Bernardo P Cárdenas Martínez

Work Highlights

Banking and Finance experience:

• United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC): Local counsel to DFC as lender in a credit facility agreement granted to finance the expansion of a large-scale sustainable forestry plantation. Amount of the transaction: USD$22 million.

• Finnish Fund For Industrial Cooperation Ltda: Advisors in the financing granted by Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation to Forest First Colombia S.A.S. for up to USD$1.5 million.

Mergers and acquisitions experience:

• TC Transcontinental: Advising TC Transcontinental on the acquisition of Banaplast S.A.S. a flexible packaging company based in Armenia, Colombia. We assisted our Client in the preparation of a due diligence report within the target, in the negotiation and review of the SPA from the point of view of Colombian law and in the negotiation of the closing documents of the transaction

• Tyndall Group: Advising on the sale of 99.71% of the outstanding shares of Distribuidora Andina de Combustibles S.A. (formerly ExxonMobil Colombia) to Primax S.A. In this auction sale process, we advised Tyndall in the structuring of the transaction and in the drafting and negotiation of the transaction documents with Primax and three other bidders interested in the acquisition of the shares. Approximate Value of the Transaction: US$232 million.

Practice Areas

Banking and Finance; Corporate; Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Project Development; Securities and Corporate Finance; Environment and Natural Resources; Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Career

Bernardo Cárdenas is Bogotá’s office managing partner whose main focus is Mergers and & Acquisitions and Banking and Finance practices. Major legal directories universally rank him as a top tier lawyer. With more than 30 years of experience, including a period with a leading US law firm, he leads Dentons M&A and Banking and Finance practice teams. His experience includes some of the most significant transactions and financings in recent Colombian history, advising Tyndall Group on the sale of a majority shareholding to Primax S.A. (a Peruvian gasoline retailer) in Distribuidora Andina de Combustibles, formerly Exxon Mobil Colombia. He also counseled the French enterprise, Group Saur on the purchase of a majority of the shares of Naunet S.A., an aqueduct and sewage company in Colombia’s northern region. Bernardo acted as local counsel during the issuance of debtor-in-possession (DIP) guaranteed notes by Pacific Exploration & Production Corporation to the current noteholders and Catalyst Capital Group Inc. This was one of the first and most important cross-border insolvency and financing deals presented before the Colombian authorities testing the current cross-border insolvency Colombian regime.

Professional Memberships

College of Universidad Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario Lawyers; • College of Mining and Petroleum Lawyers.

Languages Spoken

English; Spanish

Education

Awards