Bank of America in Sale of Latin American BankBoston Assets

Cleary Gottlieb is representing Bank of America (BofA) in the sale of its BankBoston operations in Panama and its BankBoston credit portfolios in Peru and Colombia. BofA acquired these assets in its recent merger with Fleet National Bank, and as a first step in its decision to cease operations in Peru, Panama, and Columbia, is selling them to Banco General of Panama, Banco de Crédito del Perú, and Banco de Bogota of Colombia, respectively. The terms of the transactions, all of which are expected to close during the first quarter of 2005, pending regulatory approval in all three jurisdictions, have not yet been publicly disclosed.

The transactions were carried out by an auction process, in which a number of prospective purchasers conducted due diligence and submitted markups of sale documents. The Cleary Gottlieb team worked with local counsel to advise BofA of the transaction structure in each jurisdiction most likely to satisfy regulators, advised BofA throughout the auction process, and drafted and negotiated sale documents.