In Urda Kassis’s second blockbuster of the year, the Panama Canal Authority entertained funding proposals from across the financing spectrum for an expansion project that will double the canal’s capacity [ see "The Big Dig"]. Urda Kassis and partner Manuel Orillac coheaded the Shearman team that negotiated $2.3 billion in unsecured financing from a group of five export credit agencies and multilateral development lenders as the bank market was collapsing. A team from Clifford Chance worked for the lenders on the deal, which closed in December.
See all 25 of our Dealmakers of the Year, from the April 2009 issue of The American Lawyer.
