Hunton & Williams LLP Represents Promerica Financial Corporation and Banca Promerica, S.A. in $36M Financings

MIAMI — August 12, 2010 — Hunton & Williams LLP recently represented Promerica Financial Corporation (PFC), a bank holding company organized under the laws of Panama, and Banco Promerica S.A., a subsidiary of PFC, as borrowers in two credit facility deals totaling $36 million that will enable PFC to provide capital investment for its banking subsidiaries. PFC owns banks and finance companies in Central America, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

For the first credit facility, PFC borrowed from lender Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), a Dutch bilateral private sector development bank, for an aggregate amount of $30 million. The final disbursement of the multiple disbursements was on June 30, 2010. The proceeds from the transaction will be used to provide capital investment in the PFC's subsidiaries, finance the acquisition of Bancasol (a Guatemalan corporation) and finance the acquisition of newly issued shares of Ecuadorian bank Banco MM Jaramillo Arteaga (now known as Banco Promerica (Ecuador)).

The second credit facility, Banco Promerica S.A, a bank organized under the laws of Costa Rica and a subsidiary of PFC, borrowed $6 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The proceeds from the deal will be used to increase, expand and extend the Bank's funding base by obtaining medium-term funding for lending to sustainable finance sub-projects. Banco Promerica is the fifth largest private bank in Costa Rica in terms of assets with $444 million, as of December 31, 2009.

"With banks and finance companies in all of Central America, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador, the PFC group plays a significant role in the region's economy," said Bárbara P. Alonso, lead attorney on the transaction. “These transactions will facilitate Promerica's capital investments in its banking subsidiaries which in turn will help aid economic growth in the region.”

In addition to Bárbara P. Alonso, the Hunton & Williams team included Miami-based partner and head of the Latin America practice group Fernando C. Alonso. On the credit facility with the Netherlands Development Finance Company, the Hunton & Williams team worked very closely with Juliette de Wijkerslooth and Oda Barten, in-house counsel for FMO; Ernest W. Chung, partner at Blank Rome LLP and outside counsel for FMO; José Agustín Precadio M., partner at Fabrega, Molino & Mulino, who served as Panamanian counsel to FMO; and Arturo Gerbaud, partner at Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee, who served as Panamanian counsel to PFC. On the credit facility between Banco Promerica and IFC, IFC was represented by in-house counsel Paola Morales.

The Netherlands Development Finance Company, established in 1970 as an undertaking between the Dutch state and the business community, supports the private sector in developing countries and emerging markets throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Through loans, participations, guarantees and other investment promotion activities, FMO contributes to the structural and sustainable economic growth of the over 40 countries in which it participates.

The International Finance Corporation, a member of The World Bank Group, was created in 1956 to foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing capital in the international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.

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