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Latin American Mining & Metals Deal of the Year 2009

01 March 2010

Minera Esperanza: Tried is good

The big developments in big-ticket Latin American mining tend to happen independently of the credit cycle. The deals come along infrequently, sponsors can afford to take a long enough view, and multilateral and export credit agencies change their practices slowly.

But no deal can operate in isolation from market conditions. Those looking for Latin America to produce an outsize mining project with commercial bank participation alone will have to wait a little longer.

Commercial bank interest in the Esperanza copper-gold project in Chile was reassuringly solid. Banks have abandoned second-tier Latin American markets to multilaterals, but even as many reassessed their Latin operations, they stuck with the project. But Esperanza's financing structure looks similar to many of its forbears over the last ten years. This familiarity comes from having a cast of lenders and advisers in common with earlier deals and strong and attractive project sponsors.

Esperanza, with 583 million...


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