Batalla advises Cinven on Central American aspects of Ufinet sale
Costa Rican-based law firm Batalla acted for Cinven on the sale of fibre network operator Ufinet in five Central American countries.
Ufinet is headquartered in Madrid and provides fibre infrastructure and transmission services to telecommunication operators in Spain and international markets including Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
Cinven is a global private equity firm founded in 1977 with over €10.6 billion in assets under management. Cinven´s Fifth Fund acquired Ufinet in June 2014 from Gas Natural Fenosa, for €510 million.
For this transaction, Cinven carved out Ufinet, selling the Spanish side of the operation to Antin Infrastructure Partners and the international business (including Latin American assets) to its Sixth Fund.
The buyer of Ufinet Spain, Antin Infrastructure Partners, is a private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments which is based in Paris and London.
The value of the deal was not disclosed but according to reports in Spanish newspaper Expansión, the competitive bidding process pushed it to €2 billion, €500 million over estimated initial asking price.
Partner Mariano Batalla led the team at Batalla which advised Cinven in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Cinven instructed Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Spain and the US; Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal in Argentina; Carey in Chile; Brigard & Urrutia in Colombia; Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano in Peru; Guyer & Regules in Uruguay; Conyers Dill & Pearman in British Virgin Islands; Ferrere in Ecuador; Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aíza & Enríquez in Mexico; Arias in Panama and Estudio Jurídico Gross Brown in Paraguay. Partner Yuri Moreno led the Arias team acting for Cinven in Panama.
In Spain, Clifford Chance acted for Ufinet Spain while Antin Infrastructure Partners instructed Herbert Smith Freehills, according to Mergermarket.
