| Mayer Brown's São Paulo office opened in 2007 and builds on the firm's 15-year track record in the region. The office offers pragmatic legal and commercial advice and support to both Latin American and foreign companies with business interests in the region and elsewhere, including the United States and Europe.
The São Paulo office is headed by one of the leading international corporate and finance practitioners in the region, Stephen Hood, and is expected to grow rapidly to become one of the largest local offices of any international law firm in Brazil.
Lawyers in the office are fluent in both English and Portuguese and have in-depth local knowledge of the market. The team offers both US and English law capabilities on a broad range of transactions across the principal market sectors including energy and infrastructure, project finance, debt and equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, securitization, structured finance and cross-border debt restructuring.
This presence on the ground is complemented by the firm's Latin America Group and lawyers throughout the firm in the necessary disciplines.
Examples of our work in Brazil
Practice areas of particular note in the São Paulo office include:
Banking & Finance
Mayer Brown is one of the world's leading banking law firms, representing banks around the world in the full range of their financing activities. We have extensive experience advising on both secured and unsecured corporate loans including, in particular, Inter-American Development Bank financings as well as other financings involving multilaterals and export-credit agencies, such as the International Finance Corporation, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, FMO and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. We also have extensive experience advising on pre-export trade financings for Brazilian borrowers and are familiar with the structures usually employed to take security over contract receivables, collection accounts, crops, goods in warehouses and goods in transit. In addition, we are active in financing transactions involving Latin American borrowers. In recent years, acquisition financing (often secured by collateral in a variety of Latin American jurisdictions) for cross-border acquisitions has been a particularly active component of our practice.
Our securitization practice has a reputation for innovation and, we believe, is unparalleled in the region. We regularly advise US and other investment banks and Latin American originators on structuring and implementing sophisticated securitization transactions for receivables and other payment rights originated by financial institutions and other corporates. We recently advised the project sponsors in relation to three Peruvian toll road financings which involved the securitization of Peruvian government receipts issued by way of construction payments. We are a market leader in the securitization of workers' remittances to Brazilian banks, and we advised on the first diversified payment rights securitization in Brazil as well as the first future flow transaction by a Brazilian bank.
Our project finance team regularly represents developers and financial institutions in project and lease financings throughout Latin America and has advised on a series of award-winning deals in the region. We have acted on most of the major project financings undertaken in Brazil over the last ten years. Our particular experience is in the project and lease financing of oil fields, gas pipelines, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, toll roads, power plants, oil platforms, drilling rigs and other infrastructure facilities. Two of our partners, Stephen Hood and Barry Machlin, are ranked in the top tier for project finance work in Latin America by the independent legal directory, Chambers and Partners.
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Private Equity/M&A
We regularly advise Latin American and US companies in connection with private equity investments, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions. We understand the foreign investment, tax, corporate, financing and intellectual property issues that arise in such transactions, and are accustomed to working with local counsel to find innovative, cost-effective solutions to investment objectives.
Mayer Brown provides the full service required for any M&A transaction. Our experienced teams are able to tackle complex issues ranging from tax structuring, merger control and clearance to environmental and regulatory review. Due diligence teams are assembled at short notice that draw from our internationally recognized practices in such areas as employment law, real estate, environmental law, and intellectual property.
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Corporate & Securities
Our São Paulo team has been actively involved in the booming market for IPOs and equity offerings, particularly in Brazil, acting for both underwriters and issuers. In addition, we counsel Latin American companies and their creditors with regard to restructuring transactions, tender offers, exchange offers and consent solicitations, and negotiated restructurings. We also regularly advise corporate clients about compliance with US securities law, including Sarbanes-Oxley.
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Other Practice Areas
Working with our colleagues in other Mayer Brown offices, we offer advice on:
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