Mexico City-based firm Kuri Breña Sánchez Ugarte & Aznar marks its 25th anniversary with the return of two partners.
Luis Octavio Núñez and Rodrigo López Márquez and their teams have rejoined the firm after spending nearly four years at competitor Greenberg Traurig.
Núñez will be based in the firm’s Mexico City office, with forays to the Monterrey bureau as needed to assist clients. Núñez was part of the team that established Greenberg Traurig’s Mexico City office in 2011. He was a member of the firm’s executive committee and served as a shareholder in the corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate practices. He also spent a year as a foreign associate at Arnold & Porter’s Washington, D.C. office.
Núñez focuses on international mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investment, joint ventures, commercial loans to companies, debt restructurings, and securities offerings in Mexico and abroad. Yet another area of his practice involves launching financing structures and vehicles for the securitization of real estate assets, and providing counsel to real estate developers and others involved in real estate deals.
Núñez said that after helping establish Greenberg Traurig’s Mexico City office four years ago, now is the right time to pursue other opportunities.
“I realized that most clients prefer a strong platform of experts in the country that are well integrated and have consistent backgrounds and training, while understand well the local business culture,” he said. “With so many changes in the legal framework and greater opportunities starting to upswing, it was the right time to make the move in order to offer our clients what they have consistently demanded. While some clients seek a faster growth by acquiring ongoing business concerns, they are also more carefully evaluating such due to the risks and associated costs of doing so. Local firms with long-time expertise in local acquisitions of companies are able to provide value added advice when evaluating such type of risk, while not having the more costly structure of large international firms.”
Núñez expects the experience gained at Greenberg Traurig to contribute to Kuri Brena’s stake in the Mexican market.
“Some of the business-oriented practices of an international law firm will further enhance the services provided to our clients,” he noted. “They translate in more efficient cost structure and flexibility in billing arrangements that clients constantly demand.”
Márquez concurred, calling the experience at Greenberg “a great challenge and a good experience” that allowed him to have “a better global vision of the legal world and more international experience.” He specializes in financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, implementation of private equity investments in Mexican companies, international joint ventures, debt restructurings, public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, real estate transactions, and general corporate law.
The Mexico City-based partner observed that Mexico’s private equity conditions are becoming more favorable for investors thanks to legal reforms that have improved the business and regulatory environment.
“Mexico is doing even better than the BRIC countries in this respect,” he said. “This will bring more private equity investments, mainly in the industry sectors of technology and telecom, energy, financial services and real estate. Also, private equity-backed IPOs on the Mexican Stock Exchange will continue to be a trend.”