Shearman & Sterling recently earned high honors at the 2014 Latin Lawyer Deal of the Year Awards in São Paulo. The firm’s work on the financing of the $1.6 billion Chaglla hydropower project in Peru was selected as the “Project Finance Deal of the Year,” and its work on Casino v. Diniz received the award for “Dispute of the Year.”

The firm represented BNDES in connection with the Chaglla hydropower project, which involves various co-lenders including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Corporacion Financiera de Desarrollo S.A. (COFIDE) and several commercial banks as B lenders. This transaction represents the first time that Brazil’s national development bank, BNDES, has taken project finance risk without a completion guarantee. Once completed in 2016, the project will be Peru’s third-largest hydro facility and will provide approximately 13% of the country’s installed hydro power, helping Peru meet growing demand for energy while helping to diversify its energy matrix and reduce its carbon footprint.

The Shearman & Sterling team was led by partner Cynthia Urda Kassis (New York-Project Development & Finance) and included partner Howard Steinberg (New York-Project Development & Finance) and associates Ayako Adachi (New York-Project Development & Finance) and Christopher Dolan (Washington, DC-Project Development & Finance).

The firm also represented European retail giant Casino as claimant in an ICC arbitration in São Paulo against its joint venture partner, Brazilian tycoon Abilio Diniz. The dispute concerned breaches of a shareholders’ agreement concluded between the parties relating to the control of Brazil’s largest retailer. Brazilian law applied, and over US$1 billion was at stake in the dispute. Ultimately, the parties achieved a settlement on the eve of the merits hearings. 

Latin Lawyer, a business law resource for Latin America, provides news and analysis of deals and cases, as well as legal and policy developments across the region.