Bustamante Fabara

Andrés is a Director at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. He has more than 15 years of experience in the areas of public procurement, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and commercial, life sciences and pharmaceutical. He currently leads the life sciences practice at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. Andrés has represented sellers, buyers, majority and minority shareholders, the company for sale, public or private, and financiers in transactions of this nature, in the most diverse operations, such as mergers, divisions, associations, public and private offerings of shares, reorganizations or other forms of restructuring.

Carla Cepeda is part of the firm’s dispute resolution, highly regulated sectors, and public law departments. Her work includes advising, consulting, and representing clients in administrative disputes, civil, construction, telecommunications, energy, commercial and corporate disputes. Carla has experience in structuring and protecting foreign investments, administrative claims, and litigation. Carla is a professor at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in the subjects: Oral Advocacy and Property Law; she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ecuadorian Very Young Arbitration Practitioners- ECUVYAP group, she is the secretary of the Ecuadorian Chapter of the Spanish Ibero-American Arbitration Club and was an Arbitrator Intelligence’s ambassador for Latin America.

Daniel is the Director of two, relatively new areas at BUSTAMANTE FABARA: data privacy and compliance. He has led the creation and operation of both areas to provide the best advice to BUSTAMANTE FABARA's clients. Daniel's activity in these areas involve the implementation and continues advice of Ecuadorian legislation on data protection and compliance. He has 15 years of profesional experience and is currently part of the competition, data protection, and compliance areas of BUSTAMANTE FABARA S.A.S. Daniel has worked 15 years in competition law assessing clients in the subject and representing them before the competition authority and courts of law. He has extensive experience in merger control filings, dominant position abuse, anticompetitive agreements, unfair competition investigation processes, and due diligences. Daniel has been widely recognized by clients and legal rankings agencies as a leading lawyer in competition law.

Diego has a broad international perspective, forged in his academic training and extensive professional experience as a diplomat and lawyer. After obtaining his law degree an JD, he trained at the Diplomatic Academy and then pursued postgraduate studies in the United States. A member of the Foreign Service for almost 20 years, he served in the Embassies in Bogotá and Washington as well as in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Quito, and also held positions of trust in the Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade, Competitiveness, Integration and Fisheries.  He was involved in the negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and later for the Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America. In private practice he has advised international clients (from the United States, Europe, Latin America, China and Japan) as well as local companies, in countless commercial and financial transactions for a combined amount in excess of USD 20 billion (including the largest debt-for-nature swap to date, the first issue of a Sovereign Social Bond, and other complex financing structures, meriting international recognition by prestigious international rankings.  His practice extends to foreign investment, international arbitration, antitrust, banking & finance and telecommunications. Diego advised Credit Suisse on the structuring of the largest blue bond issue in history, in support of marine conservation and natural capital of the Galapagos Islands; the transaction also involves significant benefits in public debt reduction for the Republic of Ecuador.

Diego has over 20 years of experience in tax law; he currently leads the Tax and Customs Area at BUSTAMANTE FABARA as a Partner. Diego has extensive experience in matters related to his area of practice, such as providing assistance in determination processes and representing clients in administrative claims before the internal, sectional, and customs tax authorities. He also handles tax litigation before the Tax Litigation Court, the Fiscal Chamber of the National Court of Justice, and extraordinary protection actions before the Constitutional Court. Additionally, Diego provides comprehensive corporate and personal advisory services on topics such as tax planning, corporate restructuring, estate planning, mergers and acquisitions, as well as general tax advice.

Francisco has provided legal advice in commercial, corporate, banking, and financial sectors. He has a broad experience in loan agreements, project finance, security documents, structuring of security packages, administration and guarantee trusts, corporate matters, arbitration, and cross border commercial and financial transactions. Prior to joining B&B he acted as Deputy General Counsel and General Counsel of Corporación Financiera Nacional, a public sector financial entity. He also acted as a member of the board of directors of some private financial institutions. He has provided legal services to local and foreign financial institutions and multilateral entities in financing transactions with public and private sector entities.  Since 1993 he is an arbitrator of the arbitration tribunals of the Quito Chamber of Commerce. Author of several articles for specialized magazines, including on foreign loan transactions and national and international arbitration.

Francisco is a senior associate at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. He focuses his practice on conflict resolutions; he represents and provides counsel to domestic and foreign clients in contentious administrative and civil lawsuits, as well as arbitral disputes. Francisco has a remarkable experience as a litigator. He has represented foreign companies on complex disputes concerning public procurement, in addition to contractual and noncontractual civil liability. Francisco is a renowned full professor at the Universidad de los Hemisferios in the subject of Executive and Enforcement Proceedings, is a member of the Subcommittee of Young Arbitrators of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and Vice President of the “Young Ecuadorian Attorneys” of said chamber.

Francisco Vacas Dávila has extensive and recognized experience in the labour field. He served as Vice Minister of Labour and Employment at the Ministry of Labour Relations and later held the position of Minister of Labour Relations of Ecuador. He worked as Advisor to the National Secretary and Subsecretary of Policies and Norms (SENRES). Additionally, he was a Legal Advisor and Special Representative for Group Stanford Casa de Valores S.A. He also served as Legal Advisor and Special Representative for Stanford Trust Company and Trust Fund Management S.A.

Gustavo is a senior associate at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. He advises national and international companies, with emphasis in the regulation of mining, oil & gas, energy, environmental law, concessions, and PPPs. Additionally, he provides strategic legal support for the regular operations of their businesses in Ecuador. In the oil & gas area, he has accumulated extensive experience in all phases of the industry. He worked as a lawyer in the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in Ecuador. In the mining and energy area, he advises on project structuring, granting of enabling titles and regulatory compliance. He advises companies on concession bids and electricity generation and self-generation projects. In addition, he has served as an adjunct professor of Administrative Law and has published academic articles

Hugo García Larriva boasts over 15 years of distinguished experience in arbitration, litigation, public law, concessions, and telecommunications. Currently, he leads the arbitration practice and co-leads the litigation, public procurement-concessions, telecommunications, and energy and natural resources practices at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. In the realm of litigation and arbitration, Hugo represents clients in complex cases before Ecuadorian courts, in commercial, administrative, and constitutional matters. Additionally, he has developed a stellar reputation as counsel in both domestic and international arbitrations, participating in arbitral tribunals constituted under various rules, including ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, and CIETAC, addressing both commercial and investment disputes. Hugo also actively serves as an arbitrator in proceedings under different rules. In the field of public procurement and concessions, Hugo provides his considerable expertise and guidance to clients in highly regulated industries such as construction, energy, telecommunications, and infrastructure development. His work includes consultancy for the structuring of tenders, negotiation, and drafting of public contracts, concessions, and public-private partnership projects. Furthermore, he advises on the daily implementation and resolution of administrative disputes related to these projects. Hugo complements his professional practice with valuable academic experience as a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and the Universidad de Las Américas, teaching both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

With more than 20 years of professional experience locally and internationally, Jesús has unrivaled experience advising lenders and borrowers in various types of cross-border financing, such as syndicated and bilateral loans, club deals, project and acquisition financings. He also advises issuers and underwriters on bond and equity issues in capital markets, as well as on securitizations, structured financing, derivatives and repo transactions. Jesus has extensive experience in restructuring liabilities, and deep knowledge of insolvency and bankruptcy processes, as well as vast knowledge of the banking sector, particularly of the various laws in Latin America that impact the business of multi-jurisdictional institutional banking. In the Corporate area, he focuses on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, equity investments and other strategic cross-border transactions. Prior to joining BF, he was a partner at a leading regional law firm, and prior to that he served as General Counsel for Latin America and the Caribbean, and as Senior Transaction Counsel for Corporate Banking and Investment Banking in Latin America at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (2010-2014). Prior to this role, he was an associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, working out of New York, United States, and out of Rome, Italy (2000-2010). Jesús is ranked as a Leading Lawyer in Banking and Finance by Legal 500, as Highly Regarding in Capital Markets, Debt and M&A by IFLR1000, in Band 2 in Banking and Finance by Chambers, and is recommended in Banking and Finance by Latin Lawyer.

Partner José Rafael hast experience in M&A activity in Ecuador. He has been one of the leaders of the department since 2010, structuring complex transactions that have set a precedent in the Ecuadorian jurisdiction. He has thorough experience in antitrust, having successfully cleared complex transactions that have resulted in market concentrations of over 90%. José Rafael´s main areas of practice include: Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Antitrust Law, Project Financing and natural resources, including mining and oil & gas. Having vast experience in Antitrust Law, José Rafael advised AB InBev in the merger filing in Ecuador for the approval of one of the biggest worldwide M&A transactions, as part of AB InBev’s global acquisition of SABMiller. José Rafael is currently advising AB InBEv in the fulfillment of the commitments agreed with the Antitrust Authority in regards to the remedies imposed for the merger clearance for the global acquisition of SABMiller.  With extensive experience dealing with mining projects, José Rafael recently participated in the Fruta del Norte Project assisting Kinross Gold Corporation. Recently, he also represented and assisted Corporacion GPF, parent company of the biggest Ecuadorian retail pharmaceutical company, Fybeca, as well as Sana Sana, OkiDoki, Abefarm and Provefarma, in negotiations with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group, in order to obtain a US$30 million loan for an Advanced Logistic Center that will enhance the company’s efficiency in all of their 634 stores throughout the country. José Rafael also advised ARCA (Mexican COCA COLA Bottling Company) in the acquisition of EBC (Ecuadorian COCA COLA Bottling Company), the biggest non-oil private business transaction in the Ecuadorian history.

Managing Partner, Senior Partner. M&A expert. Represented ARCA-EBC Bottling Company in the purchase of a bottling company and also provided legal advice in the sale of Panamericana, an insurance company. Acted as negotiator for the purchase of EDESA, JURIS, and other companies. Also an expert in intellectual property and corporate law, banking and insurance, oil & mining, and business in general. Broad experience as director and chairman of committees and boards of directors of companies formed by groups of local and foreign shareholders. Outstanding role as president of the American School Foundation of Quito and of the Quito Tennis Club of Ecuador. Also engages in pro bono work, helping low-income individuals from the farming sector. Free legal assistance to several foreign NGOs, supporting them in creating their related companies. Provides pro bono work to the Italian Embassy in Ecuador.

Chairman of the Board at BUSTAMANTE FABARA and Co-director of the Corporate Department, José Rafael has earned market recognition for his enduring reputation in the business and commercial sphere. He boasts extensive experience in advising foreign clients conducting business in Ecuador and is highly esteemed by both clients and peers, having been a key figure in the legal market for over 35 years. José Rafael is a Member of INTA – International Trademark Association, American Society of International Law, International Bar Association, International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property – AIPPI, Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property – ASIPI, and Multilaw (President 1996-1999).

José Rafael has more than 12 years of experience in the transactional field, currently leading BUSTAMANTE FABARA’s mergers and acquisitions, project finance and competition practice. José Rafael has structured complex transactions that have set a precedent in the jurisdiction, advising buyers and sellers in the most important transactions in the market. He has extensive experience in matters such as M&A, restructurings, shareholder agreements, joint ventures, financing agreements, project structuring, guarantee packages, due diligence processes and other complex corporate matters. José Rafael provides comprehensive advice that combines his experience in law and business administration for which he has been widely recognized by clients and legal ranking agencies as a leading lawyer in transactional law in Ecuador.

Josemaría has provided legal advice to domestic and foreign clients for over 35 years. His experience includes multilateral transactions; Cross Border transactions; Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Control; Project Finance and Management; Public Procurement; Commercial Law; Mediation, Arbitration and Litigation; Corporate, Corporate and Trust Law; International Trade; Franchising, Licensing and Distribution in the following sectors: Insurance, Banking, Finance, Trust, Commercial, Corporate, Agency, Civil Law, Administrative Law, Communications, Maritime, Energy, Agrochemical Industry; Beverage Industry; Agribusiness; Food/Fish Industry. Josemaría also handles Mediation and Arbitration processes and Civil litigation. His pro-bono work includes having obtained the first certificate of protection in Ecuador and the first patent conferred to a Luthier in Ecuador, which were granted to Luthier Hugo Chiliquinga; Fundación Zaldumbide-Rosales (promoting musicians worldwide); The Global Foodbanking Network, and several persons, domestic and alien, requiring litigious assistance in Ecuador. He is also a keen contributor of the International Encyclopedia of Laws (IEL) with Monograph related to Competition Law; and has also contributed to International Distribution Institute (IDI) with the Country Report Ecuador related to Franchising.

Juan Bernardo is a senior associate at BUSTAMANTE FABARA and a member of the firm’s Corporate, Commercial, Finance, Banking, Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions teams. He focuses his practice on finance, capital markets, corporate and banking matters. He advises multilateral, bilateral, national and international creditors, investors, debtors, borrowers, sellers and buyers in complex banking and finance operations, generally with mercantile, commercial, fiduciary, securities and regulatory components and collaterals. He has been involved in the most sophisticated financial and banking operations in Ecuador, including the first issuance of green, thematic and blue bonds in the country and the region. Before joining BUSTAMANTE FABARA, Juan Bernardo was an associate at a prestigious firm in Ecuador where he was part of banking, finance and M&A areas, focusing his practice and experience on advising clients with emphasis in corporate financing, senior, subordinated or guaranteed loans and financings, local or international issuances; as well as cross-border transactions with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, purchases, sales, and joint ventures, among other operations, in all business areas. Currently, Juan Bernardo works in the Banking and Finance department, advising and assisting clients in syndicated loans and bilateral loans, as well as in bond or share issuances in local and international capital markets, among other transactions of the Firm’s line of business. He also actively collaborates with in the M&A area, on local and international transactions, acquisitions, joint ventures, asset purchases, share purchase agreements (SPA), shareholder agreements (SHA), among other complex corporate matters. He has also developed and has extensive experience in tax and corporate structuring and advice to companies

Juan Carlos has vast experience and in-depth knowledge of the law; factors that have earned him international recognition for his high level of competence in different categories of the legal field related especially to the corporate, tax and energy sectors. Throughout his career, he has advised local and international clients in several cross-border transactions covering a wide range of complex legal issues. In addition to his professional practice, he was a professor of Private International Law for 30 years at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Ecuador, based in Quito, and has had a successful participation in the management of the firm for decades. Former arbitrator of the National Mediation and Arbitration Center of the Chamber of Construction. Juan Carlos has provided legal advice in different areas of the law to individuals and to national and international companies from both the public and private sectors. Juan Carlos has also practiced in the field of business development, and in public procurement; has advised in matters of energy, insurance, contracts with banks, purchase/sale of movable and immovable property, grant of security, foreign investment, contracts for setting up trusts. Advisor in project financing and in drafting contracts related thereto.

Juan Felipe is a prominent Ecuadorian lawyer, currently a partner at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. Specializing in Corporate, M&A, and Real Estate areas, his work is characterized by a meticulous and deep analysis applied to each and every case. As an active member of the International Bar Association, he participates in multiple annual conferences worldwide. He is also the President of the Ecuadorian Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and represents BUSTAMANTE FABARA as a member of the Legal Alliance of the Americas, where he has had the opportunity to interact with the most influential representatives in the Legal field.

Kirina has more than 9 years of experience in the transactional field, she is specialized in corporate and transactional law, with vast experience in M&A, Project Finance and Antitrust Law.  She advises key domestic and international clients on a wide variety of corporate matters, such as the acquisition of shares and assets, public tender offers, cross-border transactions and project finance operations with private and multilateral organizations. Kirina has participated in various of the largest M&A transactions in the country, advising clients in structuring deals, due diligence, contract drafting and negotiation, shareholder´s agreements, among other corporate matters.  With a background in both law and finance, Kirina has a thorough understanding of the transactional arena and has gained recognition from clients and peers as a key associate in corporate law.

María Rosa Fabara Vera is the Managing Partner at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. With more than 25 years of experience, she provides permanent legal advice to national and foreign clients, especially in matters related to intellectual property, antitrust, regulatory matters, mergers and acquisitions, corporate matters, public procurement, public-private alliances. María Rosa has extensive experience in providing legal advice to clients in the pharmaceutical, insurance and prepaid medicine sectors, construction, infrastructure, project finance, among others. She has an outstanding and very recognized experience in antitrust matters; intellectual property, especially in trademarks, patents, copyrights, plant varieties, new technologies. She also has a broader perspective in the corporate/commercial practice and public matters. Maria Rosa is a member of several boards of directors of private corporate groups. María Rosa has chaired and been a member of the Board of Directors of the Ecuadorian-Colombian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in several periods, and has been President of the Federation of Binational Chambers of Ecuador – FECABE, also in several periods. She also chaired the Council of Chambers and Associations of Production of Ecuador.

Mariana has 33 years of experience in corporate, banking, trust and investment business. Her vast experience includes domestic and international clients in fund raising and acquisition transactions. Due to her ability to propose and implement creative and alternative strategies and her effectiveness in delivering excellent results, her clients continually retain BUSTAMANTE FABARA for the resolution of their legal matters in her practice areas. Mariana builds great trust with her clients and for this reason, they have been working with us for more than 20 years, being Director of Insurance Companies and several multinational companies.

He has 21 years of experience in the field of Intellectual Property, both in the public and private sectors, advising national and foreign companies, and resolving final administrative procedures in intellectual property matters. He is a trainer at academic events. He was a delegate to WIPO in the enforcement committee. He was a negotiator on intellectual property issues in agreements with EFTA and South Korea. He is a professor of the advanced specialty in Intellectual Property at the Central University of Ecuador.

Pablo Fabara Vera is a Director at BUSTAMANTE FABARA and his practice area is Intellectual Property. He has more than 19 years of experience in this area of ​​professional practice, both in the administrative and jurisdictional spheres, which allowed him to be the person who led the Litigation Department in the Intellectual Property area of ​​FABARA ABOGADOS for several years. Pablo has successfully defended Intellectual Property cases.

Patricia has over 38 years of experience in the fields of commercial law, corporate law, labor law, finance, public procurement, securities market, and insurance. Due to her extensive knowledge, Patricia advises the litigation department on commercial matters and contentious administrative claims. In the academic field, Patricia has taught courses in Family Law, Corporate Law, and Insurance for over five years at the Universidad Internacional del Ecuador and the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. Additionally, she has participated as a speaker at various legal conferences of the Inter-American Bar Association, specializing in labor law, constitutional law, among others.

Patricio is one of the Directos at BUSTAMANTE FABARA’s Banking & Finance practice, advising clients on regulatory, contractual and legal risk issues, as well as on the implementation of financial products and services, specializing in payment methods and fintech activities. He has more than 20 years of experience in the public and private financial sector, where he has participated in complex local and cross-border financing transactions, such as the issuance of bonds -green, social, sustainable-, securitizations, DPRs, among others. He has advised local and foreign companies, multilateral organizations, financiers and debtors on financing transactions, contractual, corporate, capital market and compliance issues. In addition, he has advised Fintech companies on their incorporation, qualification and operation in Ecuador.

Rafael advises oil and gas companies on various strategic matters to channel their investments through viable legal structures. He is an expert in drafting and negotiating contracts in the oil and mining industry, corporate structuring, project financing, operational agreements, and local and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He works with major clients in the oil and mining industry in Ecuador, advising International Oil Companies (IOCs), independent companies, and service companies on project structuring and implementation in Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela, and Guatemala. Rafael has advised several mining companies on their entry into Ecuador and the development of exploratory projects. He has been recognized by leading law magazines in the Energy and Natural Resources area for several consecutive years. In 2016, he won the Latin Lawyer’s Deal of the Year (Regulatory) award. Rafael was also appointed Director of the Ecuador chapter of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), where he led and organized various events with different government authorities in recent years. He is an expert in Administrative Law and has extensive experience in telecommunications regulation matters. Currently, he leads the Energy and Natural Resources department at BUSTAMANTE FABARA.

Ricardo has over 15 years of experience in the corporate field, focusing his practice on Mergers and Acquisitions, competition law, project financing, hospitality, and comprehensive advisory services to companies in various industries. Ricardo has extensive experience in M&A processes, project financing representing either the financial institution or the financed entity, competition audits, negotiation of hotel operation contracts, and hospitality in general, as well as legal corporate strategies, among others. In addition to his involvement in Ecuador in the aforementioned processes, Ricardo has participated in transactions in various countries such as the United States, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and Peru. As a professional, Ricardo has been part of some of the most prestigious law firms in the country. At Deloitte Legal and Ferrere. Additionally, Ricardo was part of Baker McKenzie’s Barcelona office in Spain as an International Associate in 2015. Ricardo is the local representative of the prestigious legal organization International Association of Young Lawyers, AIJA.

Partner

Associate

Sofía has more than 10 years of experience in tax practice and is currently a senior associate attorney in the tax division at BUSTAMANTE FABARA. She has extensive knowledge in administrative, tax and constitutional matters. She provides legal advice to different sectors of the economy and new investors; local and international tax planning, as well as has significant experience in the technical defense of taxpayers in administrative and tax litigation with effective results. She has provided support and sponsorship in important tax assessment and corporate insurance processes. She is co-author of “Manual de Derecho Tributario Formal”, published by Ediciones Legales. She has been recognized as “Associate to watch in Tax”, in Chambers & Partners LATAM Guide 2024 rankings; and “Notable Practitioner in Corporate General Tax”, by ITR World Tax. Currently, she is vice-president of the tax table of the Young Ecuadorian Attorneys – YEA of the ICC, Ecuador Chapter.