We are delighted to announce the Latin American judging panel for the IJGlobal Awards 2024 who will have a final say on all submissions for the company awards.

These awards recognise landmark developments and the organisations that contributed to the delivery of greenfield projects in the infrastructure and energy space, as well as refinance activity.

IJGlobal Awards are not to be confused with IJInvestor Awards (Americas and Rest of World) which recognise outstanding infrastructure fund activity and infra/energy M&A. They also stand separate to the IJGlobal ESG Awards.

To access the IJGlobal Awards 2024 submissions portal, click here...

Judges are recused from casting a vote where they are conflicted – as in lawyers cannot vote in the legal segment and bankers are not allowed to sway the decision in the MLA category – making IJGlobal Awards what we believe to be the single most peer-review and independent in the infrastructure and energy community.

The Latin America judges will meet for Judgment Day on 22 January to debate the merits of companies that closed deals – project finance greenfield and refi – in that region over the course of the 2024 calendar year.

Meanwhile, the LatAm awards night is run alongside the North America event and will be hosted on 13 March 2025 at Gotham Hall, New York.

The judges (in alphabetical order) for Latin America are:

• Aitor Alava – Natixis
• Tobey Collins – Astris Finance
• Maria Galvis – BNP Paribas
• Margarita Oliva – DLA Piper
• Leonardo Osorio – SMBC
• Sami Asad Mir – A&O Shearman
• Tatiana Preta – MUFG
• Diego Rausei – Zelestra Energy
• Jorge Valenzuela – Arup

Aitor Alava

Natixis

Aitor heads the Natixis infrastructure and energy finance team for LatAm, operating out of New York.

He has more than 20 years of diverse infrastructure finance experience, having been involved in banking, as a developer, and on the construction side.

Aitor joined Natixis’ Americas platform in 2013 after having previously headed the bank’s project finance function for Spain and Portugal since September 2011.

Prior to joining Natixis, Aitor was deputy head of project finance for Spain and Portugal at BNP Paribas and, earlier, a director for global export and project finance Iberia at Fortis Bank.

Tobey Collins

Astris Finance

Tobey leads as managing director of structured finance in the energy sector for the Americas at Astris Finance, including both conventional energy and renewable energy.

With nearly 20 years in the power sector, Tobey’s transactional experience has spanned both the financing and sponsor sides of the negotiating table. She has worked in conventional and renewable energy as well as power distribution and transmission, both in the US and across Latin America.

Prior to joining Astris in 2013, Tobey spent 10 years leading transactional finance teams as a sponsor/owner of electricity assets. As CFO at AES Gener, Chile’s second largest generator with more than 4GW of installed capacity, Tobey led debt and equity capital raising activities of around $2 billion to support an aggressive expansion plan.

As managing director of restructuring at the AES Corporation, Tobey worked out and refinanced close to $3 billion of troubled debt at AES assets principally in Brazil as well as the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Tobey has also held senior finance roles at Lanco Solar in the US PV sector and Verdeo Group in the carbon trading space.

Before switching to the sponsor side, Tobey worked as a project finance banker and adviser. She worked for the private sector department of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as an investment officer. She had previously worked in ABN Amro’s project finance team based in Caracas, Venezuela, and in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She began her international project finance career at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

Maria Galvis

BNP Paribas

Maria is a managing director in the energy, resources and infrastructure team for Latin America, operating out of New York. She has over 19 years of experience in energy & infra in LatAm, leading on arranging or structuring project finance, monetisation or other hybrid financings across the region.

Maria has designed multi-billion dollar innovative structured deals across LatAm, and has vast experience arranging and advising limited recourse project financing in the energy and infrastructure sectors for Latin American transactions. She has been involved in the development of bonds and dual project bonds / bank financings and ECA structures as well as unique enhancement & guarantee structures supporting key country or project risks.

Maria joined BNP Paribas in 2008 from Moody’s Investors Service where she worked for nearly 3 years as a senior associate assisting on the coverage of North American and Latin American utilities and project finance transactions.

Margarita Oliva

DLA Piper

Margarita Oliva Sainz de Aja is a partner at DLA Piper US and serves as regional co-head of banking and finance – Latin America. She advises financial institutions and corporations on financing and commercial transactions across Latin America.

Margarita has more than 25 years of extensive experience in corporate finance and project finance matters. She advises borrowers, institutional investors, sponsors, major multilateral agencies, DFIs, commercial financial institutions and ECAs to structure and negotiate complex, multijurisdictional finance transactions in a variety of sectors, such as infrastructure, energy, agrobusiness, financial institutions, consumer goods and services.

She also advises on a variety of general bank finance, capital markets and corporate transactions, including cross-border M&A, restructurings and outsourcings.

Leonardo Osorio

SMBC

Leonardo Osorio joined SMBC in 2018 as managing director in the Latin America project finance division, covering the power and new energies sector, including power generation and transmission, renewable fuels, midstream infrastructure, and mining.

Leonardo has 25 years of banking experience in the energy sectors in Latin America.

He has performed leading roles in international commercial banks and founded and managed a financial advisory boutique.

Sami Asad Mir 

A&O Shearman

Sami is a partner in the projects, energy and infrastructure group, the Latin America group and ECA group and serves as the firm’s relationship partner for a number of IFIs, including IFC, IDB Invest, DFC, US Exim Bank, NADB and EDC.

His practice is predominantly focused on advising lenders (including ECAs, MLAs, other official credit agencies and commercial lenders) and sponsors on project finance, PPP transactions and equity and fund investments in Latin America and emerging markets around the world with a focus on the energy and infrastructure sectors.

Diego Rausei

Zelestra Energy

Diego has 20 years of experience in finance and investment banking.

Prior to joining Zelestra as CFO Latin America in 2024, Diego held CFO positions at renewable energy companies Solek and Cerro Dominador, an EIG Global Energy Partners portfolio company.

He previously worked at General Electric as head of project finance and capital markets South Cone LatAm where he deployed GE Capital balance sheet in equity and debt financings for power projects in the region.

His investment banking experience includes BNP Paribas New York and Deloitte Corporate Finance. During his career, Diego has originated and structured more than $12 billion in debt and/or equity financings in Latin America.

Jorge Valenzuela

Arup

Jorge has more than 25 years of experience in investments, asset management, and construction management of real assets in the US and Latin America, with proficiency in P3s/PPPs.

His areas of expertise include financial and technical advisory for the development, acquisition, and financing of energy infrastructure, commercial real estate, and transport infrastructure. At Arup, Jorge leads the advisory services team for the West Region. Jorge has participated in more than 50 infrastructure and real estate deals representing $40 billion in aggregate value.

Before joining Arup, Jorge worked for a real estate investment trust (REIT). In this position, Jorge was director of asset management for a $1+ billion portfolio of office, industrial, hotel, data centre, and land properties. His direct responsibilities included developing and executing hold/sell strategies for around 45 assets, leasing, investments, dispositions, and financing.

With 10 years of experience in construction management, Jorge has participated in a wide range of projects such as civil works for transport and energy infrastructure projects, tunnelling, as well as commercial (office/retail/hospitality) and residential development. His construction experience includes planning, project management, and cost estimating.

Tatiana Preta

MUFG

Tatiana joined MUFG in 2012 and leads the project finance team for Latin America. Prior to joining MUFG, Tatiana spent 7 years with Citi and HSBC in New York leading deal origination, structuring and execution, as well as advisory assignments, for energy and infrastructure projects in the Americas totaling over $50 billion in debt raised in the bank market, capital markets and with export agencies and multilateral institutions.

Previously, Tatiana spent 5 years with Itau BBA in Brazil focusing on M&A in the energy sector.