Milbank LLP represented the initial purchasers in the COP$2.3 trillion Colombian Peso-denominated senior notes offering by Empresas Públicas de Medellín E.S.P., a Colombian state-owned generation and transmission company.
Global Capital Markets partner Carlos Albarracín led the Milbank deal team along with Capital Markets associate Don Canavaggio and international attorney Clara Robledo-Sanchez. The team also included Tax partner Andrew Walker and associate Jules Mugema.
Mr. Albarracín said: “Milbank is pleased to have represented the initial purchasers in another bond offering by Empresas Públicas de Medellín, which plays a major role in Colombia’s thriving economy. This offering is the first Colombian peso-denominated corporate bond offering since 2014, which shows investors’ renewed confidence in Colombia.”
Milbank continues to have strong legal presence in Colombia and has previously been involved in transactions related to Empresas Públicas de Medellín, including securing a $1 billion loan from a consortium of international banks, in which proceeds will be used to help fund the Ituango hydroelectric power plant and representing the initial purchasers in the $500 million Colombian peso-denominated offering of senior notes. Milbank also recently represented the lenders in Canadian private equity group Brookfield Asset Management's 1.8 billion peso (US$600 million) acquisition of a stake in Colombian power company Isagen from state-owned companies Empresa de Energía de Bogotá and Empresas Públicas de Medellín.
In 2016, Milbank advised on a series of noteworthy transactions related to Colombia’s massive 4G road infrastructure program, which includes 47 projects worth $25 billion, to rehabilitate and operate an extensive series of highways. This included the representation of Colombian Concessionaire Concesión Pacífico Tres S.A.S. and its sponsors, in connection with structuring a dual-currency project bond and financing package, the first debt financing of its kind tied to a toll-road concession infrastructure plan.
