Shearman & Sterling Advises the Lenders on the Landmark Codelco Water Supply Project in Chile

Shearman & Sterling represented a consortium of banks in connection with the financing of the Codelco desalination plant in Chile, including Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo S.P.A., New York Branch, The Korea Development Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank GMBH, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., The Norinchukin Bank, Banco Santander, S.A., Societe Generale, SBI Shinsei Bank, Limited, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, New York Branch. 
 
The reverse osmosis desalination plant is developed by Aguas Horizonte SpA, a subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation and Transelec Holdings Rentas Limitada, and will have an initial capacity of 840 liters per second with the potential for later expansion of up to 1,956 liters per second. Once built, the project will play key role in allowing Codelco to accomplish its sustainability development commitments by 2030.
 
The project involved a bespoke financing structure, where Shearman & Sterling also represented each of Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, New York Branch, and The Bank of Nova Scotia as equity bridge lenders, as well as Scotiabank Chile as lender of a standalone VAT facility.