Drawing on insight from the leading investors, issuers and bankers doing work across Latin America, LatinFinance made its 2008 Deal of the Year selections, and Shearman & Sterling’s commanding work from New York and São Paulo, across Capital Markets, M&A and Project Development & Finance, drew the following recognition: 

• Best Domestic M&A Transaction 2008 | Bovespa/BM&F
• Best Follow-on Equity Issue 2008 | Gerdau
• Best Project Finance Deal 2008 | Angamos Power Project
• Best Sovereign Issuer 2008 | República Oriental del Uruguay
• Best Sovereign Liability Management 2008 | República Oriental del Uruguay

Best Domestic M&A Transaction 2008 | Bovespa/BM&F

Shearman & Sterling provided US securities counsel for Bovespa, the São Paulo stock exchange, and BM&F, the São Paulo commodities and futures exchange, on their historic merger. The resulting company, BM&F Bovespa S.A., is one of the world’s four largest exchanges by market value, negotiating 80% of stock deals in Latin America and over $67 billion in daily futures trades. On the May 8 approval date, the market value of the combined exchanges was over $22 billion. This was a massive and complex deal - both exchanges had recently gone public and had a significant US shareholder base. The firm designed a quick, cost-effective way to comply with US securities laws. The Shearman & Sterling São Paulo-based team was led by partner Andrew Jánszky and included associate Claudio Oksenberg.

Best Follow-on Equity Issue 2008 | Gerdau

Shearman & Sterling advised on the $2.3 billion follow-on offering of common and preferred shares of Gerdau and its holding company Metalurgica Gerdau, which included the registered offering of preferred shares of Gerdau in the form of ADRs. Gerdau is Brazil's largest producer of long, rolled steel and the second largest in North America. The Shearman & Sterling São Paulo-based team was led by partner Andrew Jánszky and included associates Tobias Stirnberg, Vanda Bernardes, Tatiana Tafarello and Pedro Amaral.

Best Project Finance Deal 2008 | Angamos Power Project

Shearman & Sterling advised BNP Paribas and ABN AMRO as mandated lead arrangers in the $998 million senior secured non-recourse project financing for the approximately 465 MW coal-fired Angamos power generation facility being developed by The AES Corporation, through its Chilean subsidiary AES Gener SA., in which a portion of the debt ($675 million) was insured by the Korean Export Insurance Company (KEIC) against political and commercial risk. The Angamos Power Project was also awarded “Power Deal of the Year 2008” by Project Finance International. The New York-based Project Development & Finance team was led by partner Gregory Tan and included associates Alexandro M. Padrés, Karen Saah, Danny Choi, Courtney Lemli and Joanna Leung and international associate Rosario Celedón.

Best Sovereign Issuer 2008 | República Oriental del Uruguay
Best Sovereign Liability Management 2008 | República Oriental del Uruguay

As designated underwriters’ counsel for the Republic of Uruguay, Shearman & Sterling represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. as dealer managers in connection with $875 million concurrent U.S.-only and offshore-only tender and exchange offers to holders of certain of Uruguay's outstanding U.S. dollar- and euro-denominated debt instruments, which offers were conducted simultaneously with a local Uruguayan tender and exchange offer. The New York-based team was led by Capital Markets partner Antonia Stolper, and included Tax partner Don Lonczak and associates Christopher Ross (Finance Group) and Brian M. Gatta (Capital Markets).