Iberian firm Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira has won a mandate to advise a consortium of banks and the Spanish government on the country’s largest ever financing transaction.
Cuatrecasas’s finance practice, led by partners Rafael Mínguez and Fernando Navarro, will lead the legal aspects of a €35bn (£28.1bn) injection into the Spanish economy designed to rid local authorities and autonomous regions of debt.
The firm won the work following a competitive tender process, with other law firms pitching for the work understood to be Clifford Chance, Garrigues and Uría Menéndez.
The fondo de financiación de pago a proveedores (fund for financing payments to suppliers, or FFPP) was created by the Spanish government and will be funded by 26 financial institutions, led by Bankia, BBVA, Caixabank and Santander and the Spanish Institute for Official Credit.
Navarro said the money will be channeled through a syndicated bank loan, with companies which are owed money by the public sector either being paid directly or through loans granted to local authorities and regions.
Mínguez added that the formula is “unprecedented”, and is a solution for “a large-scale problem in these times of credit crunch.”
The Spanish government estimates the FFPP plan will create 100,000 jobs and pay over 177,000 outstanding invoices.
The appointment comes as 16 Spanish banks, including the four FFPP lead banks, were downgraded by ratings agency Moody’s and Spain’s borrowing costs rose sharply.
Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 18-May-2012 6:08 pm
true, but their fees are one euro, their offer.
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