Knowledge Centers

Destination Brazil: Evaluating and Sourcing the Hottest M&A Deals

REPLAY
Brazil-Final1.ppt

Thursday, July 14, 2011
2pm EST/11am PDT

The temperature for M&A in Brazil has hit a feverish pitch. Private equity firms and strategic buyers from inside and outside the South American destination see its thriving economy, political stability, sound fiscal policies, vast natural resources and vibrant consumer sectors as a mecca for growth opportunities via acquisitions. Join The Deal senior editor Suzanne Miller and our expert panelists as they explore M&A opportunities in Brazil. We'll look at the competition for Brazilian targets between PE firms and strategics, questioning whether this acquisition hot spot might already be poised for a cool-down due to overinflated prices. We'll also examine target valuations in Brazil compared to other emerging markets as well as look at how companies source deals in Brazil with so many interested buyers.

To get a fuller perspective on these issues and more, join The Deal, Merrill DataSite and our panel of experts for a 60-minute webcast "Destination Brazil: Opportunities and Pitfalls in a Hot M&A Market." Refresh your outlook on how to reap the rewards of this growth market while minimizing the significant risks.

Moderator:
 
Suzanne Miller
Senior editor, Corporate Dealmaker
The Deal LLC

Suzanne Miller is senior editor, Corporate Dealmaker at The Deal LLC, where she writes a column on M&A-related issues including corporate deal strategies, risk management and M&A trends. She also oversees the Deal's annual Most Admired Corporate Dealmaker awards and writes about exchanges and derivatives. Some of her previous roles include senior writer and editor at JPMorgan Private Bank and London bureau chief at CBS MarketWatch. She has also written about capital markets, emerging markets and banking for Institutional Investor magazine, The Banker magazine and Euromoney, among other publications.
 

Expert Panel:

Marcelo Di Lorenzo
Partner, Managing Director and Head of Brazil
3i Group plc

Marcelo Di Lorenzo is partner, managing director and head of 3i Brazil. He leads the 3i team in Brazil and Latin America. He joined 3i from Standard Bank Private Equity in 2011 where he was managing director and head of private equity in Brazil. Di Lorenzo has over 15 years of experience in private equity in Latin America. Prior to Standard Bank, he worked as managing director for Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in Latin America from 2001 to 2009 and has had roles at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking. Prior to this Di Lorenzo worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. in Brazil and the U.S.

Marcelo received an M.B.A. with honors from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago and a B.S. in mechanic aeronautical engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica where he received the Metal Leve-Prof. Richard Otto Weinbaum Award for best student in class.

Marcello Hallake
Partner
Thompson & Knight LLP

Marcello Hallake focuses his practice on the representation of U.S. and European companies, financial institutions and investment funds in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, privatizations, private equity and other financing transactions in Latin America and around the globe. In addition, he represents Brazilian and other Latin American companies and financial institutions in U.S. financing and cross-border transactions.

Hallake is the past chair of the Committee on Inter-American Affairs of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and is currently a member of the board of directors of various not-for-profit organizations including Brazil Foundation, CDI International and the Inter-American Culture and Development Foundation. He has represented France Telecom SA in various M&A, financing and privatization transactions throughout Latin America, including in Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. Other highlights include the advisement of Brazilian pension funds Previ, Petros and Funcef in the acquisition of Telecom Italia SpA's interest in Brasil Telecom and in connection with the subsequent agreement to sell their interest in Brasil Telecom to Telemar.

Karyn Koiffman
Partner
Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Karyn Koiffman is a partner in Kirkland's New York office. She represents private equity sponsors, public and private companies in a wide range of domestic and cross-border business and finance transactions. Koiffman focuses her practice in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyout transactions, recapitalizations, restructurings, going private transactions and related corporate matters. She is also a member of the firm's Latin America practice group and has extensive experience of legal and business issues in Brazil.

Hans Lin
Managing director
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Hans Lin is managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Brazil. He joined the firm in 2008 and is responsible for covering Industrials. Lin, who is based in Sao Paulo, provides capital markets and strategic advisory services to clients. He has led several deals including advising Telemar Norte Leste SA on its R$14.2bn capital structure reorganization, advising Portugal Telecom SA on its ongoing sale of its 50% interest in Brasilcel NV to Telefonica and concurrently acquisition of a strategic interest in Telemar.

Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Hans was a managing director at UBS responsible for the general industrials group and before that he was with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, where he worked in various capacities in Latin American investment banking, emerging markets capital markets and leverage and corporate finance departments.

Hans holds an M.B.A from MIT Sloan School of Business and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Escola Politecnica - USP.  He is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish and conversant in Mandarin