Carey counsels on Chile’s largest year-to-date M&A deal
Law firm Carey has acted as counsel to Masisa, on the sale of all the forestry assets owned by its subsidiary Masisa Forestal, to Forestal Tregualemu, a company wholly owned by GFP Chile Timberland Holdings, in this year’s largest M&A deal so far.
Masisa is a wood product producer headquartered in Chile with manufacturing operations in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and the United States.
The acquisition was valued at $350 million and the transaction also includes a long-term supply contract between Forestal Tregualemu and Masisa for the supply of timber products for the latter’s industrial operations.
“This is the largest transaction in Chile since October 2019, and it was carried out in an extremely challenging context due to the Covid-19 crisis,” the law firm said in a statement.
“The process started as an international bidding war in which several companies and funds submitted very competitive bids. The negotiations among the parties took several months and comprised not only contracts typically included in M&A transactions, but also others which are highly technical from the forestry industry standpoint. This implied the need for collaborative work among the executives of the company, the lawyers, financial advisers and forestry experts,” it added.
The complexity of the negotiation and transaction is reflected in the large number of lawyers involved. Carey’s team comprised partners Francisco Ugarte, Jorge Ugarte, and associates Alejandra Daroch, Maximiliano Urrutia, Patricia Rivas, Pablo Torrealba, Alicia Corbo, as well as anti-trust partner Lorena Pavic (pictured) and associate José Pardo, and tax partner Jessica Power.
