About

Number of years practice: 15 Principal practice areas: M&A and private equity Bar admissions: Mexico, Texas, New York Languages spoken: English and Spanish

Houston-based Rodrigo Dominguez Sotomayor serves as co-head of Orrick’s Latin America practice. He represents clients in domestic and international M&A transactions, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and corporate matters in regulated and non-regulated industries. In addition, he counsels on real estate M&A deals and has significant experience representing multinationals in government contracting processes in Mexico and throughout Latin America. He has extensive experience in advising clients on innovative and pioneering transactions in Mexico. Most notably, he represented Merlin Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of California based O&G royalty fund Cabrillo Energy, in the negotiation and implementation of the first-ever overriding royalty interest in Mexico, a ground-breaking transaction that introduced a new financial instrument to the Mexican oil-and-gas industry. In addition, he was part of the team that advised Proman on the development of a $1.3bn petrochemical facility in Mexico, including negotiating to close a first-of-its kind structure with Mexico’s Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to transport low-cost natural gas from the United States to the facility in Mexico. On the energy front, Dominguez is currently advising multinationals and a private equity-backed company in upstream and midstream projects in Mexico and working on both acquisitions and project developments involving renewable power generation assets. On the M&A side, he is currently representing a global private equity fund and asset manager in several acquisitions in Mexico and advising a Mexican real estate developer in a multimillion-dollar leveraged buy-out and follow-on issuance. Recently, Dominguez completed a transaction for Renewable Resources Group consisting in the structuring and launching of a $200m Mexican investment fund, which will be the first-ever, agrotech-dedicated fund in Mexico. Licensed and trained in both the US and Mexico, Dominguez’s understanding of the business and cultural nuances of complex inbound and outbound transactions in Mexico leaves him well positioned to advise clients on opportunities arising from Mexico’s recent legal reforms; his involvement in high profile deals in Mexico over the last 15 years has made him into a highly sought-after figure for deal structuring. Dominguez served as the assistant secretary for the Mexican Businessmen Board of Houston from 2010 to 2015, and also previously sat on the board of directors for the Houston Hispanic Bar Association.