A&O Shearman advises banks on Colombia total return swap transactions and cash tender offer

A&O Shearman advised six banks in connection with (a) the Republic of Colombia’s total return swap transactions referencing bonds with market values of (i) USD4.6 billion, excluding accrued and unpaid interest, of US dollar-denominated bonds of the Republic of Colombia (the "Global Bonds"), (ii) the equivalent of USD3.1bn of peso-denominated bonds, (iii) the equivalent of USD5.0bn of short-term peso-denominated notes, and (iv) USD2.3bn of U.S. Treasury bonds, and (b) the banks’ principal offer to purchase for cash USD5.4bn aggregate principal amount of Global Bonds for an aggregate purchase price of USD4.6bn, excluding accrued and unpaid interest. The notional amount of the total return swap transactions is the Swiss franc equivalent of USD9.3bn.

“We are pleased to have assisted our bank clients on this innovative and complex transaction that showcases the firm’s cross-practice and cross-border strengths,” said Donna Parisi, head of the firm’s Global Financial Markets practice group.  

“It has been an exciting and immensely rewarding experience to help six leading international banks to design, structure and execute a groundbreaking cash tender offer for Colombia’s Global Bonds, in which they acted as principals instead of dealer managers,” added capital market partner Alejandro Gordano. “I am very proud of our team’s dedication and contribution's as well as the trust placed in us by our clients.”

The A&O Shearman team was led by derivatives partner Donna Parisi and counsel Andrew Feng, and included derivatives partner Geoffrey Goldman, capital markets partner Alejandro A. Gordano, tax partner Lorenz Haselberger, international arbitration partner Christopher Ryan, antitrust partners Jessica Delbaum and James Webber, tax partner Larry Crouch, tax partner Derek Kershaw, derivatives partner Sara Couling, antitrust counsel Ryan Leske and Jaime Rodriguez, derivatives associate Ben Halligan, capital markets international associate Moises Gonzalez, derivatives international associate Emilie Ferre, global financial associate Yihao Ding, derivatives trainee solicitor Vincent Lafortune and derivatives specialist Harry Li.