M&A – Alpha4x purchases Bladex’s (NYSE: BLX) asset management business; Bladex and XL Group (NYSE: XL) become anchor investors in the investment funds managed by Alpha4x

On April 1, 2013, Seward & Kissel client Alpha4x Asset Management (“Alpha4x”) and Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (NYSE: BLX) (“Bladex”) announced the purchase by Alpha4x of substantially all of Bladex Asset Management’s investment management business, an asset management business which focuses on Latin American markets. In connection with the transaction, Bladex agreed to continue its role as an anchor investor in the investment funds managed by Alpha4x for a period of at least 3 years, and a subsidiary of XL Group plc (“XL”) has agreed to also become an anchor investor and has acquired a minority stake in Alpha4x. Based in New York, Alpha4x is a newly formed company majority owned by the former asset management team of Bladex Asset Management, and is led by Manuel Mejia-Aoun. In 2006, Bladex seeded Bladex Asset Management’s flagship fund with an investment of $100 million. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. A Seward & Kissel team led by partners Jim Abbott, Steve Nadel and Jim Cofer, and including associates Gary Anderson, David Mulle, Erin Ehlke and Zelda Ferguson represented Alpha4x in connection with this transaction.