Chantal E. Kordula is a partner based in the New York office.
Ms. Kordula's practice focuses primarily on transactions in Latin
America, particularly mergers and acquisitions, project and acquisition
finance, and restructurings.
She is internationally distinguished as one
of the best lawyers for project finance by Chambers Global, Chambers
USA, Chambers Latin America, The Legal 500 U.S., The Legal 500
Latin America and Expert Guides' Guide to the World's Leading
Banking Finance and Transactional Attorneys. She is also recognized
for her work in Latin America by Latin Lawyer 250: Latin America's
Leading Business Law Firms. In 2012, Ms. Kordula was named
Energy/Projects Up & Coming Lawyer of the Year at the inaugural
Chambers USA Women in Law Awards. In 2011, Ms. Kordula was
named to the National Law Journal's Minority 40 Under 40 list. In
2010, Ms. Kordula was honored as one of Law360's ten "rising stars"
in corporate finance and as a "Dealmaker of the Week" by The
American Lawyer.
Ms. Kordula has acted as counsel in numerous M&A and financing
transactions. She advised Grupo Bimbo, one of the largest baking
companies in the world, in its $709 million acquisition of Sara Lee
Corporation’s North American Fresh Bakery, its €115 million
acquisition of Sara Lee’s fresh bakery business in Spain and Portugal,
and the acquisition and financing of its $2.5 billion purchase of
Weston Foods. She has also represented Advent International in the
acquisition of a majority stake by Advent and Essex Woodlands in
Biotoscana Investments, a pharmaceutical company based in
Colombia with operations throughout Latin America; Highstar Capital
in the acquisitions and related financings of POPNA and MTCH, two
marine terminal operators, and the financing for the development of
the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore; América Móvil in its
acquisition of Verizon Dominicana; and Grupo Kuo (formerly DESC) in
various divestitures.
Ms. Kordula's project and corporate finance work includes advising
CAP in the financing of a desalination plant in Chile's Atacama Region
III; Tenedora Nemak in the $1.145 billion refinancing of a secured syndicated loan facility; Suez Energy Andino S.A. as sponsor of the
$400 million project financing of a greenfield 165MW gross capacity
coal-fired power plant in the Mejillones municipality of Chile’s Region
II; a subsidiary of Pampa Energía, S.A., in connection with financing
in excess of $200 million for the expansion of its thermal power
electricity generation plant at Loma de la Lata, in the Argentine
province of Neuquén, into a combined cycle facility; a subsidiary of
Suez-Tractebel in the $175 million project financing of the steam to
coal conversion of its 245 MW power generation facility on the
Caribbean coast of Panama; and the Government Development Bank
of Puerto Rico in the development of legislation authorizing the use of
public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects and previously
in the procurement process for the award of a $4 billion operation and
management contract for the Puerto Rico water and wastewater
system.
Ms. Kordula also has experience in Latin American restructurings,
including advising an ad hoc committee of international bank creditors
in the debt restructuring of Controladora Comercial Mexicana
(Comerci); an ad hoc bondholder committee in the $420 million
restructuring of Industrias Unidas (IUSA)’s indebtedness, which
included a simultaneous Chapter 11 reorganization and an out-ofcourt
restructuring; an ad hoc bank creditors committee in the
restructuring of more than $935 million of derivative debt of GRUMA;
and a creditors committee in the $3.4 billion debt restructuring of
Telecom Argentina.
Ms. Kordula joined the firm in 1997 and became a partner in 2008.
She received a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in
1997 and an undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Amherst College
in 1994.
Ms. Kordula is a member of the Bar in New York. Her native language
is English, and she is fluent in French and Spanish and proficient in
Portuguese.