Davis, Polk & Wardwell LLP in Paris and New York; Baker McKenzie LLP in London; and Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados in São Paulo have helped French water treatment company Suez acquire counterpart GE Water from General Electric for US$3.4 billion in a 40-plus jurisdictional deal.
General Electric turned to Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, Redwood City and Washington, DC; Carey in Santiago; Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez SC in Mexico City; Demarest Advogados in São Paulo; D’Empaire Reyna Abogados in Caracas; Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados in Bogotá; Morgan & Morgan in Panama City; and Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogados in Lima for advice. Sanclemente Fernández Abogados in Bogotá is thought to have advised General Electric, but this could not be confirmed prior to publication.
Suez bought GE Water in a 70/30 joint venture with Canadian fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) in an all-cash transaction, which closed on 30 September. Latin Lawyer could not identify CDPQ’s counsel prior to publication.
The tie-up involves more than 40 jurisdictions, including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
Counsel to Suez
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Partner Jacques Naquet-Radiguet, counsel Jean-Mathieu Cot in Paris; partners William Aaronson, Pritesh Shah and Jeffrey Crandall, counsel David Mollo-Christensen and Betty Moy Huber, and associates Reid Fitzgerald, Sarah Weissman, Bonnie Chen and Anthony Oliva in New York
Trench, Rossi e Watanabe Advogados
Partner Mauricio Pacheco and associates Marcelo Lucidi, Patricia Frederighi and Marcel Nunes São Paulo
Baker McKenzie LLP
Partner Jannan Crozier and Stephen Ratcliffe, and associate Richard Needham in London
Counsel to General Electric
Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Partners Jon-Paul Bernard, Kenneth Heitner, Chayim Neubort and Charan Sandhu, counsel Dawn Kim, Donald Whittaker, and associates Sean Devaney, Maria Lei, Ariel Simon, James Higgins, Steven Ort, Caroline Paige Geiger, Christine Paik, Lauren Springer and Melissa Meyrowitz in New York; partner Gabriel Gregson and associate Ashley Simms in Redwood City; partner Annemargaret Connolly and counsel Matthew Morton in Washington, DC
Rodrigo, Elías & Medrano Abogados
Partner Luis Enrique Palacios and associate Marco Zaldivar in Lima
Carey
Partner Pablo Iacobelli, counsel Patricia Silberman and associate Héctor Herrera in Santiago
Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enriquez SC
Partners Eduardo Gonzalez and Omar Zuñiga, and associates Daniela Roca and Edgar Ancona in Mexico City
Demarest Advogados
Partners Gabriel Kuznietz, Renato Poltronieri and Carlos Eduardo Orsolon, and associates Bruna Pacheco, Gabriel Queiroz, Roberto Casarini, Flávia Vidigal and Robson Oliveira in São Paulo
D’Empaire Reyna Abogados
Partner Fulvio Italiani in Caracas
Salaverri Dellatorre Burgio & Wetzler Malbrán
Partner Tomas Arnaude and associates Marcos Linares and Lucia Viboud in Buenos Aires
Morgan & Morgan
Associate Roberto Vidal in Panama City
Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados
Partner Lina Uribe and associates Cristina Copete, María Clara Palacio and Juan Sebastián Parra in Bogota
