Baker & McKenzie Advises State Grid Corporation of China on its Acquisition of Seven Power Transmission Assets in Brazil

Beijing, China, 5 June 2012 – Baker & McKenzie’s China Outbound team recently advised State Grid Corporation of China (“SGCC”) on its acquisition of seven high voltage electricity transmission assets in Brazil from Spain’s Actividades de Construcción y Servicios and its affiliates.  The seven electricity transmission assets are located across ten states in Brazil, and have a total length of about 2,792 km. This transaction will be SGCC’s second major investment in Brazil and its fourth major overseas investment.  The acquisition was made through State Grid International Development Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SGCC that develops its international business.

The multi-disciplinary Baker & McKenzie team was led by Beijing-based Corporate partner, Boo Bee Chun, and along with teams in Beijing and Shanghai, also involved teams led by partners Roberto Martins and Beatriz Mello in Brazil as well as the team in Spain led by partners Francisco Escat and Pilar Ruiz De Villa.  The team acted as lead counsel on the transaction with primary responsibility for drafting the transaction agreements, legal/regulatory structuring, regulatory liaison and general transaction management.

Commenting on the acquisition, Boo Bee Chun said, “Having advised SGCC on its first overseas investment in the Philippines, we are delighted to have acted again for SGCC on this significant outbound transaction, which is SGCC’s fourth foreign investment project.  Our involvement in this cross-border transaction demonstrates the Firm’s unique strengths in executing such transactions seamlessly through our global network.  Our ability to provide integrated advice and on-the-ground support in Beijing, Brazil and Spain, as well as our extensive experience in advising other large Chinese state-owned companies on their global investments in the energy and natural resources sector were instrumental in the successful completion of this project within a very tight timeframe.”

Bank of America Merrill Lynch acted as exclusive financial adviser to SGID.

SGCC is the largest electric power provider and second largest state-owned enterprise in China and currently supplies power to approximately 88% of the territory in China.  It is also the largest utility company in the world and ranks 7th on the Fortune Global 500 Largest Corporations list (by revenue) for 2011.