WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2009 – As part of one of the largest series of Latin American telecom financing deals this year, Mexican telecom operator América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. has signed a loan facility for a second US$1 billion to finance the acquisition of telecom equipment and services, this time from Huawei Technologies Co. With over 176 million customers, América Móvil is Latin America’s largest mobile phone operator. The China Development Bank Corporation (“CDB”) acted as Lender, sole Lead Arranger and Agent for this most recent loan. Last month América Móvil signed three loan facilities also totaling over US$1 billion to finance the acquisition of telecom equipment and services from Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson AB, supported by export credit guarantees from Finnvera, the Finnish national export credit agency, Exportkreditnämnden, the Swedish national export credit agency, and from AB Svensk Exportkredit, the state-owned Swedish Export Credit Corporation.
The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partner Glenn S. Gerstell, represented CDB in drafting and negotiating the financing documents in this latest deal. Milbank represented Citigroup Global Markets Inc. as sole Lead Arranger and Agent for the three previous facilities.
Commenting on the deal, Mr. Gerstell noted, “It was a superb effort by all of the parties involved to complete a series of transactions of this magnitude in such a timely and effective manner. The US$2 billion in loans certainly shows how important development banks and export credit agencies are in today’s telecom financings. Milbank was able to quickly and efficiently handle this transaction because of our extensive experience in Latin American telecom financing and our familiarity with export credit agencies and supply contract financing.”
Mr. Gerstell is the managing partner of Milbank’s Washington, DC office and heads the firm’s global communications practice. In addition to Mr. Gerstell, the Milbank team representing CDB included associates Gavin W. McKeon, J. Christina Broch and Frederick S. Cristman.
Milbank acted as New York counsel to CDB and Ritch Mueller, S.C. advised CDB as to Mexican law. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP acted as New York counsel to América Móvil and Galicia y Robles, S.C. advised América Móvil as to Mexican law.
About Milbank
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is a preeminent global law firm that for more than 140 years has provided innovative legal solutions in many of the world’s largest, most complex, “first-ever” corporate transactions and litigation. Our transactional expertise includes capital markets, corporate finance, project finance, acquisition finance and other major fields of law practice. Milbank litigation teams resolve disputes involving mergers and acquisitions, proxy battles, financings and securities offerings, intellectual property, white collar crime, and corporate restructurings, among others. Our clients range from prominent multinational financial, industrial and commercial enterprises to governments, institutions and individuals. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, DC.