Latin America round up: Japanese banks invest in Chile

Japan’s Marubeni and Chile’s Antofagasta have started to structure the financing for a $2 billion mining project in Chile. The project, called La Esperanza, could receive up to half of its financing from equity investments, with the remainder raised through credit agencies, multilaterals and commercial banks. Given the hostile banking environment, the commercial tranche, which would be syndicated among international banks, would likely not exceed $500 million.