White & Case Advises Banco Patagonia on IPO
Unique Structure Presents New Entryway for Latin American Companies to International Markets

New York, July 30, 2007 ... White Case advised Banco Patagonia S.A., one of Argentina's leading private financial institutions, in connection with a three part offering that closed on July 24, 2007.  Banco Patagonia's concurrent Argentine, Brazilian and international offering of shares, BDRs and ADSs represented the first time such a structure has ever been devised and marketed and the first time an Argentine entity listed its securities on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange.

"The structure used in this transaction provides Latin American companies with a more varied investor base and greater liquidity,"  said lead partner on the deal, Tomer Pinkusiewicz.  "This transaction is expected to pave the way for similar transactions in the future as well as to provide access to alternative markets for securities of Latin American companies."

The deal consisted of an initial public offering of class B shares in Argentina listed on the Bolsa de Comercio de Buenos Aires (the "BCBA" or the "Buenos Aires Stock Exchange"), an initial public offering of Brazilian Depositary Receipts ("BDRs"), with 20 class B shares underlying each BDR, in Brazil listed on the Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo (the "BOVESPA" or the "Sao Paulo Stock Exchange") and a Rule 144A/ Reg S offering of American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), with one BDR underlying each ADS, in the United States and other international markets.
 
In total 200,000,000, class B common shares (with a par value of one Argentine Peso per share and one vote per class B share) of Banco Patagonia were offered.  The price per share was Ps. 4.033, the price per BDR was R$ 48.38 and the price per ADS was $26.00.  Of the 200,000,000 shares offered, 75,000,000 were offered by Banco Patagonia and 125,000,000 were offered by the selling shareholders.

Partner Tomer Pinkusiewicz was lead counsel, along with partner Howard Kleinman and associates Anita Girdhari, Yvette Valdez, and John Anderson, Jr. in the Securities Practice; partner Ray Simon and associate Heather Giannandrea in the Tax Practice; and counsel Mark Hamilton for ERISA.

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White & Case LLP
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