Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has represented the underwriters, Credit Suisse and HSBC, in the $1.5 billion SEC-registered offering of notes due 2026 by Colombia’s state-owned oil and gas major Ecopetrol. This marks Ecopetrol’s first capital markets offering since completing its adoption of and transition to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
The Milbank team was led by Global Securities partner Carlos Albarracín and included Tax partner Andrew Walker, Transportation and Space partner Dara Panahy and associates Alex Speyer, Donald Canavaggio, Bijan Ganji, Michael Goon and international associate Natalia Franco.
Ecopetrol, which accounts for almost two-thirds of Colombia’s crude oil production, also has exploration and production operations in Peru, Brazil, and the Gulf of Mexico.
In February 2015, Milbank advised a group of 8 international banks in providing a $1.925 billion loan agreement for Ecopetrol, this was one of Colombia’s largest cross-border bank financings to date. Milbank also previously advised underwriters in two large capital markets offerings by Ecopetrol: In 2014 the firm represented Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities in Ecopetrol’s $2 billion issuance of 31-year notes; and in 2013 the firm represented Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley in a three-tranche bond offering totaling $2.5 billion, the largest debt offering ever made by a Colombian company.
