Haynes and Boone, SC

Haynes and Boone, LLP is one of the American Lawyer top 100 law firms, with more than 550 lawyers in 17 offices and 40 major legal practices. The firm serves clients from its offices in Mexico City, London, Texas, New York, California, Chicago, Charlotte, Denver, Washington, DC, and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in energy, financial services, private equity and technology. Operating in Mexico City with its affiliate, Haynes and Boone, SC, it has been serving clients in Mexico for more than 25 years.

Haynes and Boone’s Mexico City office works with clients from the US, Mexico and other countries in a wide variety of industries, including energy (oil, gas, power and renewables), aviation, automotive, banking and finance, consumer products and retail, real estate and hospitality, construction, food and beverage, healthcare, infrastructure/projects, technology, telecommunications, shipping and transportation, manufacturing, litigation, arbitration, mining and water. The firm’s legal professionals are highly experienced in transactions in various legal practice areas, including antitrust, corporate and capital markets, banking and finance, bankruptcy, M&A, intellectual property, private equity, maritime/shipping finance, real estate, franchise and distribution, energy, tax, trade and arbitration and litigation.

Our lawyers have been especially active assisting clients in recent years with the Mexican oil and gas bid rounds, electric power and infrastructure projects as well as related activities stemming from the Mexican energy reforms. To this effect, we have a well-rounded resume of matters involving upstream, midstream, downstream, power plus mining. Our clients include National Oil Companies, Independents, major financial institutions and private equity firms operating across the energy industry in Mexico.

The firm also has a strong aviation practice, and has advised American Airlines and other companies, including Cathay Pacific in the aviation sector for many years in Mexico and Latin America. The Mexico City lawyers regularly participate in projects throughout the Americas and work on complex projects in regional jurisdictions on behalf of their multinational clients.

The firm also opened an office in London three years ago, enabling the various practice groups of the firm, including the Americas Practice Group, the Mexico Practice Group and the China Practice Group to provide service to European clients investing in Mexico and Latin America. The firm has also set up a multi-office USMCA (NAFTA) task force to advise clients on the possible effects of this trade agreement and stays abreast on the progress of negotiations.

The firm has a diverse client base in Latin America, representing clients in a variety of economic sectors, such as, AT&T, Baker Hughes, Bancomext, BBVA Bancomer, Cotemar, DuPont Mexicana, Elementia, Glencore International AG, Goldcorp, Inc., Halliburton, Hilton, IATA, Maridive Group, McDonough Marine Service, Mexichem, Little Caesars, GRUMA, Solera/Audatex Americas, and Trinity Industries, among others.

Key highlights include:
The M&A Advisor recognized two of our 2018 matters as deals of the year:

• Materials Deal of the Year: A multi-office team of lawyers led by Partner George Y. Gonzalez represented equity owners of Corporación POK, S.A. de C.V. (POK) in the sale of stock to Nucor Corporation (Nucor). Founded in 1894, POK is a Mexican industrial and oilfield services precision casting foundry that is headquartered in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. It has more than 425 employees at its Guadalajara foundry and was owned and managed by members of the 3rd and 5th generation of the founder’s family.
• Cross-Border Deal of the Year Award in the “Over $1 billion” category: A Haynes and Boone team led by Partner Ricardo Garcia-Moreno represented Royal Dutch Shell plc and certain affiliates in the sale of its downstream business in Argentina to Raízen Combustiveis S.A. in a transaction valued at $1.3bn. The sale included the Buenos Aires Refinery, around 645 retail stations, liquefied petroleum gas, marine fuels, aviation fuels, bitumen, chemicals and lubricants businesses, as well as supply and distribution activities in the country. The businesses acquired by Raízen will continue their relationships with affiliates of Shell through various commercial agreements negotiated in connection with such transactions with an estimated value of US$300m.

Leadership positions:

• • Partner Alberto de la Peña serves as director in the Advisory Board of the Center for US and Mexican Law at the University of Houston and is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. His legal work has been recognized by Chambers and Partners and Latin Lawyer 250.
  • Partner George Y. Gonzalez serves as a board member of the Greater Houston Partnership, a member of the Rice University Jones Business School’s Council of Overseers, and chairman emeritus of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. His legal work has been recognized by Chambers and Partners and Latin Lawyer 250.
  • Partner Ricardo Garcia-Moreno serves on the Board of Trustees of KIPP, Inc, a Texas charter school with nearly 18,000 pre-K to high school students in Houston and his legal work has been recognized by Latin Lawyer 250, The Best Lawyers in America, and Texas Super Lawyers.
  • Partner Larry Pascal in Dallas is chair emeritus of the World Services Group, one of the two largest independent law firm networks in the world which has more than 130-member law firms operating in more than 115 countries, reaching over 145 jurisdictions globally.