LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 49

after the impact of the economic slowdown.
Anti-trust and arbitration are areas where
the firm expects to see considerable action,
as big companies move toward expansion
through M&A, Pallis notes, adding that
compliance is another growing segment. LF

LAW FIRM: MEXICO

RITCH MUELLER
This firm blends experience,
with an emphasis on relationships and technical sophistication to maintain and
grow its stable of clients that
includes some of Mexico's
largest issuers
Ritch Mueller Heather & Nicolau brings
an experienced capital markets team,
a willingness to dive into sophisticated
structures and a focus on long-term
relationships to garner repeat business
with some of Mexico's largest and most
notable financial players. During the year
ending September 30, 2015, the firm, which
employs about 70 staff, worked on the
United Mexican States' €1.5 billion century
bond, which has won LatinFinance's award
for Sovereign Bond of the Year, as well
as Pemex' $6 billion jumbo issuance in
January 2015 and the state-backed oil and
gas company's landmark 17 billion peso
($1.2 billion) euroclearable transaction in
February.
"It truly involved a lot of patience on the
part of the lead bankers and on the part
of counsel on both sides. We had to invest
a fair amount of time in developing all of
this," says partner Luis Nicolau Gutiérrez
of Pemex's euroclearable bond, which has
won LatinFinance's award for Financing

LatAm Staff: 70
LatAm Offices: Mexico City
Remarkable Deals: Various Pemex
issuances, including the Euroclear
bond, United Mexican States' century
euro bond and Gruma's $400m bond

LUIS NICOLAU GUTIÉRREZ,
RITCH MUELLER "

"WE WOULD LIKE TO
REMAIN THE COUNSEL
OF CHOICE, WE'D LIKE
TO CONTINUE TO
HAVE THAT STRONG
LOCAL RELATIONSHIP
WITH OUR CLIENTS
AND BE THE FIRST
THAT COME TO MIND
WHEN TRANSACTIONS
ARE A LITTLE BIT
MORE COMPLEX"

"You can't pull Mexican lawyers out of
thin air. They have to have been groomed
here," Nicolau says. "We hope to be the
place to practice for those partners and
associates."
Looking to 2016 and beyond, the firm
expects a rise in more structured and more
complex transactions, as well as growing
activity in real estate, infrastructure and
M&A, which will likely lead to more capital
markets deals. Jean Paul Farah Chajín,
partner, is optimistic on business prospects:
"We've moved offices and doubled our
space," he says. "So we're pretty confident
in our deal flow and the growth of our firm
- that in five years we'll be able to duplicate
our work and the size of our firm again." LF

LAW FIRM: ANDES

GÓMEZ-PINZÓN
ZULETA
Creativity, expertise and collaboration characterize this
firm's approach to clients
and transactions

Innovation of the Year.
"After this transaction, there has already
been a number of other borrowers and the
road has been paved. But initially it was
very complex as far as coordinating all of
the different institutions and being able to
work through the mechanics."
That level of complexity is where the
firm looks to excel in Mexico's financial
markets, Nicolau says. "We would like
to remain the counsel of choice, we'd
like to continue to have that strong local
relationship with our clients and be the first
that come to mind when transactions are a
little bit more complex. We think we have a
degree of sophistication where we think we
can add value."
Many of its clients, including Pemex,
UMS and Gruma, have used Ritch Mueller's
services for years, even decades. The firm's
exclusively local presence and emphasis
on organic growth, where it raises up its
attorneys through its ranks, contributes to
the repeat business.

Colombian firm Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta
Abogados has consolidated its position
as leading counsel in the Andean region,
strengthening cross-border alliances that
expand its scope and influence.
Milestone deals in the past year include
Trafigura's $350 million hybrid loan in
September and Tribeca
Energy Fund's sale of its stake in
Termocandelaria Power in May.
The firm, which has 16 partners and
120 attorneys in offices in Bogotá and
Medellín, has become increasingly relevant
to debt capital markets issuers, as well
as participants in asset-backed finance
and merger & acquisitions. Local market
sources cite them as a "go-to" house for
debt, M&A and corporate loans.
"We want to provide always the best,
fastest, most simple solution for the
benefit of the client. We are not looking to
complicate things, to spend extensive hours
and pass a heavy bill, we want to get the
deal done well and fast, and then jump into
the next one," Ricardo Fandiño, partner
and head of banking and capital markets
at the firm, tells LatinFinance. To that end,
the firm encourages attorneys to specialize

January/February 2016 - L ATINFINA NCE.COM 49


http://www.LATINFINANCE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LatinFinance - January/February 2016

Contents
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - Cover1
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - Cover2
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - Contents
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 2
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 3
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 4
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 5
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 6
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 7
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 8
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 9
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 10
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 11
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 12
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 13
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 14
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 15
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 16
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 17
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 18
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 19
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 20
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 21
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 22
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 23
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 24
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 25
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 26
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 27
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 28
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 29
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 30
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 31
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 32
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 33
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 34
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 35
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 36
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 37
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 38
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 39
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 40
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 41
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 42
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 43
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 44
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 45
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 46
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 47
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 48
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 49
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 50
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 51
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 52
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 53
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 54
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 55
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - 56
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - Cover3
LatinFinance - January/February 2016 - Cover4
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