Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Banco Santander, S.A. (“Santander”) on three separate Swedish ECA-backed loans used to fund the purchase of Scania AB buses by concessionaires operating under the TransMilenio public transportation system in Bogotá, Colombia.
In one instance, funds were made available under separate financings to Sistema Integrado de Provisión de Flota SI2018 Norte S.A.S., and Sistema Intergrado de Provisión de Flota SI2018-Suba S.A.S., both subsidiaries of Sistema Integrado de Transporte SI-99 SA in the amounts of up to approximately COP246bn and COP148bn respectively to fund the acquisition of a total of 370 buses. These loans were partially backed by Swedish export credit agency Exportkreditnämnden.
In another deal, a loan was made available to Masivo Bogotá S.A.S. in the amount of up to approximately COP237bn to fund the acquisition of 260 Scania AB buses. This loan was also backed by Swedish export credit agency Exportkreditnämnden.
Banco Santander, S.A. is a leading retail and commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain. It is active across Europe and the Americas and is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization. Santander Corporate & Investment Banking (SCIB) is Santander’s global division that supports corporate and institutional clients, offering tailored services and value-added wholesale products suited to their complexity and sophistication. SCIB’s aim is to be the best bank for its clients in Latin American and Europe, with solid business hubs in the US and Asia.
The WFW New York Asset Finance team advising Santander on the transaction was led by Partner Susanne Burstein and assisted by Senior Consultant Stephen Millman and Associate Maxi Adamski-de Visser. WFW advised on matters of New York law and coordinated the multi-jurisdictional team, with Gómez Pinzón Abogados acting as Colombian counsel to Santander and Eversheds Sutherland advising on matters of Swedish law.
Susanne commented: “We are privileged to have advised Santander on these significant transactions. It was exciting to work across jurisdictions to bring this deal to a close and we were thrilled to be involved in bringing these new, clean buses to the public transportation system in Bogotá.”
