Lawyer Search

Sergio J. Galvis

Partner, New York

Phone +1-212-558-4740
Fax +1-212-558-3588

Sergio J. Galvis is widely recognized for his broad-based international experience. He represents a diverse group of clients including government bodies, corporations, investment banks and other organizations.

Mr. Galvis heads our Latin American Group and coordinates our practice in Spain. He sits on our Managing Partner Committees and is Co-Head of Business Development for the Firm.

Over the past 25 years, Mr. Galvis has advised our clients on significant matters in a number of practice areas and industry sectors, including:

Mergers and Acquisitions
Private Equity
Project Finance
Securities
Sovereign and Corporate Debt Restructurings
Oil and Gas
Metals and Mining

Mr. Galvis has been recognized in a number of publications, including Chambers, Euromoney, IFLR and LatinLawyer. In 2008, he was named by The National Law Journal as one of The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America and by HispanicBusiness magazine as one of The 100 Most Influential U.S. Hispanics. Mr. Galvis writes frequently on international legal and financial matters. He was a recipient of the 2004 Burton Awards for Legal Achievement for his article, "Sovereign Debt Restructurings – the Market Knows Best" published in International Finance. In 2002, Mr. Galvis was part of a group of eminent practitioners convened by a G-10 Working Group to help develop collective action clauses for sovereign debt financings.

Mr. Galvis is involved with a number of not-for-profit and foreign policy organizations, including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council of the Americas.

Mr. Galvis was born in Colombia and is fluent in Spanish. See below for details of selected transactions and recognitions.

Selected Transactions

M&A

Anglo American (U.K.) in its US$ 5.5 billion acquisition of IronX (renamed Anglo Ferrous Brazil S.A.) demerged from MMX Mineração e Metálicos S.A. (Brazil), through an initial acquisition of a 63.5% stake from controlling shareholders and a following tagalong to remaining shareholders. Anglo Ferrous owns a 51% interest in the Minas-Rio iron ore mining project and 70% interest in the Amapá iron ore system.
Antofagasta plc (U.K.) in the US$ 1.4 billion acquisition by Marubeni Corporation (Japan) to acquire a 30% interest in each of Minera Esperanza (Chile), which is developing a greenfield copper-gold mining project, and Minera El Tesoro (Chile), which owns and operates an existing open-pit copper mine.
Tenaris (Argentina/Luxembourg) in its US$ 2.2 billion acquisition of Hydril Company (U.S.) and US$ 3.185 billion acquisition of Maverick Tube Corporation (U.S.)
Endesa (Spain) in the US$ 58.4 billion acquisition by Enel (Italy) and Acciona (Spain), as well as in the prior unsolicited bids for Endesa by E.ON (Germany) for US$ 81.8 billion and Gas Natural (Spain) for US$ 52.3 billion
Bancolombia (Colombia) in its US$ 790 million acquisition of Banagricola (El Salvador) and US$ 1 billion three-way merger with CONAVI (Colombia) and CORFINSURA (Colombia)
Camargo Corrêa (Brazil) in its US$ 1.025 billion acquisition of Loma Negra (Argentina) and its subsidiaries

Private Equity

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) (Canada), as member of a private equity consortium in the US$ 1.5 billion acquisition of HQI Transelec Chile (Chile) from Hydro-Québec (Canada)
GP Investimentos (Brazil) in its US$ 64 million acquisition (with other investors) of a 40% stake in Fogo de Chão Churrascarias (Holdings) LLP (Brazil)

Project Development and Finance

Minera Esperanza, the project company, whose sponsors are Antofagasta plc and Marubeni Corporation, in the development and financing of the estimated US$ 1.9 billion greenfield copper, gold and silver project in the Atacama desert (Chile)
Marcobre, the project company, whose sponsors are Chariot Resources Limited, Korea Resources Corporation and LS-Nikko Copper Inc., in the development and financing of the estimated US$ 430 million Marcona copper project (Peru)
Panama Canal Authority (Panama) - advice on the legal and constitutional framework in preparation for the expansion of the Panama Canal (2004 to 2007)
Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., as sponsors in the Cerro Verde II Project (Peru) - US$ 850 million copper mining expansion financing - ranked by LatinLawyer as the 2005 Project Finance Deal of the Year and by ProjectFinance as its Latin American Mining Deal of the Year for 2005
OCP Pipeline Project (Ecuador) and ongoing work - US$ 1.4 billion
Los Pelambres Copper Project Refinancing (Chile) - US$ 460 million

Securities

Ternium (Argentina/Luxembourg), in its formation as a holding company and operating subsidiaries in Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, its US$ 496.8 million IPO and its NYSE listing
Tenaris (Argentina/Luxembourg) in the multi-jurisdictional US$ 2.1 billion stock-for-stock exchange offer for the outstanding shares of Siderca (Argentina), TAMSA (Mexico) and Dalmine (Italy)

Sovereign and Corporate Debt Restructurings

The International Managing Banks on the restructuring of more than US$ 100 billion of Argentina's external debt. This was the largest sovereign exchange offer to date and was named by LatinLawyer as the 2005 Debt Restructuring Deal of the Year and by The Banker for its Deals of the Year 2005.
Sidor (Venezuela) in the restructuring through which Sidor and its controlling shareholder, Amazonia, reduced their aggregate financial debt from US$ 1.9 billion to US$ 791 million
The bank lenders and bondholders (mostly U.S.) in connection with restructuring the indebtedness of Cablevisión (Argentina)
Siderar (Argentina) in the restructuring of approximately US$ 470 million of its outstanding debt

Oil and Gas

Camisea Gas Project (Peru) - US$ 837 million project financing of LNG project. Ranked by ProjectFinance magazine as the Latin America Oil & Gas Deal of the Year
Senior lenders in the US$ 1.6 billion financing and refinancing of the EVM oil and gas project (Brazil)
OCP (Ecuador) in connection with the US$ 385 million acquisition by Sinopec (China) of a 30% interest in OCP, including the assignment of transportation and other rights

Metals and Mining

Engaged by Marcobre, the project company, to provide advice regarding the development and financing of the estimated US$ 430 million Marcona copper project (Peru)
Sumitomo (Japan) in the US$ 443 million purchase of an equity stake in Cerro Verde (Peru)
Collahuasi Copper Mining project refinancing (Chile)

Recent Recognitions

M&A

Chambers Latin America 2009: Latin America's Leading Lawyers for Business
IFLR, Mergers & Acquisitions Yearbook, 2005
New York Super Lawyers, 2008, 2007, 2006
The Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America, 2007
The Lawdragon 500: Leading Dealmakers in America, 2007
The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds, 2006

Private Equity

The Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America, 2007
The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds, 2006

Project Development and Finance

Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004-2005
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004
Chambers Latin America 2009: Latin America's Leading Lawyers for Business
Euromoney, Guide to the World's Leading Project Finance Lawyers, 2007, 2006, 2004
Law Business Research, The International Who's Who of Project Finance Lawyers, 2007, 2005
Law Business Research, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, 2007, 2006, 2005
PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook, 2008, 2007, 2006
PLC Cross-Border Handbook: Finance: Secured Lending, 2007/2008, 2006/2007
The Lawdragon 500: Leading Lawyers in America (The 500 Better Than the Best), 2007
The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New Worlds, 2006
The Best Lawyers in America, 2008, 2007, 2006
The Legal 500, United States, Volume I, 2007