Andres C. Mena

Prior to joining Willkie in 2021, Andres was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he spent more than 15 years of his career. Subsequently he was a partner at Paul Hastings LLP.

Andres was a member of the Board of Directors of the North American-Chilean Chamber of Commerce.

Andres is a frequent speaker on financing and restructuring topics.

• "Chapter 11 for Brazilian Companies in the USA: An introduction to the Main Aspects of Chapter 11 for Creditors and Debtors" (2020)
• "What is Chapter 11? Insolvency Regulation in the United States and its effect on Latin American Companies" (2020)
• "Trends and Insights in the Latin American Market in Light of Covid-19" (2020)
• "Casos Prácticos sobre Restructuraciones Financieras" (Practical Examples on Financial Restructurings), Morales & Besa, Larrain Vial and Greenhill & Co. event, Santiago de Chile (2017)
• "Overview of the M&A Market in Latin America," IBA Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2017
• "Drafting Debt Agreements," Practicing Law Institute, New York City (January 6, 2010)
• "Drafting Debt Agreements," Practicing Law Institute, New York City (January 7, 2009)

Andres advised on the following selected significant matters*:

Selected Sponsor Side Representations

• Franchise Group, Inc. and its direct parent in connection with financing for the acquisition of the company by a buyer group led by CEO Brian Kahn.
• PBF Energy on the formation of a renewable diesel joint venture with Eni Sustainable Mobility and in connection with a $400 million working capital facility for the joint venture.
• Atlas Holdings LLC in its bid to acquire R.R. Donnelly.
• Albright Capital in its acquisition of Innovatel, LLC, a Latin America telecom tower business.
• Cerberus in its dividend recap with a margin loan secured by Avon stock.
• MSD Private Capital in its $1.2 billion acquisition of West Monroe Partners Inc.
• GI Partners in its recapitalizations of Netsmart, Inc. and Flexential Inc.
• HIG Capital in its acquisition of Jackson Paper.
• Lincolnshire Management in the acquisitions of True Temper, National Pen Co., High Performance Industries, among others.
• CapVest Partners LLP in its $300 million acquisition of Kar Nut Products, LLC.
• Metalmark Capital Partners in its acquisitions of Northeast Natural Energy, LLC and Jones Energy.
• Redwood Capital in its acquisition of Premier Trailer.
• Sagard Capital in its acquisition in a 363 sale of Performance Sports Group.
• Sithe Global Power (an affiliate of The Blackstone Group) in the financing of power plants in the Philippines and Uganda.

Selected Lender Side Representations

• Jefferies in numerous acquisition financings (ranging US$350 million and US$2.0 billion) sponsored by:
  • Arcline,
  • Bain,
  • Golden Gate Capital,
  • KKR,
  • Sun Capital,
  • Thoma Bravo.
• RBC, Macquarie and UBS, in acquisition financings (ranging US$80 million and US$250 million) sponsored by:
  
  • AE Partners,
  • Apax,
  • Greenbriar Equity.
• Jefferies Finance LLC, KKR Capital Markets LLC, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Sydney Branch and MUFG Bank LTD., with respect to the financing of KKR's $2.2 billion acquisition of Campbell Soup's international operations, including Arnott's biscuits.
• Brightwood Capital in its financing of the acquisition by Apax of The Herjavec Group and Coalfire Systems, Inc.

Selected Corporate Borrower Side Representations

• Mercado Lending. S.A. de C.V., a subsidiary of Mercado Libre, in an origination agreement with Goldman Sachs for the purchase of Mercado consumer loans.
• PBF Holding Company LLC, a subsidiary of PBF Energy Inc., on its amended and restated $3.5 billion asset-based revolving credit facility.
• Rhythm Energy, Inc. on its working capital lending facility from ENGIE Energy Marketing NA, Inc.
• Clearway Energy, Inc. in an amended $700 million revolving credit facility.
• PBF Energy, Inc. and its affiliates, in a variety of secured and structured financings, in excess of US$15 billion.
• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. in its $12.7 billion acquisition of Zynga, Inc.
• Franchise Group, Inc. in its $600 million acquisition of W.S. Badcock.
• NRG Energy, Inc. and its affiliates, in a variety of secured financings in excess of US$25 billion.
• NRG Energy, Inc. in its US$5.75 billion acquisition of Texas Genco.
• Chobani, LLC in its US$750 million financing by TPG.
• Mercado Libre Inc. (Latin America's leading e-commerce platform) in multiple cross-border warehouse financings in the Brazilian and Mexican markets.
• Copamex S.A. de C.V. (Mexico's leading paper producer) in its US$250 million recapitalization.
• Blink Fitness in its US$125 million secured financing provided by Varagon Capital and other lenders.

Restructurings

• Texas Competitive Energy Holdings in its $4.475 billion DIP facility as part of its Chapter 11.
• Creditors to NII Nextel Telefonica S.C.A. in a $350 million DIP Facility (Restructuring (U.S.) Deal of 2016).
• Chilean Unsecured Bondholders representing approx. USD$500m of claims against LATAM Airlines Group S.A. as part of LATAM’s Chapter 11.
• Charming Charlie LLC in its Chapter 11 cases.
• Eagle Hospitality, a Singapore REIT in its Chapter 11 case including its $100m DIP facility.
• Sagard Capital in a $375 million Chapter 11 exit financing for Performance Sports Group.

* Andres advised on these matters prior to joining Willkie.