Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega acted as counsel to BNP Paribas Panama Branch, as arranger, of a US$180 million non-recourse collection rights purchase facility entered into with Constructora Norberto Odebrecht to finance the design and construction of the “Cinta Costera”, a 2.6-km coastal highway on a reclamation area in the Bay of Panama.  

It was the first time that this type of financing was used in Panama. The financing was arranged as a non-recourse purchase by the banks of future receivables payable to the construction company by the Ministry of Public Works pursuant to a construction and maintenance agreement. Significant legal issues had to be sorted out, such as mitigating the risk of the government's exercising set-off rights under the construction contract against collection rights already assigned by the contractor to the banks. New regulations regarding the recognition of credits against the Republic of Panama had to be drafted.