Guerrero Olivos assisted China Southern Power Grid, jointly with Linklaters, on its first M&A transaction in Latin America. On March 15th, 2018, Brookfield Infrastructure has signed definitive agreements to sell its approximate 27.8% interest in ETC Transmission Holdings, S.L., the parent company of Transelec S.A. (“Transelec”), to China Southern Power Grid for US$1.3 billion. The share purchase agreement was executed on later December 2017, however in order to close the transaction, Brookfield had to comply with a ROFO procedure and waiting the proper time the other shareholders had to exercise its tag along rights. These factors add extra tension and complexity to the transaction.
Transelec is the largest pure-play power transmission company in Chile with over 10,000 kilometres of electricity lines serving approximately 98% of the Chilean population.
We have been assisting China Southern Power Grid since the due diligence process and have been working alongside almost all other practice teams at the firm. It was a multi-practice transaction led by Roberto Guerrero (corporate partner), Macarena Ravinet (corporate and M&A partner) and Sebastián Abogabir (natural resource partner). Foreign counsel was Linklaters in New York, Hong Kong and Spain; and Rodrigo, Elias & Medrano in Perú. On the other hand, Brookfield hired Goodmans LLP in Toronto, Herbert Smith Freehills in Madrid and Carey in Santiago.
This transaction reflects a growing trend of increasing China outbound investment into Latin America.
The firm value: USD 5.4 billion