Maria Juliana Saa

Overview

Maria Juliana Saa Hoyos is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Bogotá office. Ms. Saa Hoyos focuses her practice on the areas of corporate services, financial law, capital markets, and commercial law.

Ms. Saa Hoyos is involved in important financial transactions in Colombia, including project finance, the design and structuring of new financial products and standard market products such as mutual funds and private funds. She has extensive experience in drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts, including credit agreements, share purchase agreements and other corporate documents.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Saa Hoyos practiced as an associate in a law firm in Colombia and as a legal director for a brokerage firm.

Representative Experience

Currently advising under Colombian law the senior lenders providing the financing for the construction of a toll road project in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, which is being structured as a concession agreement that follows the form of the fourth generation of highways (4G) concession agreement
Currently advising Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional S.A. (FDN) as a liquidity facility provider for the refinancing of the long-term debt granted to Transversal del Sisga project
Advised Gestor Profesional - Unidos por la Infraestructura in the structuring and negotiation of a liquidity facility granted by Compartment A of the private equity fund FCP Deuda Infraestructura II Sura-Credicorp Capital to credit the debt service reserve as well as operation and maintenance accounts in the refinancing granted to Rumichaca-Pasto project
Advised under Colombian law FDN, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC) and China Development Bank (CDB) as senior lenders in the US$650 million financing granted to the Mar 2 project, which is part of Colombia's 4G road infrastructure plan; the financing included two tranches: 1) one granted by FDN for CO$500 billion and 2) another granted by SMBC and CDB for US$501.7 million; the Mar 2 project is a 254 kilometer (km) highway in Antioquia, Colombia, that includes the construction of 11 tunnels and 59 bridges
Advised under Colombian law Infrared Capital Partners Limited, a global investment manager focused on infrastructure and real estate, on the sale and purchase agreement to acquire a 50 percent equity interest in the Ruta Al Mar concession, which was awarded with a 34-year concession for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a highway in Colombia; the remaining 50 percent of the equity is held by Construcciones El Condor S.A., the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project; the project is a 491 km road that is being developed as a 4G Private Initiative Project within the 4G Program of the government of Colombia; the purpose of the private initiative is to develop a fast and efficient primary route connecting two important economic centers in Colombia; Holland & Knight's advice included the negotiation of the sale and purchase documents as well as the financing documents on behalf of Infrared; the financing includes two tranches of secured debt: a more than CO$681 billion tranche and a second tranche worth US$522 billion under Rule 114A/Regulation S
Advised FDN under Colombian law and under New York law as provider of a liquidity facility in the framework of the financing of Pacífico 3 project, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; this was the first 4G financing to achieve financial close, the first transaction with a liquidity facility provided by the FDN and one of the first international project bond issued in Colombia; the financing includes five tranches of secured debt: 1) a CO$600 billion tranche, 2) a 1.302 million Unit of Real Value (UVR) tranche, 3) a US$260.4 million bond under Rule 144A/RegS, 4) a nearly CO$397 billion bond under Rule 144A/RegS and 5) a CO$217.5 billion liquidity line; LatinFinance awarded this transaction with the "Best Road Financing" and "Best Infrastructure Financing" for the Andes region in 2016 and recognized Holland & Knight for its work
Advised FDN under Colombian law and under New York law as provider of a liquidity facility in the framework of the financing of project Costera Cartagena-Barranquilla, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes four tranches of secured debt: 1) a CO$835 billion tranche, 2) a US$150.8 million bond under Rule 144A/RegS, 3) a CO$327 billion bond under Rule 144A/RegS and 4) a CO$217.5 billion liquidity line
Advised FDN under Colombian and New York law as provider of a liquidity facility in the framework of the financing of Alto Magdalena project, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes three tranches of secured debt: 1) a CO$686 billion tranche, 2) a US$136 million tranche and 3) a CO$115 billion liquidity line
Advised FDN under Colombian and New York law as provider of a liquidity facility in the framework of the financing of Perimetral Oriental de Bogotá project, a perimeter road corridor in eastern Cundinamarca, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes three tranches of secured debt: 1) a CO$870 billion tranche, 2) a US$145.6 million tranche and 3) a CO$45 billion liquidity line
Advised FDN under Colombian and New York law as provider of a liquidity facility as part of the financing of Conexión Norte project, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes three tranches of secured debt: 1) a CO$520 billion tranche, 2) a US$80 billion tranche and 3) a CO$250 million liquidity line
Advised FDN under Colombian and New York law as provider of a liquidity facility as part of financing the Ruta del Cacao project, part of the 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes three tranches of secured debt: 1) a more than CO$1 trillion tranche, 2) a CO$585 billion UVR tranche and 3) a CO$105 billion liquidity line
Advised FDN under Colombian law as provider of liquidity facility in the framework of the financing of the Transversal del Sisga project, part of the program of 4G road infrastructure program in Colombia; the financing includes two tranches of secured debt: a CO$393.2 billion tranche and a CO$50 billion liquidity line

Currently advising Bancolombia S.A. under Colombian law on the CO$126 billion financing granted to Sol de las Ciénagas S.A.S. E.S.P., a subsidiary of Canadian Energy, for the construction of a 50 megawatts (MW) solar power plant in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia; the project includes a complex contractual structure comprised of a separate supply and construction agreement that required a thorough risk assessment and detailed capital commitments in order to adequately insulate the lender from construction risks
Advised under Colombian and New York law Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC as lead investor, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as placement agent, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as lender under a letter of credit (LC) facility, and the purchasers under the private placement of securities issued under New York law by Desarrollo Eléctrico Suria S.A.S. E.S.P., including the note purchase agreement for US$45.8 million and the LC facility for US$1.7 million; the debt granted was used to refinance existing debt related to two power transmission lines developed and owned by the issuer; the transaction was the first bond issuance of the issuer and it sponsor, Grupo Ethuss Co., as well as the first Latin American investment made with funds managed by Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC.; the transaction is an innovative long-term financing solution in Colombia, with Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC acting as the sole institutional investor, providing financing lower cost than other similar 144A or Reg S transactions
Advised under Colombian law and New York law Banco Santander S.A. in the refinancing of US$31.7 million of the debt granted to Termomorichal, a subsidiary of Grupo Ethuss, which operates a thermal power plant in Colombia
Advised Banco Santander S.A. and Banco Davivienda S.A. in the refinancing of a power project that will expand its capex, developed by Petroeléctrica de los Llanos, a subsidiary of Grupo Ethuss, for CO$148 billion; the credit facility was used to finance the costs and expenses related to the restructuring of the credit facility, pay additional debt contracted with Banco Davivienda S.A. and make a cash-out; the disbursement was made in dollars, so the line of credit granted by Banco Santander S.A. was structured as a synthetic loan with an embedded derivative
Advised Bancolombia S.A. under Colombian law in the refinancing of the debt of five small hydroelectric plants operated by the LAREIF Group; the refinancing consisted of a new credit facility of CO$275 trillion and the restructuring of a lease agreement for CO$75 trillion; Grupo LAREIF currently operates eight power generation plants, all of which are run-of-river hydroelectric plants located in the Department of Antioquia; the plants have been incorporated to Colombia's National Interconnected System (SIN) since July 2007; five plants obtained debt refinancing from Bancolombia S.A., namely: Caruquia (Santa Rosa de Osos), Guanaquitas (Gómez Plata), Barroso (Salgar), Popal (Cocorná) and CH San Miguel (Cocorná)
Advised under Colombian law and New York law Banco Santander S.A., Banco Davivienda S.A. and Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A. as senior lenders in connection with the financing of the electric transmission line located in the Atlántico department of Colombia, part of the Colombian Regional Transmission System to be developed by the Spanish sponsor Ortiz Construcciones y Projectos S.A. through the SPV Energia de Colombia STR S.A.S. E.S.P.
Advised MUFG Bank Ltd. (MUFG) – Japan's largest bank – under Colombian law as senior lender in the financing of US$163.5 million financing for the La Virginia - Nueva Esperanza transmission line project, which will cross the departments of Risaralda, Cundinamarca, Tolima, Quindío and Valle del Cauca in Colombia and benefit more than 2 million homes; MUFG acted as coordinating lead arranger, administrative agent, offshore collateral agent and hedge provider on the transaction; the transaction represents the first project financing of a transmission line in Colombia involving foreign banks
Advised Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional S.A. (FDN) and Banco Davivienda S.A. on the Bosques de los Llanos 1 solar energy project, which was one of the first non-conventional renewable energy projects to achieve financial closure in Colombia through a project finance scheme; the project is being developed in the region of Puerto Gaitán, Meta, where Trina Solar – a Chinese manufacturer – will supply more than 67 million photovoltaic (PV) modules and generate 27.2 MW
Advised Banco Davivienda S.A. in connection with the New York law aspects of the project financing of the power transmission line operated by Elecnorte S.A.
Advised Stoneway Group/Araucaria Energy, an energy sponsor operating in Argentina, as issuer of a US$500 million project bond issued under Rule 144A/Regulation S; the deal, one of the first greenfield power generation project bonds issued out of Argentina in more than 25 years, was underwritten by Jefferies and Seaport Global; in addition to the project bond itself, the transaction also included a related US$115 million loan transaction from the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor from Siemens Finance to finance equity in the structure (Siemens is the builder of the four financed projects) as well as an additional equity advised by energy developer SoEnergy International Inc.

Advised under Colombian law Grupo Helm in the US$20 million financing granted to Construcciones El Condor S.A. for the financing of its working capital, secured with the rights to future flows of some of the borrower's concessions
Advised under Colombian law Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A. in the US$1.7 million financing granted to the management of a subsidiary of Summum Projects (PetroTiger) for a management buy-out by means of which the management of this company acquired 100 percent of the same
Advised Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A. under Colombian law in an CO$37.5 billion acquisition finance for the acquisition of 100 percent of the food manufacturing company Ascender S.A. by the private equity fund Aqua Capital; the loan proceeds were disbursed to an SPV designed for the acquisition purposes of Ascender S.A., and the shares of the target company were pledged in favor of the lender
Advised Bancolombia S.A. as lender in a CO$235 billion financing transaction granted to Terranum private equity fund; the transaction included multiple tranches for the refinancing of existing debt and for the development and expansion of a CEDIS Sodimac distribution center near the city of Bogotá, Colombia; the trust that owns the CEDIS Sodimac distribution center was modified in order to serve as collateral for the lender
Advised Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A. and Banco Davivienda S.A. in a CO$188 billion corporate financing granted to Interaseo S.A.S. E.S.P.
Advised Bancolombia S.A. in the CO$292 billion bridge loan granted to Construcciones El Condor S.A. to refinance existing debt, among others
Advised Bancolombia S.A., Banco de Occidente S.A., Itaú Corpbanca Colombia S.A. and Banco Davivienda S.A. in a CO$148 billion syndicated secured loan granted to Redcol Holding S.A.S., a reputable company in the education sector in Colombia to, among others, grow inorganically through the acquisition of new schools
Advised Tecnoglass under Colombian and New York law in the approximately US$300 million to, among others, refinance its existing debt; the deal was awarded the 2021 "Deal of the Year" by Bonds and Loans LatinAmerica
Advised JPMorgan Chase and a group of 14 lenders under Colombian and New York law in a US$200 million unsecured syndicated loan granted to Promigas S.A. and Gases del Pacífico S.A.C.

Credentials

Education

Universidad de los Andes, Specialization, Financial Legislation
Universidad de los Andes, Specialization, International Business Law
Universidad de los Andes, J.D.

Bar Admissions/Licenses

Colombia

Honors & Awards

Chambers Global – The World's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, Colombia: Banking & Finance (Up & Coming), 2023, 2024
The Best Lawyers in Colombia, Banking and Finance Law, 2024
Chambers Latin America – Latin America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, Colombia: Banking & Finance, 2023, 2024
The Legal 500 Latin America, Next Generation Partner, Banking and Finance, 2023, 2024
IFLR1000, The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms, Rising Star Partner, Banking and Finance, 2023
The Legal 500 Latin America, Rising Star, Banking and Finance, 2021, 2022
The Legal 500 Latin America, Banking and Finance, 2019
Best Road Financing, Project & Infrastructure Awards, LatinFinance, 2016, 2017
Best Local Currency Finance, Project & Infrastructure Awards, LatinFinance, 2017
Best Infrastructure Financing for the Andes Region, Project & Infrastructure Awards, LatinFinance, 2016
Deal of the Year, Project Finance, Latin Lawyer, 2016