Sony Ben-Moshe

Latham & Watkins advised NeoGames S.A., a provider of online gaming technology and services to lottery operators, on the closing of a US$143 million underwritten public offering of ordinary shares by a certain NeoGames shareholder at a price to the public of US$36.00 per ordinary share. The ordinary shares sold in the offering included 518,601 ordinary shares sold pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional ordinary shares. The Latham team was led by London corporate partner Josh Kiernan, New York partner Nathan Ajiashvili, with associates Gilad Zohari and Kirby Swartz. Advice on tax matters was provided by New York partner Elena Romanova and associate Michael Yu. The selling shareholder was advised by Latham San Diego partner Sony Ben-Moshe and Los Angeles partner Steven B. Stokdyk.~~

Sep 22

1 min

Partners Gianluca Bacchiocchi, Sony Ben-Moshe, Roderick Branch, Tony Del Pino, Guido Liniado, and Fernando Mantilla-Serrano — all members of Latham’s Latin America Practice — were named by Latinvex to its Latin America’s Top 100 Lawyers 2022 list. Latinvex’s 10th annual ranking spans 14 categories and includes only 100 attorneys from 55 law firms. Criteria for selection by the outlet’s editorial and research staff involved a combination of factors, including recent track record on major deals and business, prominence of the firm in Latin America, and rankings by third parties such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, and Refinitiv. Bacchiocchi represents sponsors, borrowers, issuers, investors, and banks in cross-border banking and capital markets transactions, including hybrid financings, with a particular focus on matters involving Latin America. He regularly counsels on energy and infrastructure related matters as well as market-leading structured financings, including international securitizations. Ben-Moshe is a member of the Finance Department. He has significant experience representing clients in financings, acquisitions, and formation of joint ventures in the United States and abroad, including Latin America. Branch focuses on capital markets transactions and securities regulation, with a particular interest in securities offerings by non-US issuers. He has extensive experience in securities financings in public and private markets, and has represented public- and private-sector companies, investment banks, and sovereign governments in global capital markets transactions. Del Pino is Global Chair of the Latin America Practice. He focuses on cross-border acquisitions, financings, private equity transactions, and restructurings. He has worked on numerous complex multi-national acquisitions and joint ventures in Latin America and the US, and regularly represents banks and borrowers in a variety of finance and restructuring transactions. Liniado advises banks, institutional investors, development finance institutions, sponsors, and borrowers/issuers in a variety of innovative cross-border finance and capital markets transactions involving Latin America and the Caribbean. He regularly handles project finance, project bonds, securitization, repacks, ABL, multi-source finance, acquisition finance, and leveraged finance transactions with a focus on the energy and infrastructure sectors. Mantilla-Serrano is Global Co-Chair of the International Arbitration Practice. He is acclaimed for the depth of his knowledge and experience in international arbitration representing companies, states, and state-owned entities in highly-complex commercial and investor-state disputes. In 2022, Latinvex also named Latham as one of Latin America’s Top International Law Firms and as the #1 international legal advisor in energy as well as #1 on announced Q1 M&A deals by total value in its Top Latin America M&A Advisors ranking.~~

May 27

2 min

Penn National Gaming, Inc., an omni-channel provider of retail and online gaming, live racing, and sports betting entertainment, has closed on July 1, 2021 its offering of US$400 million aggregate principal amount of new 4.125% senior notes due 2029, which were issued in a private placement. The new notes were issued at par. The notes are unsubordinated, unsecured obligations of Penn National and are not guaranteed. Latham & Watkins LLP represented the initial purchasers in the offering with a capital markets team led by Century City partner Steven Stokdyk and New York partner Erika Weinberg, with New York associate Carolina Bernal. Advice was also provided on finance matters by San Diego partner Sony Ben-Moshe and Los Angeles partner Kenneth Askin; and on tax matters by New York partner Bora Bozkurt, with New York associate Michael Yu.~~

Jul 1

1 min

Portland General Electric Company and Manulife Investment Management have paid $1.9 billion to obtain electrical provider PacifiCorp's Washington state assets in a cash deal guided by Latham & Watkins LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. According to the announcement, the assets include PacifiCorp's "generation, transmission and electric utility operations." After the related regulatory filings are submitted, the state and federal regulators are supposed to wrap up their acquisition reviews in 12 months, the announcement added. Part of these assets constitutes power lines that stretch for 4,500 miles and utility operations that are located 2,700 square miles across the state, according to the announcement. "We are excited for the opportunity to continue to grow, expanding into Washington and building upon PGE's foundation of operational excellence and customer service," said PGE's president and CEO Maria Pope in a Tuesday statement. "We look forward to our partnership with Manulife Investment Management, who brings a track record of investment success across the utility sector and Pacific Northwest agriculture and timberland industries," Pope added. On Tuesday, Manulife Investment Management's global head of infrastructure Recep Kendircioglu said Manulife's PGE partnership "represents an opportunity that fits well within our infrastructure strategy and leverages our experience in utility investments." The acquisition deal allows PGE to obtain the 94-megawatt Goodnoe Hills wind power facility, the 477-megawatt Chehalis natural gas facility, and the Marengo I and Marengo II facilities, which are wind power facilities that have 234 megawatts of power combined, the announcement said. PGE will use another company to oversee the Washington assets, according to the announcement. Also, Manulife Infrastructure Fund III LP and the fund's affiliates will own 49% of the utility assets, the announcement stated. On Tuesday, PacifiCorp's CEO Darin Carroll said the asset sale "is a targeted step toward ensuring the continued delivery of safe, reliable power to our nearly 2 million customers in the West and Intermountain West." "This will improve the company's financial stability while simplifying our operations to support our long-term commitment to customers in each of our remaining states," Carroll also said. PGE, Manulife and PacifiCorp did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on Tuesday. PGE is represented by Michael Sullivan, Ryan Maierson, Erik Thompson, Elena Burns, Cameron Koob, Zach Kobayashi, Riann Winget, Brock Meyer, Skyler Ligon, Genie Yae, Caroline Phillips, Sharon Huberfeld, Jeremie Ruiz, Jeffrey Tochner, Sebastian Moss, Pardis Zomorodi, Dominick Constantino, Jason Cruise, Andrew Paik, Natasha Gianvecchio, Jecoliah Williams, Michelle L.C. Carpenter, Peter Dalmasy, Oswald Cousins, Marc Campopiano, Brian McCall, James Mann, David Rao, Daniel Eyal, Chika Onyejiukwa, Harrison White, Robert Brown, Stuart Cobb, Sony Ben-Moshe, Bryan Monson, Jackson Kushner, Steven Levine, Shelby Harrison and Daniel Eyal of Latham & Watkins LLP. Manulife is represented by Brian Chisling, Katy Lukaszewski, Paul Bolaji, Oleg Stratiev, Natasha Kandi, Selim Loetscher, Brian Steinhardt, Brandon Barton, David Kim, Owen Harrison, Jonathan Goldstein, Shareef M. Salfity, Preston Irace, Alysha Sekhon, Margerite Blasé, Tally Smitas, Tristan Brown, Ryan Stott, Skyler Kanfer, Krista McManus, Dennis Loiacono and Steve DeLott of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. PacifiCorp is represented by Andrew Kaplan, Christopher Lang, Nicolette Fata, Aliya Zuberi, Becca Pecora, Patrick Perrier, Eric Sloan, Yara Mansour, Jason Zhang, Dean Masuda, Doug Horowitz, Meghan Hungate, Jocelyn Shih and Michael Collins of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Feb 17

3 min

Portland General Electric Company and Manulife Investment Management have paid $1.9 billion to obtain electrical provider PacifiCorp's Washington state assets in a cash deal guided by Latham & Watkins LLP, Baker Botts LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. According to the announcement, the assets include PacifiCorp's "generation, transmission and electric utility operations." After the related regulatory filings are submitted, the state and federal regulators are supposed to wrap up their acquisition reviews in 12 months, the announcement added. Part of these assets constitutes power lines that stretch for 4,500 miles and utility operations that are located 2,700 square miles across the state, according to the announcement. PGE's financial advisers for the deal were J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Citi, and Lazard, the announcement said. Manulife's financial adviser was Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC. "We are excited for the opportunity to continue to grow, expanding into Washington and building upon PGE's foundation of operational excellence and customer service," said PGE's president and CEO Maria Pope in a Tuesday statement. "We look forward to our partnership with Manulife Investment Management, who brings a track record of investment success across the utility sector and Pacific Northwest agriculture and timberland industries," Pope added. On Tuesday, Manulife Investment Management's global head of infrastructure Recep Kendircioglu said Manulife's PGE partnership "represents an opportunity that fits well within our infrastructure strategy and leverages our experience in utility investments." The acquisition deal allows PGE to obtain the 94-megawatt Goodnoe Hills wind power facility, the 477-megawatt Chehalis natural gas facility, and the Marengo I and Marengo II facilities, which are wind power facilities that have 234 megawatts of power combined, the announcement said. PGE will use another company to oversee the Washington assets, according to the announcement. Also, Manulife Infrastructure Fund III LP and the fund's affiliates will own 49% of the utility assets, the announcement stated. On Tuesday, PacifiCorp's CEO Darin Carroll said the asset sale "is a targeted step toward ensuring the continued delivery of safe, reliable power to our nearly 2 million customers in the West and Intermountain West." "This will improve the company's financial stability while simplifying our operations to support our long-term commitment to customers in each of our remaining states," Carroll also said. PGE, Manulife and PacifiCorp did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on Tuesday. PGE is represented by Michael Sullivan, Ryan Maierson, Erik Thompson, Elena Burns, Cameron Koob, Zach Kobayashi, Riann Winget, Brock Meyer, Skyler Ligon, Genie Yae, Caroline Phillips, Sharon Huberfeld, Jeremie Ruiz, Jeffrey Tochner, Sebastian Moss, Pardis Zomorodi, Dominick Constantino, Jason Cruise, Andrew Paik, Natasha Gianvecchio, Jecoliah Williams, Michelle L.C. Carpenter, Peter Dalmasy, Oswald Cousins, Marc Campopiano, Brian McCall, James Mann, David Rao, Daniel Eyal, Chika Onyejiukwa, Harrison White, Robert Brown, Stuart Cobb, Sony Ben-Moshe, Bryan Monson, Jackson Kushner, Steven Levine, Shelby Harrison and Daniel Eyal of Latham & Watkins LLP. Manulife is represented by Brian Chisling, Katy Lukaszewski, Paul Bolaji, Oleg Stratiev, Natasha Kandi, Selim Loetscher, Brian Steinhardt, Brandon Barton, David Kim, Owen Harrison, Jonathan Goldstein, Shareef M. Salfity, Preston Irace, Alysha Sekhon, Margerite Blasé, Tally Smitas, Tristan Brown, Ryan Stott, Skyler Kanfer, Krista McManus, Dennis Loiacono and Steve DeLott of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. PacifiCorp is represented by Andrew Kaplan, Christopher Lang, Nicolette Fata, Aliya Zuberi, Becca Pecora, Patrick Perrier, Eric Sloan, Yara Mansour, Jason Zhang, Dean Masuda, Doug Horowitz, Meghan Hungate, Jocelyn Shih and Michael Collins of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP. Lazard is represented by Clint Rancher, Josh Davidson and Lakshmi Ramanathan of Baker Botts LLP.

Feb 17

3 min