Part of Luz del Sur's Santa Teresa hydroelectric project in Urubamba valley, Peru. Photo: Matyas Rehak/Shutterstock.com

White & Case and Baker McKenzie have the lead roles in Sempra Energy's $3.59 billion sale of its Peruvian assets to China Yangtze Power – the largest outbound M&A transaction by a Chinese company so far this year.

White & Case is advising San Diego-based Sempra Energy on the deal as the company seeks to focus capital investments on its core businesses in the U.S. and Mexico. Baker McKenzie is representing China Yangtze Power. In addition, Muñiz, Olaya, Meléndez, Castro, Ono & Herrera is Peru counsel for China Yangtze Power.

Sempra announced plans to unload its South American businesses in January, amid pressure from activist investors who argued that Sempra's stock had underperformed because the company acquired valuable, but divergent, businesses. Sempra Energy reported more than $60 billion in total assets and approximately 40 million customers worldwide as of 2018.

The investors, Elliott and Bluescape, said they held a 4.9% stake in Sempra worth $1.3 billion in June 2018, when the activists began publicly lobbying for change at the California-based utility.

Baker McKenzie partner Lewis Popoff is counseling China Yangtze Power from the firm's Chicago office, with assistance from Federico Cuadra Del Carmen in the firm's Miami office. At White & Case, partners Thomas Lauria and Marwan Azzi are lead counsel for Sempra, with help from New York-based partners Greg Pryor, Michael Deyong, David Dreier, Henrik Patel, Arlene Arin Hahn, Damien Nyer and Seth Kerschner; partner Vivian Tsoi in Shanghai; and partners Grace Fan-Delatour and Shaohui Jiang in Beijing.

Partner Andres Kuan-Veng of Muñiz, Olaya, Meléndez, Castro, Ono & Herrera is Peru counsel for China Yangtze Power.

In addition to its Peruvian assets, Sempra aims to sell its Chilean properties, Chilquinta Energía and Tecnored.

Sempra CEO Jeffrey W. Martin made this pitch in his January announcement of the planned sales: "Luz del Sur in Peru, Chilquinta Energía in Chile and their affiliates have been strong-performing investments for us over the past two decades of our ownership. They've made significant contributions to Sempra Energy and offer exciting future growth opportunities."

Italian utility Enel earlier this year made a non-binding bid for the assets Sempra was looking to sell in Chile and Peru.

China Yangtze Power, headquartered in Beijing, is the largest hydropower company in the world, with a market capitalisation of approximately $58 billion.

Baker McKenzie said in a statement that the Peru acquisition represents the Chinese firm's first-ever purchase of power distribution assets from a mature market overseas and is an important step for the company's sustainable development.

China Yangtze Power will take an 83.6% stake in Luz del Sur, a utility company that serves southern Lima, the capital of Peru. Luz del Sur is the largest publicly listed power company in that country. The sale will also include Sempra's interest in Tecsur, which provides electric construction and infrastructure services to Luz del Sur and third parties, and Inland Energy, Luz del Sur's generation business. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.