Clifford Chance and Cleary Gottlieb Among Firms That Advised on Brazilian Development Bank's $5.2B Sale of Petrobras Shares
Other firms on the deal, which marked the biggest equity sale out of Brazil in 10 years, include Pinheiro Guimarães, Shearman & Sterling, and Lefosse Advogados.
February 18, 2020 at 03:17 PM
3 minute read
Petrobras headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Shutterstock.com
Clifford Chance in New York and São Paulo has advised Brazilian development bank BNDES on a $5.2 billion offering of shares in Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, marking the biggest equity sale from the South American country in 10 years.
The shares were sold both in Brazil and New York as BNDES continues its asset divestiture plans. Clifford Chance said the Petrobras offering, which closed Feb. 10, was the largest follow-on equity offering in 2020 to date globally. Partner Anand Saha led the Clifford Chance team.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton represented Petrobras in New York, led by partners Francesca Odell and Manuel Silva. Lefosse Advogados partners Luiz Octavio Lopes, Rodrigo Junqueira and Felipe Gibson represented the company in Brazil.
A group of five underwriters enlisted help from Shearman & Sterling and Brazilian firm Pinheiro Guimarães, led by partner Francisco Pinheiro Guimarães.
Shearman said the 734 million shares sold accounted for approximately 5.6% of Petrobras' outstanding common shares. Partners Stuart Fleischmann in New York and Roberta Cherman in São Paulo led counsel to the underwriters.
BNDES has been the main driver of development finance in Brazil for decades, since the bank's establishment in 1952. Now, as the development bank pulls back, Brazil-based lawyers say that opportunities are opening for greater private finance in Latin America's largest economy for everything from infrastructure to capital markets.
The Brazilian government set out in 2019 to unload $29 billion of assets held by BNDES, in an attempt to shrink the public sector.
In addition to the Petrobras sale, BNDES has already raised $739 million through the December sale of its 34% stake in meatpacker Marfrig. The development bank plans to soon also sell $1.9 billion of shares in meatpacker JBS.
Patrick Jackson, a São Paulo-based counsel with Clifford Chance who played a lead role in the Petrobras transaction, said BNDES is a long-time client of the firm.
READ MORE:
Jones Day Guides Banks on $739M Share Offer by Brazilian Meatpacker
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