Team size: Four
Major legal advisers: Linklaters, Ashurst, Ramón y Cajal Abogados

What are the most significant cases and transactions that you have been involved in?

We processed the issuance of a high yield bond for an amount of €475m at the end of 2017 and co-ordinated the buy-back of an amount equivalent to €50M of the debt of the company (High Yield Bond), done through a public auction process in the market. Our team is currently involved in the process of refinancing the high yield bond issued back in 2017.

We also successfully negotiated and executed the most important servicing contracts for the management of NPLs and REOs of the servicing industry with major financial entities in Spain and International institutional funds.

The main projects of the last four years include project SMO and project Esparta (Sareb servicing process awarding), project Marina and Apple (Cerberus acquisition of big portfolios from Santander and BBVA), project Juno (Kutxabank servicing contract awarding), project Jaguar (Cerberus portfolio acquisition and service contract).

The sale of the securitisation fund manager Haya Titulización, Sociedad Gestora de Fondos de Titulización to Beka Finance was also another significant transaction. As well as the arbitration proceeding against a major financial entity under the rules of the International Court Arbitration of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce. Finally, we also co-ordinated the legal side of the sale process of the company including carrying out due diligence and management presentations.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

In my personal view, soft skills are key for distinguishing talented in-house lawyers. These skills really complement their legal technical knowledge. Internal lawyers should be empathic, good listeners and understand the needs of the different persons who they interact with in a company and outside of it.

Although the profession of a lawyer is known as a very rigid one, I strongly think that lawyers should be creative thinkers and very flexible when facing unexpected changes.

Teamwork together with the promotion of a positive workplace is key to strengthening values such as collaboration, open communication, gratitude, sense of humour and transparency. In my mind, a positive work environment directly impacts people’s behaviours and increases productivity and retains talent in a company. Management teams need to be the first to start behaving in an exemplary way.