Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, S.C.

Banking and Finance

Partner

Mr. Aarún practices in the areas of banking and finance, with an emphasis in structured finance, real estate finance, project finance, asset-based financing, mezzanine financing, as well as in non-litigation restructuring processes in Mexico.

Mr. Aarún represents a wide array of clients in all kinds of complex banking and finance transactions, as well as in bankruptcy and restructuring processes in Mexico. He regularly advises international and domestic banks, non-bank banks, debt funds, investment banks and other financial institutions and institutional investors, as well as corporate borrowers, in a wide variety of financial transactions, including structure finance, project finance, bilateral and syndicated facilities, secured and unsecured local and cross-border loans, senior and mezzanine loans, structured finance, real estate finance, project finance, acquisition finance, corporate finance, asset-based finance, loan portfolio-based loans (for example, based on payroll deduction loans (PDLs) portfolios), agro loans and workouts, as well as creditors and debtors on all non-litigation aspects of complex bankruptcy and out-of-bankruptcy restructurings. Recently, he participated, representing the lenders’ group, in the negotiation and implementation of the multilateral cross-border financial restructuring (successfully implemented during the Covid-19 Global Pandemic), of one of the most important cinema chains in Mexico. He also participated, representing one of the biggest non-banking banks in Mexico and Latin America (which mainly offered consumer loans to individuals and financing solutions to SMEs) in completing the Mexican leg of its “Chapter 22” restructuring, including the structuring, negotiation and implementation of a DIP financing, the “concurso mercantil” followed by several affiliates in Mexico, cross-border debt restructuring, negotiation with secured and unsecured creditors and the implementation in Mexico of the transfers of intercompany loans/claims pursuant to the “Chapter 11” plan. He participated in one of the largest ever Chapter 11 Plans of Reorganization (including the Mexican reorganization component), in the offshore drilling sector.  He has also advised private and venture capital funds in innovative mezzanine financing structures for different industries, including energy (wind power-industry), telecommunication (modern fiber-optic, wireless and Wi-Fi broadband networks), data centers (infrastructure development), hotel and lodging industry, among others.

In the realm of his lending practice, Mr. Aarún recently participated in the negotiation and implementation of a financing (“green loan”) for the renovation and development, in Mexico City, of the Latin America’s biggest public bicycle sharing system, as well as in the negotiation of various financings for the acquisition and development of hotels located in Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta and Cancún (including the negotiation of relevant conditions with the hotel managers), through the implementation of innovative structures that successfully allowed the viability of the projects.  He has participated in a variety of complex local and cross-border syndicated structured financing transactions, including, among others, the structured refinancing for one of the largest housing development companies in Mexico, leader supplier of homes financed through INFONAVIT, with a complex collateral structure integrated, among others, with more than 50,000 real estate properties located in different jurisdictions of the Mexican Republic, as well as in different structured financings in the hospitality industry for the acquisition, development and operation of, among others, various retail shopping centers, industrial facilities, restaurants and hotels located in different jurisdictions of the Mexican Republic. In addition, Mr. Aarún has represented, either real estate startups, as well as lenders to such companies, dedicated to the acquisition, rehabilitation, and retail of real estate properties, in the implementation, negotiation and formalization of an innovative financing structure.

Mr. Aarún has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer and ranked in the field of banking and finance by various international publications, including Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500 and Best Lawyers. He is co-author of the following publications: (i) International Financial Law Review (IFLR) publication in Americas Regional Report 2016 – “Smoothing the Process” Insolvency and Corporate Reorganization 2016; and (ii) Mexican chapter of the 2021 American Bar Association (ABA) publication “Global Financial Collateral: A Guide to Security Interest in Securities, Securities Accounts and Deposit Accounts”.

Spanish and English

Mr. Aarún is a member of the Mexican Bar Association, the American Bar Association (ABA), the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) and the Mexican-Lebanese Lawyer’s Association (“Al Muhami”).

Mr. Aarún obtained his law degree (JD) from Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City in 2003, a postgraduate law degree in Corporate Law from Universidad Anáhuac in Mexico City in 2005, and his LL.M (Legal and Business Administration Program) from Instituto de Empresa, in Madrid, Spain in 2006.  Mr. Aarún worked as a Foreign Associate in the New York office of Cleary Gottlieb in 2011.