Nardello & Co. was retained by a US law firm on behalf of an investment fund that had a large judgment against a Latin American country and sought to seize assets of that country as part of its collection strategy.

During an initial phase of the investigation, we conducted significant research to identify companies that qualified as government entities or alter egos of the relevant government. Based on our preliminary findings, we then looked closely at the key entities in question to determine whether they conducted business outside of the country and if so, whether this presented opportunities to seize assets (e.g., bond payments). We also reviewed securities filings in the target country and the US, and determined that certain government entities held significant stakes in public US companies.

In addition, since the judgment was against a major oil and gas producing country, we reviewed various oil concession agreements and determined that land-based oil concessions were under the control of each individual state but offshore concessions were the property of the federal government, meaning that payments relating to offshore concessions were potentially available for seizure.

The client used our findings to inform its legal strategy.