Hogan Lovells announced today that an international team of its lawyers advised on a US$1.5 billion oil-backed prepayment financing between its client Petroleos de Venezuela and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC). The financing closed on 27 February following two months of collaboration among a team of Hogan Lovells lawyers in Beijing, Caracas, London, and Washington, D.C.

The complex three-layered structure used in the financing was designed to achieve a self-liquidating prepayment facility secured by oil and oil products. The closing marks the first instance of such a type of financing structure being used by a Chinese bank. “Given its novelty in the region and complexity, we are especially pleased to have secured this financing for our client in a record amount of time,” said partner Bruno Ciuffetelli. “This deal is a significant milestone in China’s growing investment and financing activity in Latin America.”

The Hogan Lovells team was led by Infrastructure and Project Finance practice partners Bruno Ciuffetelli (Caracas) and Keith Larson (Washington), and included of counsel Nick Tidnam (London) and associates Erica Porter (London) and Wylie Levone (Washington). Partner Anton Louwinger (Amsterdam) also assisted in Dutch tax and banking aspects of the financing. The team will continue working on completing conditions precedent for utilization in the coming weeks.