Actively representing clients in Brazil for nearly half a century, Davis Polk has advised on many of the largest and groundbreaking international securities offerings, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments and project financings involving Brazilian companies. To expand on our strong position among international firms in Brazil and further enhance the services and capabilities we provide to our clients there, Davis Polk recently established our São Paulo office, which is staffed with a number of the market’s most highly regarded lawyers.

Our São Paulo office is home to a number of senior lawyers who are considered to be among the top international practitioners in the market. Included are Manuel Garciadiaz and Maurice Blanco, each of whom has advised on a number of the most notable recent securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments in Brazilian history. Joining them are Stephen Hood and James Vickers, who are among the leading international project finance lawyers in Brazil and Latin America more generally.

Our Brazil practice also includes senior lawyers from other Davis Polk offices, including corporate partners Andrés Gil, Michael Willisch, Joseph Hall and Nicholas Kronfeld as well as M&A partners John Amorosi, Michael Davis, Diane Kerr and Paul Kingsley, and credit and project finance partner Waide Warner.

 

• “Corporate Finance Deal of the Year” (OGX high-yield bond offering) – Latin Lawyer Deal of the Year Awards 2012
  
  
  
• “Finance Deal of the Year” (Embraport’s financing for Brazil’s Santos Port Project) – Latin Lawyer Deal of the Year Awards 2012
  
  
  
• “Accomplished practitioners and a strong firm, very respected in Brazil.” – Chambers Latin America 2012
  
  
  
• 1^st tier among law firms in Brazilian International Corporate Counsel – Chambers Global 2012
  
  
  
• “[Davis Polk] has a long history of involvement in Brazil and frequently advises on some of the most significant deals in the country” – Chambers Global 2012
  
  
  
• 1^st tier in “International Firms in Brazil” – IFLR1000 2012
  
  
  
• 1^st tier in “Capital Markets: Lawyers Based Abroad, Leading Firm” – Chambers Latin America 2012
  
  
  
• “The strong relationship it enjoys with the local market combined with the top-quality service it offers has ensured the team a remarkable level of visibility.” -- Chambers Latin America 2011
  
  
  
• 1^st tier as overseas counsel in Brazilian capital markets transactions – Chambers Latin America 2011
  
  
  
• 1^st among U.S. law firms in Brazilian M&A deals completed in 2011 – Thomson Reuters
  
  
  
• “The group’s hugely impressive track record in Brazil impresses many sources and includes some of the most high-profile and innovative transactions to have taken place in the country over the past few decades.” – Chambers Global 2010

 

• Banco do Brasil. $4.9 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of common stock by Banco do Brasil, the largest bank in Latin America in terms of total assets.
  
  
• Banco Santander (Brasil). $7.5 billion initial public offering of Banco Santander (Brasil), a Brazilian financial institution – the largest Latin American IPO in history.
  
  
• Brasil Foods. $2.4 billion SEC-registered offering of common stock and ADRs by BRF – Brasil Foods, one of the largest food companies in Brazil.
  
  
• Cosan S.A. Indústria e Comércio/Shell Joint Venture. $12 billion joint venture by our client Cosan S.A. Indústria e Comércio and Shell in Brazil for the production of ethanol, sugar and power, and supply, distribution and retail of transportation fuels.
  
  
• MMX Mineração/Anglo American. $5.5 billion splitup of our client MMX Mineração e Metálicos, Brazilian mining, metallics and logistics company and subsequent sale of one of the resulting companies, IronX Mineração, to an affiliate of U.K.-based Anglo American, a worldwide mining and natural resource group.
  
  
• Odebrecht Óleo e Gás. $1.5 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of senior secured notes by our client Odebrecht Drilling Norbe VIII/IX Ltd., a wholly owned project finance subsidiary of Odebrecht Óleo e Gás (OOG). The note proceeds will be used to pay for the construction of two deep-sea drillships, which will be chartered to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) and operated by OOG. This project bond offering was the largest debt offering in Brazil in 2010 and one of the largest project bond issuances ever in Latin America.
  
  
• OGX. $2.6 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S offering of high-yield senior notes by OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações, the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company in Latin America -- the largest-ever high-yield notes offering by a Latin American issuer.
  
  
• Ultrapar Participações/Ipiranga Group. $4.1 billion acquisition of the Ipiranga Group, a Brazilian fuel distribution and petrochemicals conglomerate, by our client Ultrapar Participações, Brazil’s largest distributor of liquefied petroleum gas and its second-largest fuel distributor. This transaction was one of the largest and most complex Brazilian M&A transactions.