Jorge Loaiza has been selected as a Finance Monthly Deal Maker of the Year Awards 2014 winner for his work on SAAM's joint venture with Boskalis to create LatAm's largest tug business.

About the transaction

Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega​ acted as counsel in the incorporation of the two companies’ assets.
The partnership will merge the two companies’ assets in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and Panama and was completed through two joint ventures.

SAAM received a 51 per cent stake in those regions’ operations while SMIT obtained the smaller 49 per cent share.
Owing to the two companies’ comparable asset base, neither party made an additional equity contribution.

SAAM and Boskalis are set to operate in the aforementioned jurisdictions under the name SAAM SMIT Towage. The partnership will manage a fleet of over 100 tug boats with access to more than 30 ports and terminals across the Americas. The boats are used in the commercial shipping business to manoeuvre large ships into ports and canals. 

About the awards

The Finance Monthly Deal Maker of the Year Awards for 2014 celebrate the most impressive transactions in mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, corporate bonds, infrastructure and project finance, loans, structured finance, equities, restructuring and Islamic finance. Reflecting wider transaction trends, the emerging economies excelled, though there was still a lot of noteworthy business being done in the much-maligned Western markets.

The awards recognise financial, legal, tax, due diligence, risk, management and strategic advisory expertise in multiple jurisdictions in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, North and Latin America, Asia and Australasia as well as excellence for global corporate and private equity advisory.