Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega acted as counsel to the Bank of Nova Scotia in connection with the US$100 million factoring facility to CCA-COCIGE Consortium (comprising CCA Building Panama, S.A.; China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd.; and Construcciones Civiles Generales, S.A.) for completing the construction of Panama's new convention center located in the area of Amador.

Back in 2013, ARIFA acted as transaction counsel to HSBC Bank (Panamá) S.A., now Banistmo S.A., as arranger in the US$170 million Receivables Purchase Facility granted to the original consortium responsible for the design and construction of the new convention center.  The construction of the new convention center was stopped at the end of 2014.  A new tendering process began and the contract was won by the CCA-COCIGE consortium, which now has the order to finish the project.

At a cost of US$193.7 million, the new convention center will offer an extraordinary view of the historic Panama Canal and the majestic Panama City skyline, with capacity for 25,000 people. It will be three times bigger than Atlapa (Panama’s current convention center). Many hotels have been built over the last five years in Panama City, preparing for the great possibilities that the convention tourism sector has. CCA-COCIGE Consortium has announced that the project will be ready in 2018.