Lulu Rumsey
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Colombia’s Suárez Zapata Partners Abogados and Brazil’s Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados have helped Latin American oil and gas company GeoPark with its US$95 million IPO on the New York stock exchange.
Underwriters JP Morgan, BTG Pactual, Itaú BBA and Scotiabank were advised by White & Case LLP, Colombia’s Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados, Chile’s Carey and Brazil’s Pinheiro Neto Advogados. GeoPark is also thought to have received assistance from Chile’s Barros & Errázuriz Abogados and Bermuda-based firm Cox Hallett Wilkinson (where the company is organised), although this could not be confirmed before publication.
The oil and gas exploration company, which operates in Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, made an offering of 13.5 million shares on 7 February. The offering was smaller than anticipated, as GeoPark had indicated in January that it would raise around US$180 million in its IPO. The energy company expanded into Colombia with several acquisitions in 2012, arriving in the country in February (when it was advised by Chadbourne & Parke LLP, Suárez Zapata and Panama’s Melhado & Webster) and then buying further assets in March, when it again turned to Chadbourne & Parke and Suárez Zapata. Last year it also gained a stake in Brazil’s largest natural gas field in a deal involving Machado Meyer and Souza, Cescon, Barrieu e Flesch – Advogados.
Counsel to GeoPark
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Partner Maurice Blanco in São Paulo, partner Harry Ballan, counsel Betty Moy Huber and associates Yasin Keshvargar, Denise Yablonovich, David Wheelock, Juelle Gomes and Kevin Klesh in New York and Cherie Yang in London
Suárez Zapata Partners Abogados
Partners José Zapata and Luz Angela Vanegas, and associates María Mónica Borda, Juan Camilo Rubio and Diego Rueda in Bogotá
Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partners Gabriela Falcao Vieira and Leonardo Miranda, and associate Kamille Silva Florido in Rio de Janeiro
Counsel to the underwriters
White & Case LLP
Partner John Vetterli and associate Karen Katri in Miami, associates Jessica Chen and Aidan Leonard in New York and associate Pablo Rubinstein-Ize in Los Angeles
Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados
Partner Ricardo Fandiño and associates Juan Sebastián Hoyos, Pablo Carrizosa and Fabio Ardila in Bogotá
Carey
Partners Salvador Valdés and Cristián Eyzaguirre, and associates Cristián Figueroa, Juan Pablo Navarrete and Arturo Poblete in Santiago
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Partners Henrique Lang and Fernando Zorzo and associates Guilherme Monteiro and Gustavo Chaufaille in São Paulo