March 29 ,2009

Howard Glicken is Proud to Announce that Violy & Company wins Deal of the Year For Argentina

Violy & Company wins Deal of the Year for Argentina The Financial Times & Mergermarket M&A Awards Americas 2008

On October 30th, 2008, the Financial Times and Mergermarketannounced its M&A Awards Americasto recognize corporate, private equity, banking and legal excellence and expertise in M&A in Latin America.

Violy & Company won one of the 3 coveted Corporate / M&A Deal of the Year Awards for Latin America. V&Co advised the Lopez family in the sale of a majority stake in their company, and executed the creation of Navios South American Logisitcs [NSAL] by combining Navios Maritime Holdings with with Horamar’s, River Plate and maritime operations. NASL is the largest integrated river logistics platform in South America combining inland and maritime ports, leading barge operations, storage facilities and maritime transportation. NASAL is based in Argentina and covers the 5 countries that comprise the Hidrovia.

There were 1,309 disclosed M&A transactions in Latin America from July 2007 through July 2008. Only 3 of these deals were honored by the Financial Times and Mergermarket as Deals of the Year. Violy & Co. is proud to have been the advisor on one of them.

“We created the company 30 years ago and Violy & Co. created the strategy to transform it into the leading player in the region”, says Claudio Lopez, now CEO of Navios South American Logistics. “Violy & Co. worked in earnest to create a deal that made sense to our family and our partner.”

“In light of the recent financial crisis,” Lopez added, “Violy & Co.’s approach demonstrates that one cannot create a deal only through leverage or financial engineering. Indeed, the passage of time has proven the value of Violy & Co.’s innovative and forward thinking. Their insightful understanding of both Horamar’s needs and Navios’ businesses, and their relentless pursuit of creative solutions to bridge and optimize both parties’ interests, achieved a “win-win” for everyone. This approach is uniquely Violy & Co. and places them at a level where there are no equals.”

The Deal of the Year Awards used both empirical M&A transaction data and independent experts’ opinions to identify the winners in each category. Mergermarket is a leader in providing M&A deal information and intelligence worldwide. The Financial Times is a premier global publication with an unrivaled editorial reputation and understanding of the world’s most influential decision-makers in global business and politics.