NEW YORK, December 18, 2007 – Underscoring continued investor confidence in Mexico’s housing industry, leading Mexican homebuilder Urbi, Desarrollos Urbanos, S.A.B. de C.V. (“Urbi”) has issued US$280 million in a global equity offering under Rule 144A/Regulation S. The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, led by partner Michael Fitzgerald, represented Urbi in structuring and closing the offering.
Mr. Fitzgerald stated that “Despite the current turbulence in the financial markets, this offering was significantly oversubscribed by domestic and international investors, reflecting the strength of investor interest in the Mexican housing industry and Urbi’s record of profitable growth.”
Milbank has a longstanding relationship with Urbi, representing the company in numerous transactions including a US$150 million international high yield offering in May 2006 and its US$175 million initial public offering in May 2004.
In addition to Mr. Fitzgerald, the Milbank team included partners Joy Gallup and Bruce Kayle (tax), of counsel Frank Vivero, associates Stephen Diamond, Pedro Reyes, Benjamin Suhr and Leo Vellis, and international attorney Marco Isoard.
The US$280 million stock offering, likely the last equity offering of the year out of Mexico, was priced at Ps.37.00 per common share. The offering, which included the exercise in full of the over-allotment option, was placed simultaneously through a public offering in Mexico, the United States and other countries on November 15, 2007. The proceeds will be used for strategic investments. UBS Investment Bank and BBVA Bancomer were the lead global coordinators and the lead managers.
Urbi, Desarrollos Urbanos S.A.B. de C.V. [MSE: URBI] is one of the leading companies in the housing sector in Mexico and the largest developer in the northern states, a region with one of the country’s highest growth rates. Additionally, Urbi has a growing presence in the country’s metropolitan areas. In its 26 years of operations, Urbi has developed over 220,000 homes and has consistently been one of the most profitable companies in the sector.
Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group
Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group has played a prominent role in some of the region’s most innovative and complex transactions, including securities offerings, M&A, project financings and restructurings. Milbank’s Latin America Practice Group is renowned for its leadership in sophisticated cross-border transactions and combines both the transactional and regulatory expertise necessary to successfully negotiate and close innovative securities offerings and other transactions across a wide range of industries.
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 and transactions, 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.