Dear friends,
I am very pleased to announce that this year again, Astris Finance has been named Financial Advisor of the Year for Latin America, an award granted by IJGlobal and selected by a panel of industry participants and experts.
The award was announced on March 14, 2019, at the Deal of the Year Award dinner in New York City. At the same award ceremony, the Cerro Dominador project financing, a US$1.4 billion solar project in Chile for which Astris served as financial advisor to the sponsor, was named the Latin America Solar Deal of the Year.
The award caps an exciting year for Astris in Latin America, notably in the energy sector, where we have been active across the region. We recently reached financial close on four renewable projects with an aggregate capacity of 700 MW in Argentina, Mexico, and El Salvador; we are finalizing the debt raise for eight T-Line projects won by our client sponsors in Chile and Brazil, with an aggregate CAPEX in excess of US$2 billion; and we are advising on the first large-scale gas-to-power project in Central America. We have also kept busy in the infrastructure sector, notably in Argentina and Uruguay, where two Astris-advised sponsors won US$1+ billion PPP projects in the rail and road sectors, and in Colombia, with renewed efforts in the road and port sectors.
This is the third time in four years that Astris has received this award, after wins in March 2016 and March 2018. I fully recognize that the unique positioning we have gained in the Latin American market would not have been possible without the great relationships we have established with a very wide range of market participants – first and foremost, our client sponsors and investors who develop projects and put their money at risk; the governments and granting authorities that plan these projects; the various sources of long-term debt, including multilateral and bilateral financing institutions, commercial banks and institutional investors active throughout the region; and the many legal, technical and, environmental advisors that work with us to help shape projects. We thank all of you wholeheartedly for this fruitful cooperation!
As Astris is headed towards its 20th anniversary next year, it is a privilege to work with each of you and to be given the opportunity to contribute, however modestly, to the economic and social development of Latin America.
With kind regards,
Fabrice Henry
Chief Executive Officer