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Simpson Thacher represents Almacenes Exito, the largest retailer in Colombia, with its global offering of 114,270,684 common shares, which is expected to raise approximately US$1.4 billion in gross proceeds.  The common shares were offered on the Colombian Stock Exchange on a fixed share price basis during a three week subscription period.  The common shares were registered with the Colombian Financial Superintendency and offered to the public in Colombia, and offered internationally to qualified institutional buyers in the United States as defined in Rule 144A in reliance on exemptions from registration provided by the Securities Act and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S.

Almacenes Exito operates a network of over 300 supermarkets, convenience stores and discount stores in Colombia and is majority owned by Casino Guichard Perrachon of France.  Almacenes Exito intends to use part of the proceeds from the offering to acquire supermarket chains in Uruguay and the remainder for general corporate purposes, including its expansion plans in Colombia.

The Simpson Thacher team for this transaction included David Williams, Juan Francisco Méndez, Jonathan Lieberman Fernández and international associate Jaime de Larraechea (Capital Markets); and Jonathan Cantor and Christian Miller (Tax).