Vanessa Marzo Martin

Vanessa focuses her practice on cross-border financings in Latin America and the Caribbean. With a background in agency finance, she regularly counsels lenders, developers, and multilateral, regional, and bilateral agencies on project finance, corporate finance, structured finance, equity investments, and capital markets transactions. She is well versed in all aspects of debt financings, including the provision of secured, unsecured, A/B, and syndicated loans, as well as enforcement, having experience in workouts, in-court and out-of-court restructurings and refinancings, and bankruptcies.

Prior to working at Hunton, Vanessa spent over nine years working as in-house counsel for two international finance institutions focused on Latin America and the Caribbean, Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura, S.A. (CIFI) and IDB Invest

• Advising the developer on the development of multiple solar + BESS + gas-fired generation facilities that will supply energy to mini-grids in the Bahamas.
• Advising the lender in connection with a mezzanine financing to a Guatemalan company to develop energy-as-a-service solutions for telecom sites across Latin America.
• Advising the lender in an unsecured loan to Banco Nacional de Panama.

Experience Prior to Joining Hunton

• Advised on structuring cross-border financing transactions, including corporate and project finance loans in connection with small and medium sized infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, and was involved in all key aspects of the transactions.
• Advised Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura, S.A. (CIFI) as in-house counsel in connection with its:
  • $50 million loan facility to a Swiss reinforcing steel manufacturer with operations in several countries in Latin America;
  • Financing of the construction, completion, ownership, operation, and maintenance of a photovoltaic power station in Nicaragua with a capacity of 12 MW;
  • $13.6 million secured loan facility to a BVI company and several of its subsidiaries in Belize, Nevis, and the Bahamas in order to refinance certain existing debt and for the construction of a hotel in Belize;
  • $13.2 million loan to Panasolar S.A. for the development of its 19.77 MW photovoltaic plant located in Aguadulce, Coclé, Panama;
  • $10.5 million loan to Grenergy Renovables for the development of a portfolio totaling 15.3 MW of installed solar capacity in Chile; and
  • Restructuring of its secured loan to a company that operated fishing vessels in Manta, Ecuador.
• Advised IDB Invest as in-house counsel in connection with its:
  • $145 million A/B loan to Banco Davivienda Costa Rica S.A. to expand its green project portfolios and financing in Costa Rica;
  • $50 million unsecured A/B loan to JMMB Bank (Jamaica) Limited to make sub-loans to small and medium sized enterprises and to finance low and medium income housing portfolios in Jamaica;
  • $60 million unsecured loan facility to Banco de América Central, S.A. to make sub-loans to women led and owned small and medium sized enterprises in El Salvador;
  • $100 million unsecured loan facility to Banco de América Central, S.A. to make sub-loans to small and medium sized enterprises in Guatemala;
  • $20 million unsecured loan facility to Atlantic Bank Limited to make sub-loans to small and medium sized enterprises in Belize;
  • $40 million secured A/B loan facility to Metrobank, S.A. to make sub-loans to sub-borrowers in Panama;
  • Purchase of TTD$250 million senior secured social bond to Home Mortgage Bank in Trinidad & Tobago to fund the acquisition of sub-loans on the secondary mortgage market in Trinidad and Tobago;
  • $10 million, three-year loan to Banco Aliado, S.A. to provide financing to small and medium sized enterprises in Panama;
  • $50 million secured loan to Crédito Real S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM E.R. to support the growth of small and medium sized enterprises in Mexico and IDB Invest’s recovery efforts prior to and during bankruptcy proceedings in Mexico;
  • A-Loan of up to $40 million and B-Loan of approximately $30 million to Maxi Mobility to support its growth plan in Latin America and the Caribbean;
  • $40 million guaranteed facility to a management and source of payment trust created to purchase loans granted to micro, small, and medium sized enterprises and individuals in Mexico;
  • $50 million revolving, uncommitted, short-term credit line to Mercon B.V. and Mercon Coffee Corp. to promote the growth of its sales of coffee originating in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru and IDB Invest’s recovery efforts before and during UD Chapter 11; and
  • Restructuring of the $1 billion senior debt of Cóndor Energía SpA and Huemul Energía SpA in connection with a 1.4 GW wind and solar platform in Chile.