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Firm advises construction materials firm Cementos Progreso in $350 million offering, and top bank Banco de los Trabajadores in $150 million offering – first time offering for each company
In quick succession this month, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has advised on two large capital markets deals on behalf of first-time corporate issuers in Guatemala. The two offerings of senior notes together raised $500 million.
In the first transaction, Milbank represented leading Guatemalan building materials company Cementos Progreso, S.A. in issuing $350 million in 7.125% Senior Notes due 2023. Founded in 1899 as one of the first cement factories ever established in Latin America, Cementos Progreso has grown into one of the region’s leading construction materials companies, with three major production facilities in Guatemala. This was the first time the company accessed the international capital markets.
In the second transaction, Milbank represented Banco de los Trabajadores in issuing $150 million in 9% Senior Notes due 2020. A full-service commercial, retail and private bank based in Guatemala City, Bantrab is the country’s only banking institution formed with both private and public capital and established by the Guatemalan government expressly to provide financial services to the country’s labor force. The notes were the first-ever issued by Bantrab to international investors.
Milbank’s Marcelo Mottesi, head of the Securities Practice Group said, “We are very pleased to have worked with two of Guatemala’s leading businesses in making their first-ever offerings in the international capital markets. We expect to see more corporate issuers stepping forward in Guatemala in the months ahead.”
In the Cementos Progreso offering, Mr. Mottesi led the deal team, which included Securities partner Paul Denaro, Tax partner Andrew Walker and Project Finance partner Carolina Walther-Meade, along with associates John Ablan, Murray Gregorson, Joseph Reich and Trevor Truman, and international attorney Susan Ruiz.
Mr. Mottesi also led the Bantrab deal team, which included Alternative Investments partner Jay Grushkin, Tax partner Andrew Walker and associates Pablo Echeverri, Lysondra Ludwig, Matthew Squires and international attorney Juan Turner.
