Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP acted for Wells Fargo as legal advisors and lead counsel.
Novelis, a US-based company, operates an integrated network in the Americas of aluminium recycling and rolling facilities. Its global manufacturing capabilities and recycling ability allow it to provide reliable, high-quality products around the world. Novelis plans to increase the use of lightweight, indefinitely recyclable aluminum to help its customers reach their sustainability goals by providing environmentally friendly products.
Jaime A. Trevino, JATA – J.A. Trevino Abogados
Please provide some background information about this operation and the role of your team within it.
We were initially approached by Wells Fargo, Skadden Arps and others to partially secure financing via the proceeds from significant Novelis sales in Mexico. Intangibles were the main assets that needed to be secured. This was a challenge to traditional Mexican security structures which typically involve equity or real assets.
My partner Veronica Cantu, myself and Tracy Delgadillo were the attorneys in our team. They came up with an innovative structure that met both the security and guarantee needs of lenders and also satisfied Novelis’ operational and commercial requirements.
Skadden Arps’ great team leads our Mexican legal work. Skadden trusts JATA with complex cross-border financing transactions. Skadden Arps has been my personal employer for more than 30 years. Our team’s extensive experience in transactions of this nature allows them to keep up with the latest developments and provide expert advice on complex legal matters. We have extensive experience in providing solutions and alternatives for almost any situation due to our decades-long representation of major global banks such as Wells Fargo in complex Mexican international financing transactions.
What are the most important considerations when advising clients on credit agreements, especially with larger clients?
It is about creating a structure that suits the specific financing requirements, Mexican operations, and the company’s global operations. Multi-national transactions such as the Wells Fargo/Novelis deal require high-level expertise in the business and financial aspects. We also need strong legal foundations to help us create and document structures that often take into account alternatives that may not be available.
What was the team’s contribution to ensuring that the operation went smoothly?
The assets that were to be secured presented many legal issues from a traditional Mexican security structure perspective when the transaction was first proposed. Our team’s extensive experience in global financing matters, including our previous representations of Wells Fargo in numerous transactions, was a crucial part of the construction of the structure. We are proud to have been part of this complex transaction, representing Wells Fargo in Mexico for the Novelis’ financing as well as other financing matters that had a Mexican component.