Latin Lawyer
12/ 5/ 2019
Emily Darby
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York and Pinheiro Neto Advogados in São Paolo have helped Softbank’s Latin America fund lead a 580 million reais (US$140 million) investment in Brazilian e-commerce platform VTEX.
Paul Hastings LLP’s New York and São Paolo offices advised Brazilian investment fund Gávea Investimentos, which had a minority interest in the investment. VTEX enlisted Gunderson Dettmer in New York and L O Baptista Advogados’ São Paolo team for the deal, which closed on 22 November.
Brazil’s Constellation Asset Management also made a minority investment, but Latin Lawyer could not confirm its counsel prior to publication. The stake each company obtained in return for their investments was not disclosed.
Software as a service (SaaS) company VTEX will use the funds to boost its international presence and invest in its auto-scaling cloud commerce platform, which helps its clients manage traffic to their online sites and provides them with a simplified infrastructure for web app development.
VTEX, which was founded in 1999, counts Walmart, Lego, Disney, L’Oréal and Sony among its 2,500 global clients.
Japan’s Softbank launched its US$5 billion Latin America fund in March, through which the bank aims to invest in technology start-ups throughout Latin America.
In May, Softbank invested US$1 billion in food delivery app Rappi, which was the largest investment to date in a Latin American tech start-up.
Counsel to Softbank
- In-house counsel – Stephen Pelliccia
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP – Partners Todd Crider, Grenfel Calheiros and Jonathan Goldstein, and associates Luiz Noronha, Siddharth Fresa and Morgan Otway in New York
- Pinheiro Neto Advogados – Partners Raphael De Cunto and Jorge Lopes, and associates Rodrigo Moreira, Giovanna Christina Selena Cezario and Giovanna Christina Selena Cezario in São Paolo
Counsel to Gávea Investimentos
- Paul Hastings LLP – Partner Jon Kellner in New York and associate Diana Balassiano in São Paolo
Counsel to VTEX
- Gunderson Dettmer – Partner Adan Mueller and associates Christel Moreno and Tuca Bihari in New York
- L O Baptista Advogados – Partner Daniela Zaitz Kolar and associates Fernanda Pereira, Roberta Leme da Fonseca Thompson and Gabriel Grunberg Tesler in São Paolo
Fonte: https://latinlawyer.com/article/1211722/softbank-gets-behind-brazilian-e-commerce-platform
