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-of-court 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.