Sarah A. Devine
Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP
Services connexes
Services connexes
Biography
Sarah Devine has twenty years of experience representing clients in complex international transactions, with extensive experience with development and financings of energy, infrastructure and other projects in emerging markets. She also has many years of experience counseling multinational companies a variety of corporate and commercial law matters. Sarah was seconded to the legal department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for nearly two years earlier in her career, where she provided legal counsel on the financing of projects in a number of regions and across a range sectors, including renewable energy, transport, manufacturing, agri-business, education, and microfinance.
Expérience professionnelle
Fermer tous les ongletsJD, with distinction, Stanford Law School, 2002
BA, Modern History, Oxford University, 1999
BS, summa cum laude and valedictorian, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, 1996
Following her university training at Georgetown, Sarah completed a U.S. Fulbright Grant in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied international relations at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales. Sarah then attained a degree in Modern History at Brasenose College, Oxford University on full scholarship as an Allbritton Scholar. At Stanford Law School, Sarah served on the executive board of the Society of International Law. Following graduation, she served on the steering committee of the Stanford Law School Fellowship in Conflict Resolution, a fellowship awarded annually to current law students studying negotiation and mediation. Sarah is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
She was admitted to practice law in California in 2002 and in the District of Columbia in 2003.
- California State Bar
- District of Columbia Bar
International Project Finance
Sarah has lead the legal representation of lenders, including numerous agency and multilateral lenders, in the following projects:
- US$150m sustainability-linked loan to Votorantim Cimentos, a leading Brazilian cement-producing company to help the company to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by fostering the use of alternative fuels
- approximately $80 million multi lender financing of the 50 MW PECASA wind power project in the Dominican Republic
- $500 million debt and equity financing of a 1500 MW combined cycle power plant in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
- approximately $45 million financing of a new electric bus transport system in Cartagena, Colombia
- $100 million equity financing of a portfolio of renewable energy projects in Turkey
- $300 million financing package for the construction of a provincial capital ring road in the Province of Córdoba, Argentina
- $50 million loan to support the development of environmentally-friendly urban transportation in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- financing of a multilateral and local lender in their financing of the 270 MWdc Potrero solar project in the state of Jalisco, Mexico
- approximately $50 million financing of Proyecto La Trinidad, Ltda. de C.V. for a portfolio of solar projects in El Salvador
- approximately $45 million multi lender financing of a 64.5 MW thermal electric power project in Colombia
- $60 million financing of the development of new data center operations in Brazil to service international commercial IT providers
- $225 million (disbursed in USD and Reais) financing to Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. for onlending to women-owned enterprises
- R$75 million Reais and $11.3 million financing of Usina Açucareira S. Manoel S/A to support sugarcane production operations
- $60 million financing of Banco Davivienda Salvadoreño, S.A. to support local on-lending operations
- approximately $50 million debt and equity investment to a telecommunications infrastructure project in Myanmar
- $100 million financing of Desenvolve SP – Agencia de Fomento do Estado do São Paulo S.A. for river clean up and restoration project in Brazil
- $110 million financing to local Banco Alfa de Investimento in Brazil for the acquisition of environmentally friendly vehicles
- financing of an 80-store pharmacy operation in East Africa
- financing program for banks in Liberia and Guinea to provide liquidity during the Ebola crisis
- financing of the development of shopping malls in Malawi and Angola
- financing of a private equity fund's investment in regional distributor of pharmaceuticals in Latin America
- subordinated financing of a $3.7 billion petroleum refining project in Egypt
- financing of a platform to acquire distressed mortgage portfolios in a number of Caribbean countries
- simultaneous loans to affiliated microfinance banks in Latin America and Eastern Europe
- financing to a financial institution in Peru to expand its lending portfolios
- multilateral lender equity investment in the Panamanian, El Salvadoran and Costa Rican subsidiaries of a Central American regional banking operation
- financing of an electricity distribution company in Jordan
- financing of the acquisition and development of six hydropower projects in three states in India
Corporate:
Sarah's extensive cross-border commercial and transactional experience includes:
- lead counsel to potential seller of a consumer products company, including involvement in all aspects of preparing the company for possible sale
- lead counsel in the internal corporate restructuring of a privately-held international broadcasting company
- lead counsel to a global petrochemical company in a possible divestiture of assets in the US
- lead counsel to a consumer products company in negotiating a number of domestic and international sale of goods, licensing and distribution agreements
- lead counsel to a potential buyer of a consumer products company
- lead counsel to several nonprofit organizations in corporate issues, including structuring and governance issues and obtaining federal tax-exempt status
- Legal 500 Latin America, Leading partner, International firms: Projects and energy, The Legal 500, 2024–2025
- Legal 500 Latin America, Recommended lawyer, International firms: Banking and Finance, The Legal 500, 2023–2025
- Legal 500 Latin America, Recommended lawyer, International firms: Projects and energy, The Legal 500, 2012–2013, 2016–2017, 2019–2025
- Legal 500 US, Recommended lawyer, Finance: Project finance, The Legal 500, 2014, 2019
- IFLR 1000 - United States, Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, 2019–2021
- Who's Who in America, 2012
- Fellow, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity, 2014
Founder and Co-host, Earth, Wind & Solar podcast featuring conversations on renewable energy and infrastructure in emerging markets
- Moderator of of a panel on the Latin America project finance landscape, Norton Rose Fulbright Emerging Markets Conference, March 2019
- Panel speaker on human trafficking at 7th Annual National Association of Women Judges Meeting with the Congressional Women's Caucus, July 10, 2012
- Speaker at "M&A School", Norton Rose Fulbright, Washington, DC, October 2013
- Speaker at International Finance Corporation Regional Counsel Workshop, Mexico City, November 2013
- Presentation to local industry participants on Trends in Project Finance, Bogotá, Colombia, November 2013
- Speaker at "Sponsor support and completion guarantee issues: international power projects", Norton Rose Fulbright, Washington, DC, April 2015
- Speaker on "Transportation Infrastructure" panel at Latin Lawyer's 3rd Annual Regional Project Finance Summit, Washington, DC, November 2015
In 2011, Sarah was an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center where she taught a course in International Business Transactions. Sarah is a member of the Fulbright Association of alumni of Fulbright Scholarships.
- Board of Directors of Polaris Project, a leading non-profit organization combating trafficking in persons (2006 - 2010, 2011 - 2014)
- Spanish