$600 Million Deal Refinances Colombian Telecom
March 5, 2008, The Daily Business Review

White & Case advised Telefonica Moviles Colombia (Movistar) on its $600 million loan from Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and several private investors, "the largest syndicated loan for a private client completed by IDB under the A/B loan program."  The loan will be used to refinance existing debt and to improve Movistar’s network.

The deal presented several challenges.  "The A/B structure is unique to multilateral financial institutions," said Carlos Viana, a partner in the Corporate and Financial Services Practice at White & Case in Miami who led the team advising on the deal.   "It presented special challenges in that the refinancing aspects of the facility — which were about $575 million of it — were not done through a regular repayment of existing lenders.  Instead, the IDB purchased and then amended and restated existing bilateral loan facilities the company had with a number of banks. For regulatory reasons in Colombia, the refinancing portion was structured as an assignment and purchased by IDB."

Viana continued to say other challenges included the involvement of numerous international entities and a deadline of less than one month.  Sergio Cabado and Victor Mendoza, both associates in the Corporate and Financial Services Practice at White & Case in Miami, also advised on the deal.