LatinFinance gave out 20 awards for outstanding deals and dealmakers across Latin America. Here is the full list of winners and how we chose them.

Large or small, great deals are what drive the capital markets in Latin America. And every year at the end of the year, LatinFinance takes stock of the top equity and bond issues, acquisitions, loans and structured finance deals for its Deal of the Year awards. For the 2005 contest, we received more than 100 entries from investment banks, private equity firms, corporates and multilateral institutions.

We carefully analyze each transaction on its own terms. At the same time, we ask investors, market analysts, rating agencies, top bankers and business executives to rate the main market deals of the year in discreet off-the-record discussions. We select as our winners those deals that are innovative, well-timed and in their own way help to advance the development of Latin America's capital markets. Size alone usually counts for little. All the same, we did pick some deals as winners because of their sheer size – such as Argentina's controversial $81.8 billion debt restructuring that won this year's Deal of the Year award for Sovereign Liability Management or Brazil's landmark $1.5 billion global real issue, which took our award for Best Sovereign Local Currency Bond of the year. Still, plenty of deals we chose were not the largest in their category, such as the $398 million IPO of Chile's Aguas Metropolitanas.

We also made awards for individual issuers and investment banks. We chose Brazil as Best Sovereign Issuer for its role in developing local currency bonds, its stylish asset-liability management deals and its successful transition of foreign bond issues from the Central Bank to the Treasury, led by Treasury Secretary Joaquim Levy. We picked Brazilian mining company CVRD for its sophisticated approach to the markets and for achieving investment grade status. Credit Suisse took our prize for Best Investment Bank in recognition of its work in the primary equity markets and Mexico's corporate bond market.