Jose Manuel Vivanco Letelier

Mr. Vivanco focuses his practice on cross-border mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and other corporate matters, with a particular emphasis on Latin America. His experience spans both public and private transactions and includes representing companies in complex, high-profile deals, such as global auctions, tender offers and joint ventures. Mr. Vivanco operates fluently in both English and Spanish across all aspects of M&A transactions. 

In recognition of his work, Mr. Vivanco has been named one of Latinvex’s Rising Legal Stars, which recognizes “up-and-coming attorneys from international firms doing business in Latin America,” and repeatedly honored as a Stand-Out Lawyer by Thomson Reuters (2021-25).

Mr. Vivanco serves as the North American regional forum liaison officer for the Young Lawyers’ Committee of the International Bar Association. He previously served as the Committee’s national representative for the United States.

Mr. Vivanco has experience representing clients in a variety of industries in a wide range of transactions, including:

• Grupo Argos S.A. in its agreement with Grupo Nutresa, Grupo Sura, IHC Capital Holding and companies controlled by Jaime Gilinski, resulting in, among other things, Argos transferring all of its shares in the food business of Nutresa in exchange for all the shares of Argos and Sura held by IHC, Gilinski and Nutresa. The agreement follows a multibillion-dollar stake-building campaign by Gilinski and IHC that involved a series of unsolicited tender offers over more than 18 months that sought control of each of Nutresa, Sura and Argos, all of which are large cap publicly traded companies in Colombia with operations throughout Latin America and the U.S.
• Compass Group in its business combination with Vinci Partners Investments Ltd. (Nasdaq: VINP) to create a pan-regional platform managing over $50 billion in assets across private markets, investment products and solutions, public equities and corporate advisory segments
• Actis in the sale of Atlas Renewable Energy, an international renewable energy generation company with 14 fully contracted solar assets that produce 2.3 GW of installed capacity, across Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay. This deal was named 2022 M&A Deal of the Year by Latin Lawyer and Energy Transition Deal of the Year by Infrastructure Investor
• JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation in its $950 million sale of a 51% stake in SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile to Lundin Mining Corporation
• a Mexican sporting goods retailer in its acquisition of a minority interest in, and option to acquire up to 100% of, a major sporting goods distributor in Latin America
• Grupo Romero Investment Office in its acquisition, from subsidiaries of I Squared Capital and Nautilus Energy Partners, of 100% of the equity of INKIA AMERICAS II SAC and SAMAY I S.A., which are companies that hold and operate the Central Térmica Puerto Bravo thermoelectric plant in Peru
• multiple clients in the energy and mining industries, including, most recently, a Canadian company in its bid to acquire a Latin America mining project, an Asian company in connection with a proposed sell-side auction of its interest in a Latin America mining project and a Chilean energy company in its bid to acquire a Colombian utility
• Moneda Asset Management in its business combination with Patria Investments Limited (Nasdaq: PAX) to create a leading investment platform in Latin America with over $26 billion in assets under management
• Grupo Patio in its co-investment with BTG Pactual Strategic Capital in a platform company targeting acquisitions of $1 billion-plus of U.S. Midwest industrial real estate over a three-year period
• InRetail Peru Corp, an Intercorp Group company, in its:
  • Subsidiary Supermercados Peruanos S.A.’s acquisition of Latin American wholesaler Makro Supermayorista S.A. from Dutch group SHV
  • $583 million acquisition of Quicorp S.A., the parent company of Química Suiza, a distributor of pharmaceutical and consumer products in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador. This deal was named 2018 Domestic M&A Deal of the Year by LatinFinance
• Deutsche Bank AG and its affiliates in connection with its sale of Deutsche Bank Argentina; its proposed sale of Deutsche Bank Mexico; and sale of its trust business in Mexico to CIBanco, S.A., Institución de Banca Múltiple
• Hocol S.A. in its acquisition of certain assets, rights and obligations of the Colombian branch of Chevron Petroleum Company related to the Chuchupa and Ballena natural gas fields in Colombia
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan) in its acquisitions of noncontrolling stakes in multibillion-dollar copper mining projects in Chile from Antofagasta plc (U.K.)
• Citigroup Inc. and its affiliates in the sale of its consumer banking and credit card businesses through international auction processes to: Scotiabank, in Panama and Costa Rica; Promerica Financial Corporation, in Guatemala; Grupo Financiero Ficohsa S.A., in Nicaragua; and Terra Group, in El Salvador
• Visa Inc. in connection with its equity interest in, and contractual relationship with, Prisma Medios de Pago S.A., the leading cards and payments company in Argentina
• Grupo Gloria in its:
  • $300 million acquisition of an additional 51% stake in Sociedad Boliviana de Cemento S.A
  • $230 million acquisition of a 63.5% stake in Unión Cementera Nacional (Ecuador)

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Vivanco practiced law in Chile at one of the country’s top law firms.