What is your primary area of practice, and what drew you to it?
“I am a transactional and regulatory lawyer, normally working in a wide range of matters. Currently I am involved in the acquisition of a power utility; divesture of transmission assets; negotiation of a BOOT contract, 4 power purchase agreements, 2 gas supply agreements and early termination of 2 gas transportation contracts; greenfield development of 2 CSP (solar) plants, a CCGT thermoelectric plant; a LNG plant and an electromobility initiative; and, several cases with regulators on tariffs, open access, antitrust and regulatory compliance.
At the beginning of my career, in the mid 1990’s, I was involved in many privatization deals of utilities and became fascinated by the uniqueness of the power industry and its enormous transactional potential once deregulated. Said fascination still drives me today. Since, I completed a masters focused in law & economics and deregulation at Stanford, published dozens of papers and lectured at postgraduate university courses on the subject.”
Tell us about a recent memorable project, matter or case that you’ve worked on. What was fun? What was challenging?
“About a year ago we manage to close a sale of a company group involving a power distribution utility, a power generation company and a engineering services company, which process had started 18 months earlier and was delayed by a review process of the utility tariff and changes in taxation rules, both happening at the same time in the middle of the buyers due diligence process. It was very challenging, but we manage to estructure the transaction with mechanisms to mitigate the uncertainties created by the regulatory changes without affecting the valuation of the assets and the sale price.
On the fun side, the length of the transaction helped to get to know well and make good fiends among the people in the different teams involved (US counsel, investment bankers, technical advisors); we had great (several) closing party(ies).”
Since the pandemic, what is one thing that has improved in your life?
The restrictions imposed by the government to fight the pandemic have reduced city traffic and social/institutional activities enormously. However, the best thing that has come with it is that now I enjoy having lunch almost daily with my wife and kids, and we all spend great family time together at home on Saturday evenings and Sundays, either watching movies, playing board games and video games, barbecuing or otherwise.
And now, a wild-card question: What’s your favorite place to visit and why?
The beach. Calm or rough the sea has a calming and energizing effect on me. Either by just looking at the sea, feeling the breeze, diving into and swimming, surfing, paddling, kayaking, sailing or water skiing, always makes me feel younger.
