receivables we closed last week, which was targeted to corporate generators, this transaction has been tailored to accommodate the particular needs of single-asset project financed generators,” says Longhin. “The political umbrella provided by IDB Invest’s involvement as purchaser of record under this A/B purchase facility, combined with the credibility that Santander and BNP Paribas brought to the table, helped mobilize significant private sector resources towards a novel credit instrument and will certainly serve as a template for similar structures across the region.”
The wider transaction team was assembled from the firm’s projects, capital markets, and banking and finance teams and included partners Gareth Old and Mark Pesso in New York.
The transaction follows the recent closing of Latin Americas first tariff stabilization securitization, and the firm’s recent work on more than US$2 billion of debt transactions in Brazil. Clifford Chance has also advised IDB Invest in connection with the R$950 million financing to Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo, the largest water and sanitation company in Latin America, and Solaria EnergÃa y Medio Ambiente S.A in connection with the approximately US$29 million B-Bond refinancing of the Natelu and Yarnel solar plants in Uruguay.
