Sergio J. Galvis

Recognized by Latin Lawyer as its 2015 International Lawyer of the Year, Sergio Galvis has advised on hundreds of matters involving parties from more than 25 countries in Asia, Europe and Latin America on significant matters in a wide range of practice areas and industry sectors, including:

• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Joint Ventures
• Project Finance
• Securities
• Oil and Gas
• Metals and Mining
• Sovereign and Corporate Debt Restructuring
• Private Equity

Mr. Galvis is a member of S&C’s Management Committee, heads our Latin America Group and coordinates our practice in Spain. He is also Head of Global Recruiting.

Mr. Galvis has been recognized in a number of publications, including Chambers, Euromoney, The Legal 500, IFLR and Latin Lawyer. In 2008, he was named by The National Law Journal as one of “The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” and by HispanicBusiness magazine as one of “The 100 Most Influential U.S. Hispanics.” Mr. Galvis writes frequently on international legal and financial matters. He received the Burton Award for Legal Achievement in 2004 for his article “Sovereign Debt Restructurings – the Market Knows Best,” published in International Finance; in 2010 for the article “Latin American Firms Pursue Global Status,” co-authored with Frank Aquila and published in the Latin Business Chronicle; and in 2011 for the article “Introducing Dodd-Frank,” co-authored with Samuel Woodall and published in Latin Lawyer. Mr. Galvis was part of a group of eminent practitioners convened by a G-10 Working Group in 2002 to help develop collective action clauses for sovereign debt financings and their further development in 2014 and 2015. He was a participant in Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.’s 2007 Conference on U.S. Capital Markets Competitiveness.

Mr. Galvis is involved with a number of not-for-profit and foreign policy organizations, including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council of the Americas.

In 2010, he received the Distinguished Global Citizen Award at the Global Kids annual benefit, where he was honored for his commitment to organizations that promote educational opportunities, arts education and international cooperation.

Mr. Galvis was born in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish

Recognitions

Mr. Galvis is regularly recognized in the areas of M&A, private equity, project development and finance, capital markets, and Latin American investment by the following authorities:

• Chambers Global
• Chambers Latin America
• Chambers USA
• The Legal 500 Latin America
• The Legal 500 United States
• IFLR1000
• Law360
• Lawdragon
• Latin Lawyer

Selected Representations

M&A

• OCP (Ecuador) in connection with the $385 million acquisition by Sinopec (China) of a 30 percent interest in OCP, including the assignment of transportation and other rights
• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (Japan) in its $1 billion acquisition of an additional 13 percent interest in the Morenci copper mine operated by Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (U.S.)
• AT&T (U.S.) in its $1.875 billion acquisition of Nextel Mexico
• Repsol (Spain) as U.S. counsel in its agreement with Talisman Energy (Canada) to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Talisman for US$8.3 billion
• AT&T (U.S.) in its $2.5 billion acquisition of Mexican wireless company Iusacell from Grupo Salinas (Mexico)
• Bancolombia S.A. (Colombia) in its $2.2 billion acquisition of HSBC Bank (Panama) S.A. and its subsidiaries, the largest-ever foreign acquisition by a Colombian company
• LAN Airlines S.A. (Chile) in its combination with TAM S.A. (Brazil), creating the largest airline in Latin America and one of the largest in the world
• Cementos Argos S.A. (Colombia) in its acquisition of Lafarge S.A.’s 53 percent stake in Lafarge Cementos S.A. de C.V., a Honduran cement company, for €232 million (reflecting a total enterprise value of €435 million)
• Ally Financial Inc. in the $865 million sale of its Mexican insurance business, ABA Seguros, to the ACE Group; and in the $4.2 billion sale of its international operations, including in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile
• UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (U.S.) in its pending $4.9 billion acquisition of 90 percent of Amil Participações S.A. (Brazil)
• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA) (Spain) in the $1.6 billion sale of its Mexican pension fund administrator, Administradora de Fondos para el Retiro Bancomer, S.A. de C.V., to Afore XXI Banorte, S.A. de C.V. (Mexico)
• Antofagasta plc (U.K.) in the $350 million acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30 percent interest in Minera Antucoya (Chile) and in the $1.4 billion acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30 percent interest in each of Minera Esperanza (Chile) and Minera El Tesoro (Chile)
• ING Groep N.V. (Netherlands) in the $3.8 billion sale of its Latin American pensions, life insurance and investment management operations to Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA (Colombia)
• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Ltd. (Japan) and Sumitomo Corporation (U.S.) in their $2.9 billion joint venture with Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. (Canada), for investment in the Sierra Gorda copper-molybdenum project (Chile)
• The Royal Bank of Scotland in the sale of its Argentine operations to Banco Comafi; and separately, in the individual sales of its Chilean and Colombian banking operations to Scotiabank (Canada)
• Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Japan) in its acquisition – with The Mosaic Company and Vale S.A. – of non-controlling stakes in a phosphorus ore project being developed by Vale in the Bayóvar area of Peru’s Piura Province – the transaction valued the Bayóvar project at $1.1 billion, with a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui having purchased 25 percent of the project for $275 million
• Anglo American (U.K.) in its $5.5 billion acquisition of IronX (renamed Anglo Ferrous Brazil S.A.) demerged from MMX Mineração e Metálicos S.A. (Brazil), through an initial acquisition of a 63.5 percent stake from controlling shareholders and a following tagalong to remaining shareholders. Anglo Ferrous owns a 51 percent interest in the Minas-Rio iron ore mining project and 70 percent interest in the Amapá iron ore system
• Antofagasta plc (U.K.) in the $1.4 billion acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30 percent interest in each of Minera Esperanza (Chile), which is developing a greenfield copper-gold mining project, and Minera El Tesoro (Chile), which owns and operates an existing open-pit copper mine
• Tenaris (Argentina/Luxembourg) in its $2.2 billion acquisition of Hydril Company (U.S.) and $3.185 billion acquisition of Maverick Tube Corporation (U.S.)
• Endesa (Spain) in the $58.4 billion acquisition by Enel (Italy) and Acciona (Spain), as well as in the prior unsolicited bids for Endesa by E.ON (Germany) for $81.8 billion and Gas Natural (Spain) for $52.3 billion
• Bancolombia (Colombia) in its $790 million acquisition of Banagrícola (El Salvador) and $1 billion three-way merger with CONAVI (Colombia) and CORFINSURA (Colombia)
• Camargo Corrêa (Brazil) in its $1.025 billion acquisition of Loma Negra (Argentina) and its subsidiaries

Private Equity

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) (Canada), as member of a private equity consortium in the $1.5 billion acquisition of HQI Transelec Chile (Chile) from Hydro-Québec (Canada)
• GP Investimentos (Brazil) in its $64 million acquisition (with other investors) of a 40 percent stake in Fogo de Chão Churrascarias (Holdings) LLP (Brazil)

Project Development and Finance

• Minera Antucoya, whose sponsors are Antofagasta plc and Marubeni Corporation, in the $650 million financing for the Antucoya copper project in Chile’s Antofagasta region
• Sierra Gorda SCM, the project company, whose sponsors are Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Metal Mining and KGHM International, in the $1 billion financing for the Sierra Gorda copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile’s Antofagasta region
• Minera Esperanza, the project company, whose sponsors are Antofagasta plc and Marubeni Corporation, in the development and financing of the $2.4 billion greenfield copper, gold and silver project in the Atacama desert (Chile). This was the largest mining project ever to close in Latin America and was awarded the 2009 Americas Mining Deal of the Year by Project Finance International and 2009 Latin American Mining & Metals Deal of the Year by Project Finance
• Marcobre, the project company, whose sponsors are Chariot Resources Limited, Korea Resources Corporation and LS-Nikko Copper Inc., in the development and financing of the estimated $430 million Marcona copper project (Peru)
• Panama Canal Authority (Panama) – advice on the legal and constitutional framework in preparation for the expansion of the Panama Canal (2004 to 2007)
• Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., as sponsors in the Cerro Verde II Project (Peru) – $850 million copper mining expansion financing (Latin Lawyer 2005 Project Finance Deal of the Year and Project Finance 2005 Latin American Mining Deal of the Year)
• OCP Pipeline Project (Ecuador) and ongoing work – $1.4 billion
• Los Pelambres Copper Project Refinancing (Chile) – $460 million
• Camisea Gas Project (Peru) - $837 million project financing of LNG project (Project Finance 2004 Latin America Oil & Gas Deal of the Year)
• Ocensa Pipeline Project (Colombia)
• EVM oil and gas project (Brazil)
• Petrozuata Heavy Crude Oil Project (Venezuela)

Securities and Other Financings

• Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) in repurchase transactions involving three series of BONAR sovereign bonds with a group of seven international banks, increasing BCRA’s USD cash reserves by $5 billion
• Repsol S.A. in its disposition of Argentine Government bonds received as compensation for the expropriation of shares in YPF S.A. and its remaining interest in YPF
• Ternium (Argentina/Luxembourg), in its formation as a holding company and operating subsidiaries in Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, its $496.8 million IPO and its NYSE listing
• Tenaris (Argentina/Luxembourg) in the multi-jurisdictional $2.1 billion stock-for-stock exchange offer for the outstanding shares of Siderca (Argentina), TAMSA (Mexico) and Dalmine (Italy)

Sovereign and Corporate Debt Restructurings

• Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) in repurchase transactions involving three series of BONAR sovereign bonds with a group of seven international banks, increasing BCRA’s USD cash reserves by $5 billion
• The Republic of Paraguay in the Debut Rule 144A offering of bonds listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and trading on the Euro MTF market totaling $500 million
• The International Managing Banks on the restructuring of more than $100 billion of Argentina’s external debt. This was the largest sovereign exchange offer to date and was named by Latin Lawyer as the 2005 Debt Restructuring Deal of the Year and by The Banker for its Deals of the Year 2005
• Sidor (Venezuela) in the restructuring through which Sidor and its controlling shareholder, Amazonia, reduced their aggregate financial debt from $1.9 billion to $791 million
• The bank lenders and bondholders (mostly U.S.) in connection with restructuring the indebtedness of Cablevisión (Argentina)
• Siderar (Argentina) in the restructuring of approximately $470 million of its outstanding debt

Oil and Gas

• Repsol (Spain) as U.S. counsel in its agreement with Talisman Energy (Canada) to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Talisman for US$8.3 billion
• Camisea Gas Project (Peru) - $837 million project financing of LNG project (Project Finance 2004 Latin America Oil & Gas Deal of the Year)
• Senior lenders in the $1.6 billion financing and refinancing of the EVM oil and gas project (Brazil)
• OCP (Ecuador) in connection with the $385 million acquisition by Sinopec (China) of a 30 percent interest in OCP, including the assignment of transportation and other rights
• Ocensa Pipeline Project (Colombia)
• Petrozuata Heavy Crude Oil Project (Venezuela)

Metals and Mining

• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (Japan) in its $1 billion acquisition of an additional 13 percent interest in the Morenci copper mine operated by Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (U.S.)
• Minera Antucoya, whose sponsors are Antofagasta plc and Marubeni Corporation, in the $650 million financing for the Antucoya copper project in Chile’s Antofagasta region
• Sumitomo Metal Mining Co, Ltd. (Japan) and Sumitomo Corporation (U.S.) in their $2.9 billion joint venture with Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. (Canada), for investment in the Sierra Gorda copper-molybdenum project (Chile)
• Sierra Gorda SCM, the project company, whose sponsors are Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo Metal Mining and KGHM International, in the $1 billion financing for the Sierra Gorda copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile’s Antofagasta region
• Antofagasta plc (U.K.) in the $350 million acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30 percent interest in Minera Antucoya (Chile) and in the $1.4 billion acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30 percent interest in each of Minera Esperanza (Chile) and Minera El Tesoro (Chile)
• Minera Esperanza project financing (Chile)
• Marcobre, the project company, to provide advice regarding the development and financing of the estimated $430 million Marcona copper project (Peru)
• Sumitomo (Japan) in the $443 million purchase of an equity stake in Cerro Verde (Peru)
• Collahuasi Copper Mining project refinancing (Chile)

Practices and Capabilities

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Private Equity
• Latin America
• Natural Resources
• Project Development & Finance
• Capital Markets, Leveraged Finance & Lending
• Leveraged Finance
• High-Yield Debt
• Restructuring
• Equity & Debt Capital Markets
• FCPA & Anti-Corruption

Education

• 1983, Harvard Law School, J.D.
• 1980, College of William and Mary, B.A.

Bar Admissions

• New York

Clerkships

• The Honorable Lawrence W. Pierce, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1983-1984

Languages

• Spanish
• Portuguese

Additional Bio

• Spanish Bio

See Library Tab for articles, publications and presentations by Sergio Galvis