2021 Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards

LatinFinance's Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards recognize the most impressive transactions and institutions in a field critical to the region's economic progress. For all categories, we consider transactions that have closed between June 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021.

Following are the categories for this year's awards:

1. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Andes (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela)
2. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Brazil
3. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Caribbean
4. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Central America
5. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Mexico
6. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)
7. Infrastructure Financing of the Year: Latin America
8. Bond of the Year
9. Loan of the Year
10. Local Currency Financing of the Year
11. Airport Financing of the Year
12. Mining Financing of the Year
13. Oil & Gas Financing of the Year
14. Port Financing of the Year
15. Power Financing of the Year
16. Renewable Energy Financing of the Year
17. Road Financing of the Year
18. Social Infrastructure Financing of the Year
19. Digital Infrastructure/Telecoms Financing of the Year
20. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Andes (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela)
21. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Brazil
22. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Caribbean
23. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Central America
24. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Mexico
25. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)
26. Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year: Latin America
27. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Andes (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela)
28. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Brazil
29. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Caribbean
30. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Central America
31. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Mexico
32. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay)
33. Infrastructure Bank of the Year: Latin America
34. Financial Advisor of the Year
35. Project Sponsor of the Year

Below are the main criteria for judging LatinFinance's 2021 Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards. For all categories, we consider transactions that have closed between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021.

Categories 1–19:

• Market significance; strategic importance; and groundbreaking qualities
• Structural aspects of the transaction, including complexity, innovation and size
• Execution, including price and demand achieved compared to other references in the market and with regard to conditions at the time
• Secondary market performance, and reception by peers and investors
• Geographical reach, where relevant
• The social impact of the project

Categories 20–35:

• Overall strategy, volume and diversity of transactions
• Innovation and foresight
• Execution quality and success of transactions worked on
• Role in particularly complex, innovative, or large deals over the year
• Quantity of transactions worked on over the year, and compared to previous years

LatinFinance's 2021 Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards are decided solely by LatinFinance's editors following an extensive research process. The key elements of each step of the process are outlined below.

Market consultation

LatinFinance editors can, at their discretion, discuss the relative merits of shortlisted transactions and institutions with a wide range of market participants, while maintaining the integrity of the nomination process.

Examination of financial data

LatinFinance will research data and other publicly available information for each of the nominated transactions and institutions. As is relevant in each category, such data will include, but not be limited to: presentations on the projects being financed, stock exchange filings, transaction pricing details, secondary market trading data. Nominations are required to include all relevant CUSIP, ISIN, or unique identifiers that are publicly available to pinpoint exactly which assets are being nominated for a potential award. Non-public transactions that are submitted through the formal nominations process need to have accompanying documentation for appropriate examination if they are to be considered for an award. Special circumstances or technological limitations should be discussed with the editorial department by emailing awards@latinfinance.com.

Editorial evaluation

LatinFinance's editorial team retains discretion over the final allocation of awards in each category. The final decision will be based on nominations, market consultation, research of financial data, and feedback on transactions over the course of the awards review period. LatinFinance reserves the right to withhold naming a category winner.

Announcements

Award winners will be informed in July 2021 with the news embargoed until publication of the September (Q3) edition of LatinFinance magazine. Winners will be contacted to discuss plans for an appropriate presentation process to take place at a date and time to be determined in the fall of 2021.

All entries must be submitted through the official nomination form at awards.latinfinance.com. The nomination period will open on May 31, 2021, and close promptly at 11:59 PM ET on June 18, 2021 (extended from June 13, 2021). Please note the entry deadline is final. The system will automatically prevent entry submission after the deadline.

• Please be sure to coordinate with other members of your institution to ensure ONE submission per institution. This new platform makes it simple to share and review the draft submission before finalizing.
• Institutions (banks, law firms, consultancies, investors, project sponsors, government entities) working in infrastructure finance may nominate ONE transaction or institution in a given category.
• Any single institution is limited to ONE nomination per category within the Infrastructure Financing of the Year categories (1–7), out of which they can additionally designate ONE transaction for either Bond of the Year OR Loan of the Year (8–9), and ONE further nomination as Local Currency Financing of the Year (10) if applicable.
• Any single institution is limited to TWO nominations within the Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year categories (20–26).
• Any single institution is limited to TWO nominations within the Infrastructure Bank of the Year categories (27–33).
• Any single institution is limited to ONE nomination within the Financial Advisor of the Year category (34).
• Any single institution can submit ONE nomination for Infrastructure Sponsor of the Year (35).

Please note the following features of our awards platform:

• You may edit your entry after submitting, up until the entry deadline.
• You have the ability to enter documents and review them within your teams, collaborate on information, formulations and create the most thorough summary of information BEFORE you submit.
• You can enter, edit and review your entries on your mobile device. Either log in at awards.latinfinance.com or scan the QR code on the PDF version of your draft or final entry.
• You can use the copy feature to create a copy of your entry and change the category as required.

When you register, please make sure all your personal details are entered accurately, including contact details, as this will be used to contact in case of questions regarding the nomination. It will also be the way we inform winners.

For categories 1–19, nominations must include the data in sections 1, 2 and 3 below. For categories 20–35, nominations must include the data in sections 4 and 5 below. All items are required unless otherwise indicated.

Section 1: Deal information

This section is required for categories 1–19.

• Deal name
• Deal type
• Closing date (must be between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021)
• Total deal size in USD
• Total deal size in local FX
• FX conversion rate
• Number of transactions/tranches involved in the deal
• Issuing entity, bond/loan, transaction size, coupon, yield, issuance price, ID (eg: CUSIP/ISIN/Ticker symbol), fixed/floating, maturity date and closing date for each transaction/tranche involved in the deal

Section 2: Deal participants

This section is required for categories 1–19.

• Deal sponsor(s)
• Legal jurisdictions associated with the issued assets (eg: New York Law, where appropriate)
• Role of your institution (eg: mandated lead arranger, lead bookrunner, co-lead, support, etc.)
• Names of all supporting banks and/or bankers involved (name of bank, role of bank, name of banker, lead banker (Y/N), contact phone, contact email, location)
• Names of all supporting law firms and/or partners involved (name of law firm, role of law firm, name of partner, lead partner (Y/N), contact phone, contact email, location)
• Optional: Names of other institutions involved (eg: investors/consultants/technical advisor etc.)

Section 3: Additional questions

This section is required for categories 1–19.

• Why is this deal worthy of an award? (up to 1,000 words)
• What is the intended social impact of the project, and why was its completion significant in reaching that goal? (up to 500 words)

Section 4: Deals

This section is required for categories 20–35. Institutional excellence will be judged in part by the deals in which nominated institutions participated The following fields must be completed for each deal included to support your nomination.

• Deal name
• Deal type
• Deal sponsor
• Closing date (must be between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021)
• Total deal size in USD
• Total deal size in local FX
• FX conversion rate
• Number of transactions/tranches involved in the deal
• ID (eg: CUSIP/ISIN/Ticker symbol), deal size in USD, deal size in local FX, price, yield, coupon and maturity date for each transaction/tranche involved in the deal
• Please explain why this deal was included in your nomination. Be sure to include any relevant ESG details and why this deal stands out in the marketplace (up to 300 words)
• Please list the names, titles and contact information for bankers or legal counsel involved in the deal

Section 5: Additional questions

This section is required for categories 20–35.

• How has your institution adapted to the current pandemic environment in order to close transactions? (up to 750 words)
• How has your institution incorporated ESG into its overall strategy, including in deals submitted for consideration? (up to 750 words)
• Why do you believe that your institution is worthy of an award? (up to 1,000 words)

If you have any questions on the entry process, please email awards@latinfinance.com and put "Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards" in the subject line.