On 14 June 2021, a new merger control regime entered into force in Peru. Merger control laws have been in place in Peru for almost 30 years but these were limited to the electricity sector. The new merger control legislation (Law Nº 31112, approved by the Peruvian Congress in January 2021) has repealed the sector-specific … Read more

Peru finally has a new President-elect.  In the evening of July 19, 2021, Peru’s electoral authority named the socialist candidate Pedro Castillo as the country’s next president. The official result was delayed by more than six weeks after the June 6 runoff vote due to fraud claims from Castillo’s right-wing opponent, Keiko Fujimori. After winning … Read more

These are exciting times for the natural gas sector in Brazil. Over the past few months, the Brazilian legal framework for the sector has been completely overhauled. Energy companies and those investing in the region should be aware of what the Brazilian government and local players call a “new gas market” and the legislative reform … Read more

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a widespread tool for collaboration between a government agency and a private sector company and are used to finance large-scale public projects such as transportation networks, renewable energy and/or other infrastructure related projects. The government agency and the private-sector company come together to sponsor and build the project with shared risks … Read more

Following an unexpected electoral victory on April 11, 2021, conservative candidate Guillermo Lasso assumed office as President of Ecuador yesterday. Markets welcomed Lasso’s victory when the election results were announced in April, as sovereign bonds rose to their highest point since September 2020. Lasso’s electoral campaign focused on creating employment through foreign investment, expanding investments … Read more

Bolivia has become the seventh state to ratify the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration, also known as the “Mauritius Convention”. State parties to the Mauritius Convention commit to greater transparency in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) proceedings. Specifically, by ratifying the Mauritius Convention, Bolivia consents to extend the application of the UNCITRAL … Read more

What E&P Projects will Petrobras Offload by Year-end? (BNamericas) Brazil’s state oil firm Petrobras is due to complete by the end of 2020 the sale of 109 exploration and production areas. The sell-offs are part of the company’s US$20-30bn divestment plan focused on reducing participation in onshore and shallow water projects to focus on deepwater E&P. The deadline was imposed … Read more

On 29 June 2012, the European Union and the six partner countries in Central America – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – signed an Association Agreement (the EU-Central America Association Agreement) (the “Association Agreement“).  The purpose of this FTA was to develop trade and investment relations between parties. On 13 May … Read more