About a year ago, San Antonio Oil and Gas Services Ltd gave Calyon a mandate to act as joint lead arranger and joint bookrunner in a bridge loan of USD 600 million to finance the acquisition of a 60% interest in Pride International's Latin American Land Drilling and E&P Services, using capital to fund the remaining 40%.

Subscriptions to repayment in 1 year of San Antonio's bridge loan for a total amount of USD 600 million closed successfully and were fully paid up on July 25, 2008.

This transaction is one of the very first LBOs to be carried out in Latin America for a substantial amount. Its promoter is GP Investments, a large Latin American venture capital firm active throughout the region and based in Brazil. The bridge loan was paid out of a multiple-tranche syndicated loan for an amount of USD 550 million and a capital contribution of USD 50 million.

A host of obstacles had to be overcome because of the adverse conditions in the world market. In addition, the process of drawing up the necessary documents proved to be particularly complex, having to comply with the laws of more than seven Latin American countries (with a local adviser in each). An additional challenge came from the number of different lenders involved in the deal. The transaction's success was mainly due to Calyon's ability to structure it in multi-tranches among various investors, providing seamless coordination until completion of the refinancing deal.

In all, this year devoted to the execution process has enabled us to establish excellent relations with the promoter, GP, as well as with San Antonio Oil and Gas, whose ambition is to become one of the top players in Latin America's oil and gas services sector, primarily by making acquisitions in Brazil and Mexico.