Lone Star is a leading private equity firm that invests globally in real estate, equity, credit and other financial assets. Since the establishment of its first fund in 1995, Lone Star has organized seventeen private equity funds with aggregate capital commitments totalling over $70 billion.
San Antonio Oil & Gas Services Ltd., based in Argentina, provides onshore drilling services.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson advised Lone Star with Fiona J. Kelly, David L. Shaw, Adam B. Cohen and Rati Ranga.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP advised San Antonio Oil & Gas Services Ltd. with a team including Francesca Odell, Carina Wallance and Stephanie Fontana.
Perez Alati, Grondona, Benites & Arntsez advised San Antonio Oil & Gas Services Ltd. with Diego Serrano Redonnet, Pedro Menendez San Martín and Tomás Fernandez Madero.
Tanoira Cassagne advised San Antonio Oil & Gas Services Ltd. with Jaime Uranga and Juan Sanguinetti.
In Argentina, Oría, Colombres & Saravia Abogados advised Lone Star with Jorge Ignacio Oría and Micaela Reisner.
Interview with Jorge Ignacio Oría
Please tell me about your involvement in the deal and how you instructed Lone Star.
Oría, Colombres & Saravia Abogados were engaged by Lone Star to act as Argentine counsel for the acquisition of San Antonio’s Argentine subsidiaries—which accounted for most of the group’s revenues—as well as to select and coordinate the work of local counsel in Bolivia, Mexico and Venezuela to perform due diligence in those jurisdictions, in order for the client to decide whether or not to include them within the scope of the transaction (they were eventually sold to a third party). We also assisted Fried Frank, who acted as US counsel, in the drafting of the Stock Purchase Agreement and ancillary documents.
Why is this a good deal for all involved?
San Antonio was a company under the control of its lenders as a result of the insolvency of the parent company. This transaction allowed the lenders to recover value. For Lone Star as buyer, it was their first acquisition in the Argentine market. The target itself now has a solid shareholder that is willing to inject capital to recover market share and to expand its operations in Argentina and in the region. Most of the top management remains, with a new outlook and positive personal incentives. For us, it was an opportunity to grow professionally and gain exposure.
What challenges arose? How did you navigate them?
We are used to acting as local counsel in regional transactions, but it was the first time that as a Firm we were called to coordinate the work of all the other firms in the region. We had to lay down a clear path for all to follow, set common goals and deliver a homogenous, high-quality work product that satisfied Lone Star’s demanding standards. On the local front, we had to put together a team that could handle a transaction of this size, with sufficient muscle to review and assess large quantities of documents in a short timeframe. We are a boutique Firm, mostly staffed with lawyers with ten or more years of experience, where partners and associates work side by side at all levels of the deal. In addition, we were able to draw on the experience of colleagues who worked under our supervision to cover specific matters (labour, antitrust, environmental and regulatory). We are proud of our ability to combine forces with independent professionals in complex transactions and provide our clients with the kind of coverage they would receive from a large firm, with the efficiency and competitive service of a small boutique.
