Finance

Over 40 lawyers with expert knowledge and exclusive dedication, and extensive experience in complex national and international financial transactions

Our Finance Practice offers legal counseling on structuring and implementing all types of financing, fixed-income and structured transactions, and securitization, both national and international. This highly specialized Finance Practice has extensive knowledge of the sector, client needs, relevant regulatory and supervisory authorities, and the latest developments in the banking and financial sectors. We develop effective, custom-tailored structures with our clients to meet their needs, enabling us to offer added-value legal services, placing us among the most renowned practices in our jurisdiction.

Our counseling includes all corporate and structured finance transactions, including asset, acquisition, corporate, project and structured financing; sale-and-leaseback transactions; other models of asset outsourcing; asset, mortgage and synthetic securitizations; assignments of credit; issuing of fixed-income and structured instruments as well as other financial instruments; and consumer credit.

The practice also includes custom-designing financing structures, bilateral and syndicated, in one or several tranches, paying special attention to each transaction’s needs; structuring security packages based on the specific needs of each case, and optimizing costs relating to security and guarantees, and the consumption of shareholders’ equity; as well as analyzing bankruptcy issues, to effectively ensure bankruptcy remoteness and a proper guarantee structure.

We are also active in advising on debt restructuring and refinancing. We advise clients— both debtors and creditors—in financial trouble, negotiating and preparing the instruments specifying the details of these restructurings, including standstill agreements and transactions to inject fresh money into companies in the pre-insolvency stage, to adjust companies’ asset, economic and financial structures.

Recently, the Finance Practice has advised various foreign funds on acquiring distressed debt, both corporate debt and that relating to defaulted loan portfolios (including non-backed loans and mortgage-backed loans), and on implementing optimum tax structures and strategies suitable for acquiring assets or converting debt into capital.

We offer tailor-made counseling to credit entities and other entities on all issues relating to shareholders’ equity and related matters,  to optimize shareholders’ equity and implement efficient capital structures.

Corporate and acquisition finance: We advise on bilateral and syndicated financing, structured in one or more tranches, senior and subordinated, to carry out investment and development plans, as well as on financing for corporate acquisition transactions, such as LBOs, MBOs, MBIs, tender offers, and private equity finance in general.

Infrastructure finance (PPP/PFI models): Our legal services include preparing public tender offers and monitoring the tender process, negotiating with public authorities (national, regional and local), and designing and structuring the financing alternatives and their guarantees for building and operating public infrastructures on a concessionary basis.

Real estate finance: We advise both the financing and the financed entities on structured real estate financing, both bilateral and syndicated, within the various models (promotion, construction, pre-operative, operation, VAT, leveraged with 100% LTV and with capital gains equity) secured by mortgages and pledges over credit rights, particulary concerning real estate such as business parks, hotels, logistics centers, offices and shopping centers.

Project finance: We advise sponsors and banks that provide financing to structure project finance transactions in both national and international projects, for Spanish and Portuguese clients with investments abroad, particularly those in structures on a concessionary basis and those that have an investment grade. For these types of transactions, we provide advice on preparing and negotiating project contracts and on structuring financing alternatives and their security and guarantees, with the aim of optimizing taxes and other costs.

Structured finance and debt issues: We have a sound practice in issues and placements of all types of securities and fixed-income instruments (such as ordinary, subordinated and special subordinated debentures and promissory notes), warrants, certificates, preferred shares, convertibles, mortgage-backed bonds, public sector-backed bonds, and high yields, and in advising entities on MTN programs, as well as in relation to OTC derivatives, collateral and financial guarantees.

Asset finance: We have extensive experience in financing the acquisition of assets (e.g., high-speed trains and rail cars, machinery, engines, airplanes, helicopters, oil and gas tankers, medical equipment, hardware and software), both under direct loan and lease schemes.

Securitization: We carry out securitization transactions within the various models (mortgage, assets and synthetic), providing legal advice to originators, management companies, rating agencies and underwriting banks. We actively participate in the structuring of receivables financing through conduits abroad, as well as in transactions to assign credit and sell credit portfolios (performing and non-performing loans).