Fernando Navarro
Biography
Chambers 2024
“Fernando is a lawyer with extensive experience in financial matters and a vast knowledge on how banks work.”
Chambers 2024
Overview
With more than 30 years experience, Fernando Navarro is a partner in the EMEA Debt Finance Team and head of Madrid Debt Finance.
His practice focuses on a wide variety of Spanish and English law financing transactions through syndicated and bilateral loans in the context of either senior, super senior, mezzanine, PIK and second lien structures, acting for lenders and borrowers alike.
With a particular focus on leveraged and acquisition finance, Fernando has as well vast experience in project finance, trade finance and asset finance.
Fernando has been ranked for the last 18 years by Chambers, Legal 500, and IFRL where he is rated as "highly regarded".
Madrid
London, courses for QLTT
Program on Management for Law Firms
Experience
Examples of his recent representative experience includes advising:
- Representation of a syndicate of lenders lead by Ardian in a financing comprising a Unitranche Facility, a Committed Acquisition Facility and a PIK tranche to support the acquisition of Gestión Tributaria Territorial (GTT) by Stirling Square Capital Partners.
- Portfolio construction financing for Lightsource bp (LSbp) to finance the development of it solar, wind and BESS projects in Spain, Portugal and Italy. The revolving credit facility is initially sized at € 175 million to finance the construction of the Guillenas 220/400 Solar Project in Seville, Andalucia, Spain, comprised of two photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 247 MWp.
- Representation of Banco Santander, S.A. in connection with a margin loan to be granted to a Spanish listed company.
- Representation of Nomura on a warehouse financing for Waterfall Asset Management, in respect of their lending platform Izilend, in relation to a portfolio of Spanish residential and commercial mortgage loans.
- Representation of the international commercial banks in a non-recourse financing of the 456 MW, approx. US$700 million Feijão wind project in Brazil, which is co-owned 51% by Green Investment Group, an affiliate of the Macquarie Group, and 49% by Hydro Rein, an affiliate of Norsk Hydro.
- Representation of Benteler on the € 2.000.000.000 refinancing of Benteler Group’s debt through an emission of bonds and a syndicate loan and revolving financing. This deal has involved 18 jurisdictions.
- Representation of the lenders in connection to a proposed multi-lender, export credit agency backed project financing for the construction of Queensland's MacIntyre Wind Farm. The project will be part of a 1026-megawatt wind farm precinct alongside CleanCo (the Queensland Government's renewable energy generator) with a total investment of $1.96 billion.
- Representation of the lenders (Banco Santander, S.A. and Kommunalkredit Austria AG) on a € 170 million financing relating to the acquisition by Ancala Partners, LLP of part of Babcock International Group PLC’s aerial emergency services business.
- Representation of Swiss Life Asset Managers and AXA investment Managers on the financing for the acquisition of Lyntia Networks from Antin Infrastructure Partners.
- Representation of the arrangers in connection with the financing by ICG of the acquisition of Comdata and combination with Konecta, leaders in Customer Experience (CX) Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) solutions. The financing involved a € 975 million credit facility, comprising a TLB facility, TLA facility and revolving credit facility.
- Representation of Angelo Gordon Europe LLP and funds advised by PIMCO as lead lenders in a € 760 million syndicated refinancing of Promotora de Informaciones S.A. (BME: PRS). The financing involved a € 575 million senior facilities agreement and a € 185 million second lien facilities agreement, both implemented by way of cashless roll on behalf of the lenders under the original facility. Both facilities were used to finance or refinance the existing indebtedness of the Group.
- Representation of Banco Santander, S.A. (Santander) on the financing of the acquisition of Grupo Euskal Forging, S.L. and its subsidiaries by Siderforgerossi Group S.p.A. (Siderforgerossi).
- Representation of the senior lenders, including multilateral lenders, development finance institutions and a syndicate of commercial banks, BNDES (Brazil´s national development bank) in the project financing of the approximately US$ 3 billion Sao Paulo Metro Line 6 in Brazil. This is the first-ever limited recourse financing of an infrastructure PPP project in Brazil by BNDES and is currently the largest PP project under construction in Latin America.
- Representation of Blackstone Credit in relation to the financing of the merger of Photobox and Albelli, which are owned by Exponent and Gilde respectively.
- Representation of Crédit Agricole-CIB with an interbank minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) facility to be extended to Novobanco.
- Representation of Babcock Mission Critical Services, S.A.U. in the issuance of a Spanish law capacity legal opinion with regard to a lease agreement of different aircrafts.
- Representation of Tink AB, a leading open banking platform provider, in connection with a secured facility for an amount of € 110M extended ahead of Tink AB´s sale to Visa.
- Representation of Bank of America Europe Designated Activity Company in relation to an amendment agreement of a revolving credit facility for an initial maximum amount of 100,000,000 (current € 60 million) entered into on 1 July 2016 by Repsol, S.A. as borrower and Bank of America as lender.
- Representation of Banco Santander, S.A.in connection with a US$75 million credit agreement governed by the laws of the State of New York entered into among, inter alia, Nuevo Saturno S.A.C. as the Initial Borrower, Talesden Investments, S.L.U. as the Initial Guarantor, Banco de Crédito del Perú S.A. as Administrative Agent and Banco Santander, S.A. as Sole Lead Arranger and Bookrunner.
- Representation of Banco Santander, S.A.in connection with a US$75 million credit agreement governed by the laws of the State of New York entered into among, inter alia, Nuevo Saturno S.A.C. as the Initial Borrower, Talesden Investments, S.L.U. as the Initial Guarantor, Banco de Crédito del Perú S.A. as Administrative Agent and Banco Santander, S.A. as Sole Lead Arranger and Bookrunner.
- Representation of the lenders in connection with the issuance of Nordic bonds by Global Agrajes, S.L.U. (Fertiberia Group). The financing involved the amendment of the existing senior facility agreement granted by the lenders to the Fertiberia group and the execution of a new intercreditor agreement and security package.
- Representation of Scotiabank in connection with a USD 30 million revolving credit facility extended on 22 July 2020 in favor of X-Elio.
- Representation of a syndicate of banks in connection with a € 250,000,000 multicurrency revolving credit facility extended on 28 July 2021 in favor of X-Elio.
- Representation of Sociétè Géneralé (as agent and security agent) and Credit Suisse International, BNP Paribas, Sociétè Géneralé and Barclay Bank PLC (as arrangers) as well as other lenders in connection with EQT Infrastructure’s acquisition of the Colisee group (a leading operator of nursing home facilities, based in France) from IK Investment Partners.
- Representation of the affiliates of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Centerbridge Partners, Cross Ocean Partners, Barings LLC and Canyon Partners, LLC as lenders on the GBP 400 million (or equivalent) term loan refinancing and upsizing of the existing credit facilities of the Odeon Cinemas group and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc's subsidiaries.
- Representation of doValue S.p.A. on a € 300 million senior secured notes issuance prepay and cancel the outstanding senior facility agreement entered into on March 22, 2019 (including accrued interest thereon and related interest rate swaps), with the remainder to be held as cash for general corporate purposes.
- Representation of The Bank of Nova Scotia, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, ING Capital LLC, MUFG Bank, Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Instituto de Crédito Oficial E.P.E. as lenders and issuing banks and MUFG Bank Ltd., as administrative agent and intecreditor agent in connection with the non-recourse first/second lien project financings of: (i) the US$217,000,000.02 financing for a 235 MW wind farm owned and operated by Ibereólica Cabo Leones II S.A. (Cabo II) located in Atacama, Chile (the Cabo II Project) and (ii) the US$103.2 million financing for a 101MWp solar PV power plant, owned and operated by GPG Solar Chile 2017 SpA (San Pedro) and located in Antofagasta, Chile (the San Pedro Project, and together with the Cabo II Project, the Projects). The Cabo II Project is a joint venture between Spanish power producers Global Power Generation (GPG) and Grupo Ibereólica. The San Pedro Project is a wholly owned by GPG. GPG is a subsidiary of Spanish holding company Grupo Naturgy.
- Representation of Castik Capital, a private equity and investment advisory firm, in relation to the debt financing of its majority stake acquisition of Customs Support Group, a Rotterdam-based leading independent customs services provider in Europe.
- Representation of Banco Santander as Spanish legal counsel in connection with a framework agreement of bank guarantees dated 31 July 2020, drafted in Spanish and governed by Spanish law for an approximate amount of up to € 65.9 million originally entered into among, inter alia, Fertiberia, S.A. as guarantee holder, Química del Estroncio, S.A.U., Fercampo, S.A.U., Agralia Fertilizantes, S.L., Fertiberia Castilla-León, S.A. and Fertiberia La Mancha, S.L. as guarantors, Bankia, S.A., Bankinter, S.A., Banco de Sabadell, S.A. and CaixaBank, S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A., as guaranteeing entities and to which Barclays Bank Ireland PLC acceded as an additional guaranteeing entity (Entidad Avalisdta Adicional) by virtue of an accession letter signed on 16 October 2020.
- Representation of Swissport Financing S.à r.l., a multinational cargo/airport ground services provider. Swissport sought new financing as part of a wider restructuring process comprising of amendments to an existing credit agreement dating from 2019, along with a new super senior facilities agreement to provide a € 300 million interim facility.
- Representation of the MLAs in relation to the debt financing of IK Investment Partners's acquisition of Kersia from Ardian. Kersia is a global leading firm in biosecurity and food safety focusing on prevention of diseases/ contamination in both animals and humans in the food supply chain.
- Representation of The Bank of New York Mellon in its capacity as agent in connection with numerous loans and bonds transactions in Spain.
- Representation of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A., Banco BPM S.p.A., Crédit Agricole Italia S.p.A. and Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A. in connection with the € 37 million senior term and revolving credit facility entered into by the private equity fund Ambienta SGR S.p.A. related to the acquisition of the Caprari Group.
- Representation of Banco Santander, S.A. as lender in connection with a US$100 million margin loan to Cementos Argos S.A., as Colombian Borrower, and Argos USA, LLC, as U.S. Borrower. The loan is secured by shares in Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana S.A., and the proceeds of the loan will be used to finance the Borrowers' general corporate purposes.
- Representation of Bank of America Europe Designated Activity Company (the "Bank") in relation to a second amendment agreement of a loan agreement dated 13 February 2017 granted for an amount of US$60 million provided by the Bank, as lender, to Pintura, Estampado y Montaje, S.A.P.I. de C.V., as borrower.
- Representation of J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley as Initial Purchasers on the issuance of € 340 million senior secured high-yield bonds by HT Troplast GmbH.
- Representation of KfW-IPEX Bank GmbH ("KfW-IPEX Bank"), a subsidiary of the German government-owned Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau ("KfW"), in connection with the limited recourse financing for the Chubut Norte III and Chubut Norte IV wind farm projects in Argentina being developed by Genneia S.A. ("Genneia") and Pan American Fueguina S.A. ("PAE"). Vientos Sudamericanos Chubut Norte III S.A. and Vientos Patagonicos Chubut Norte IV S.A., two special purpose vehicles owned by the Argentine energy companies Genneia and PAE, obtained a US$131,550,636.00 loan facility from KfW-IPEX Bank to finance the construction, development and operation of the projects. The loan is backed by a guarantee from the German export credit agency, Euler Hermes. The projects were awarded 20- year power purchase agreements under Argentina's RenovAr program, which aims to produce 20 percent of the country's electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
- Representation of Pemberton Asset Management in the structuring and underwriting of senior secured floating rate notes due 2024 issued by Italcer S.p.A., a company operating in the ceramic sector and founded by the private equity fund Mandarin Capital Partners II. The issuance will partly finance the acquisition of Ceramica Rondine S.p.A., an Italian company founded in 1961, which produces porcelain stoneware floors.
- Representation of Invenergy and its project subsidiary Energía del Pacífico (EDP) on the groundbreaking development and project financing of the 378 MW liquefied natural gas (LNG)-to-power infrastructure project at the Port of Acajutla in the Department of Sonsonate in El Salvador. In addition to the thermal power plant, project components include a marine terminal, consisting of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) permanently moored through a modified spread mooring system for liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivery, storage and regasification, as well as a long-term LNG supply contract for the FSRU. The project also includes a natural gas pipeline that will run from the FSRU to the power plant and the construction of a 44-km, 230-kilovolt transmission line and related substations to connect the power plant to the electrical grid of El Salvador.
- Representation of Eurowag group in connection with financing up to € 310 million provided by a club of banks for the refinancing of existing indebtedness (in particular from previous acquisitions), CAPEX, future acquisitions and general corporate purposes.
- Representation of Banco Santander as Administrative Agent and the Lenders in connection with a US$200 million credit agreement governed by the laws of the State of New York, entered into by and between, among others, Acciona Financiación Filiales Chile SpA, as Borrower, Acciona, S.A., as Guarantor, CaixaBank, S.A., Mizuho Bank Europe N.V., Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A., New York Branch and Banco Santander, S.A. as Lenders and Banco Santander-Chile as Administrative Agent.
- Representation of the lenders in connection with the financing of the acquisition of healthcare group Vivalto by a group of shareholders led by CDC International Capital, Mubadala Development Company, MACSF and the management team.
- Representation of the lenders on a € 334 million commercial bank term loan to Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank with a guarantee from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, the proceeds of which will be used for COVID-related financing purposes.
- Representation of doValue S.p.A. in connection with a bridge-to-bond financing for the purpose of financing the acquisition of an 80 percent stake in the share capital of Eurobank FPS Loans and Credits Claim Management Company SA from Eurobank Ergasias S.A.
- Representation of Vauxhall Lending and LCM Partners in connection with several Sale & Lease back and Operating lease agreements over numerous assets in Spain.
- Representation of SG EQUIPMENT FINANCE IBERIA, E.F.C in connection with a sale and lease-back (aviation finance) of a helicopter Airbus H125.
- Representation of SG EQUIPMENT FINANCE IBERIA, E.F.C., S.A. Unipersonal in connection with a leasing transaction of an aircraft to be entered into with Sky Helicópteros, S.A.as lessee and AIRBUS HELICOPTERS ESPAÑA, S.A as manufacturer.
- Representation of Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (BANCOMEXT) as lender on the refinancing of Abengoa.*
- Representation of the lenders under a bridge facility and a RCF and the initial purchasers of the Notes issued to refinance the bridge facility in connection with the financing of the € 350,000,000 delisting takeover bid over Telepizza.*
- Representation of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in connection with (i) a USD 50,000,000 cross-border facility granted to the Gestamp Group; (ii) a USD 60,000,000 cross-border facility granted to CIE México; and (iii) a USD 35,000,000 cross-border facility granted to CIE USA.*
- Representation of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in connection with several senior unsecured facilities to (i) Criteria Caixa, (ii) CIE Automotive, (iii) Acciona and a revolving credit facility to Repsol.*
- Representation of Allianz Real Estate and CaixaBank as lenders on a landmark real estate finance € 135,000,000 deal involving the building and development of the so-called “Fifth Tower” in the Madrid financial district.*
- Representation of CaixaBank and Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) on a € 170,000,000 facility extended in connection with the purchase of various office buildings in Madrid.*
- Representation of Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (pbb) on three transactions regarding the restructuring of real estate financing granted for the acquisition of several properties in Madrid: Project Las Mercedes, Project Santa Bárbara and Project Salamanca.*
- Representation of Castellana Properties SOCIMI as borrower on the refinancing of the group and the financing of the acquisition of two shopping centres (Alameda Park in Pulianas, Granada and Pinatar in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia).*
- Representation of Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior (BANCOMEXT) as lender on the acquisition finance of the 907MW combined cycle gas plant Norte III, under construction near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to the consortium led by Macquarie Capital and Techint Engineering and Construction from Abengoa and its affiliates.*
Other landmark transactions in which Fernando has been involved include advising:
- The lenders on the financing of the € 23bn takeover bid by Enel and Acciona over Endesa, one of largest takeover bids in Spain ever.*
- All major Spanish financial institutions on the legal structuring of the € 30bn Fund for Financing Payments to Suppliers – FFPP. The FFPP is a fund the Spanish government created to pay-off the pending debts of local entities and autonomous regions; it is the largest financing transaction of this type in Spain.
(*) Experience prior to joining White & Case LLP
- Un futuro lleno de oportunidades entre México y España. El Economista newspaper, May 2024
- A corridor of opportunity: deal flow between Mexico and Spain. Debt Explorer, March 2024
- La financiación de procedimientos judiciales, ¿una modalidad que ha llegado para quedarse? La Ley Mercantil, May 2015
- Posibles efectos prácticos del convenio de Ciudad del Cabo sobre operaciones de financiación de elementos de equipo aeronáutico españoles. La Ley Diario, February 2015
- El pacto comisorio en el actual marco de los derechos de garantía. La Ley Diario, May 2014
- Direct lending: ¿qué, cuándo y cómo? Cuatrecasasblog.com, February 2014
- Trend to high-yield bonds. International Financial Law Review IFLR, May 2013
- Fondo para la financiación de los pagos a proveedores. Anuario mercantil para abogados, 2013
- Implicaciones prácticas de la prenda de derechos de crédito configurada como prenda sin desplazamiento tras la reforma de la Ley Concursal introducida por la Ley 38/2011, de 10 de octubre. La Ley Diario, December 2012
- Fund for financing payments to suppliers. International Financial Law Review IFLR, 26 September 2012
- Financing payments to suppliers of local entities and autonomous regions. Financierworldwide.com, August 2012
Banking & Finance
- Leading Individual: The Legal 500 2021
- Recommended (Band 3): Chambers and Partners Global 2021
- Recommended (Band 3): Chambers and Partners Europe 2021