About

Number of years practice: 15 Principal practice areas: Projects and energy, project finance Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English and Spanish

To his clients, Roland Estevez stands out for one thing: ‘he gets the deal done’. This proactive approach to legal matters has made Estevez a go-to lawyer for a large number of Latin America-based clients. Estevez has benefited from the tutelage of Milbank luminary Daniel Bartfeld, but has grown his own practice and now stands as a prominent project finance expert with an excellent record in Mexico, representing a broad range of clients including financial institutions, multi-nationals and developers across a spectrum of sectors, from oil and gas, power (including renewable energy) to infrastructure and mining. His Mexico-facing work includes some of the most high-profile matters in the market. In the past 12 months Estevez has advised: the lenders in the financing of Jinko Solar’s 130 MW Viborillas Solar Park in Mexico; Macquarie and Techint in the acquisition, development and financing of the 907 MW Norte III Power Plant in Mexico, and in the subsequent sale by Macquarie Capital of a 45.5% stake (the transaction was named “LatAm Power Deal of the Year” by PFI and “Latin America Power Deal of the Year” by IJGlobal); and Actis in the acquisition of InterGen’s Mexico portfolio (including 2,200 MW in operation with six combined-cycle gas turbine projects and a 155 megawatt wind project with partner IEnova) valued at $1.265bn. In the oil space, Estevez has represented financial institutions including export credit agencies in drillship, semi-submersible and FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) transactions in Mexico and Brazil. A recent mandate that is a particular source of pride for him is Grupo R’s expansion into deep-sea exploration and drilling for Pemex. This recent experience suggests that Mexico’s energy reforms are continuing to bear fruit, and Estevez’s projects highlight the growth in the renewables sector as it expands to meet the needs of Mexico’s growing population and industrial base. Estevez comments: ‘Mexico has consistently and historically led the way for Latin America generally. For decades [its oil sector] initiatives have served as models for PPA and service contracts elsewhere in Latin America and allowed more nascent Latin American economies to use those advances to develop their own public and private initiatives. Mexico’s comparative stability versus the rest of Latin America has allowed it to lead the way. One cannot consider oneself as having a Latin American practice without a strong presence in Mexico.’ A native-Spanish speaker, Estevez received a business degree in economics from the University of South Florida and a law degree from the Hofstra University School of Law (where he was a member of the Hofstra Law Review).