Jaime Cortés Alvarez

About

Jaime is a transactional finance lawyer with expertise in capital markets, structured finance, M&A, private equity, restructurings, general corporate and commercial matters. In 2020, he was elected as a member of the firm’s Talent Committee.

“He is very involved in capital markets deals and he is fantastic. He is responsive, easy to work with and very knowledgeable.” Chambers and Partners

He has been selected as counsel in numerous domestic and international offerings of equity and debt securities and has also been involved in the securitization of a variety of financial assets. As well as, in complex cross-border and international transactions, advising buyers, sellers, agents, and private equity investors in mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, and joint ventures over the past fifteen years.

His experience includes working as international associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell and Brown & Wood (currently Sidley Austin) in New York, United States.

Experience

Advised TAG Norte Holding (as issuer and borrower) and TAG Pipelines Norte (as project developer), as well as the Sponsors (IEnova and Brookfield Infrastructure controlled companies), in the restructuring of the existing US$1.2 billion credit facility for the Los Ramones II Norte gas pipeline project, and the simultaneous issuance and placement of US$332 milliom of 5.04% Senior Notes due 2039 with private investors affiliated with Allianz Global Investors, through an innovative creditor/investor coexistence scheme developed for this transaction
Advised Citigroup, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, BNP Paribas, JPMorgan Chase, and The Bank of Nova Scotia, acting as Joint Lead Arrangers and Joint Bookrunners, in a simultaneous syndicated credit facility and a Rule 144A / Reg. S bond offering to allow private equity fund Actis to successfully complete its acquisition of global power-generation company InterGen’s business interests in Mexico, including the purchase of 2,200 MWs in operation with six combined-cycle power generation projects, a 155 MW wind project with partner IEnova, a 65-kilometer natural-gas pipeline, and 3 natural gas-compression stations, for an enterprise value of US$1.256 billion. This is the first time that a project acquisition in Mexico of this size is executed with the use of bond proceeds. This transaction was named Best Infrastructure Financing in Mexico by Latin Finance in the Project & Infrastructure Finance Awards 2018, Mexico Structured Bond Deal of the Year by GFC Media Group in the Bonds & Loans Awards 2019 and Latin American M&A deal of the Year 2018 by IJ Global (Euromoney)
Advised Urbi Desarrollos in its US$2.8 billion debt restructuring through pre-packaged insolvency proceeding and further capital injection of Pesos $887 million for its restart of operations. This transaction was shortlisted Restructuring Deal for the 2017 Americas Awards by IFLR
Advised Hir Casa in the launching its program to securitize mortgage collection rights derived from its housing financing system for a total amount of Pesos $2.5 billion, and the first issuance of trust certificates under said program for Pesos $700 million, listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange
Advised Grupo Rotoplas, a major water solution publicly traded Mexican company, in the acquisition of the 80% stake in Sytesa, a Mexican water treatment plant business, and the antitrust clearance thereof
Advised ACON Investments and its portfolio company Citla Energy, an independent Mexican oil exploration and production company, in their US$560 million co-investment commitment with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the China-Mexico Fund (CMF), and the various drawdowns thereunder

Areas of Practice

Awards & Recognitions

Capital Markets ranked lawyer, Chambers and Partners Global and Latin America Guides

Capital Markets leading lawyer, The Legal 500

Capital Markets Law and Corporate/M&A Law recognized lawyer, Best Lawyers

Capital Markets, Latin Lawyer 250

Notable practitioner in Capital Markets: Equity and Debt and Bank Lending: Borrower Side, IFLR 1000

Education

Master of Laws (LL.M.), Columbia Law School, New York, United States

Law degree (J.D equivalent), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

Memberships

Barra Mexicana, Colegio de Abogados (Mexican Bar Association)

Instituto Mexicano de la Mediación (Mexican Institute of Mediation)

Publications & Collaborations

Collaboration with the World Bank for the publication Doing Business 2020- Protecting Minority Investors
Corporate M&A Guide 2019, Mexico Chapter, published by Chambers & Partners Read more

Languages

Spanish – English