Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega advised the Republic of Panama in its evaluation of the creation of a sovereign wealth fund and transaction alternatives with its equity interests in AES Panamá, S.A., Bahía Las Minas Corp., Cable & Wireless, S.A., Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica Chiriquí, S.A., Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica Metro Oeste, S.A., Elektra Noreste, S.A., Enel Fortuna, S.A., Energía y Servicios de Panamá, S.A., Petroterminal de Panamá, S.A. and Panama Ports Company (the "Portfolio companies").

ARIFA evaluated alternatives for contribution of the equity interests in the Portfolio companies into a one or two fund structure, where fund units could be monetized at fair value to raise capital to finance the Government’s multi-year infrastructure investment plan, as well as developing the local capital markets and increasing alternatives for foreign investment.

As part of the analysis, ARIFA helped select assets best suited for bundling to create a fund that can be publicly or privately held. For assets that do not fit within a fund structure, individual monetization strategies via private market sales or IPO were analyzed.

Additionally, ARIFA evaluated the laws which regulate each of the industries in which the Portfolio Companies operate, as well as the corporate governance structures in each company, to assess public issue readiness as well as minority rights of the Government of Panama in each of these companies.

In April of 2012, the Republic of Panama approved the creation of the sovereign wealth fund.