S&C client Minsur S.A., a mining company controlled by the Breca Group, one of Peru’s leading economic groups, completed its previously announced sale of a 40 percent interest in Cumbres Andinas S.A.C. to Alxar Internacional SpA, a subsidiary of Chilean conglomerate Empresas Copec S.A. The transaction is the first joint venture between affiliates of the Breca Group and the Angelini Group, one of Chile’s leading economic groups and one of the largest conglomerates in Latin America.
Cumbres Andinas is the holding company of Marcobre S.A.C., which owns the rights to construct, develop and operate the greenfield Mina Justa copper mining project located in the Ica region of Peru. Once in operation, it is estimated that Mina Justa will produce an average of approximately 100,000 tonnes of copper per year during the life of the mine, which is expected to be up to 18 years. Marcobre is expected to raise non-recourse debt financing in the international bank markets for Mina Justa before commencing construction. The budget for the construction of the project is approximately $1.6 billion. Alxar paid an initial purchase price of $182 million and will contribute the equity necessary to fund its 40 percent portion of up to $1.8 billion of construction costs.
The S&C team advising Minsur and Marcobre was led by Sergio Galvis and Werner Ahlers, along with Benjamin Kent, Alexander Metz, Jason Schnier and former visiting lawyer Guillermo Arribas. Eric Wang, Michael Orchowski and Slki Hong advised on tax matters; Rebecca Coccaro and Sarah Remmer Long advised on employee compensation and benefits matters; and Matthew Brennan advised on environmental matters.