About

Number of years practice: 23 Law school attended: Harvard College (BA), College of Europe, Diploma of Advanced European Studies, University of Michigan (JD) Languages spoken: English, French and Spanish Principal practice areas: Alternative Investment Funds, Joint Ventures, M&A, Private Equity Admissions: New York

Alyssa Grikscheit co-chairs Sidley Austin’s Latin American Working Group, which coordinates the firm’s activities in Latin America across various legal sectors. In her own practice, she frequently leads on mandates for private equity and alternative asset managers in Mexico, particularly in the form of M&A transactions and other investments. Her work typically focuses on aggregating capital to deploy in Latin America and sees her working to develop innovative structures in both the fund formation and M&A spheres. For example, she advised on US legal issues in connection with the first two Certificados de Capital de Desarrollo (Structured Equity Securities, or CKDs) issued on the Mexican Stock Exchange in 2016; two of only a handful of such issuances that took place last year. Because of the infrequency and complexity of these issuances, very few US lawyers are able to navigate this space and help design a product allowing different types of investor to act together in an efficient manner. She has also structured and implemented numerous cross-border joint ventures between strategic investors looking to combine US know-how and Mexican cost structures to more effectively compete with Chinese and other non-NAFTA manufacturers and their products. What are your predictions for change in the US-Mexico relationship? The US-Mexico relationship will be tested in the coming years, given the rhetoric of the new administration that tends to see cross-border cooperation in a negative way, even though many cross-border transactions ultimately shore up American competitiveness vis-à-vis low cost Asian competitors. The recent weakness in the Mexican Peso is troubling and may impact certain transactions. Dollar-based investors may find opportunities if they are not stymied by the uncertainty around the US election [and] wait for clearer signals about the US agenda in relation to Mexico. However, I believe energy and infrastructure will continue to be growth areas in the coming years. Investment funds in Mexico have been artificially constrained by regulations on investment by Mexican pension funds. These constraints are gradually being loosened, making it easier to aggregate capital for investment in Mexico. This will open up opportunities for investment, particularly in energy and infrastructure projects that would be too large for [most investors] to invest in on an individual basis.