Bustamante Fabara

Juan Bernardo is a senior associate at BUSTAMANTE FABARA and a member of the firm’s Corporate, Commercial, Finance, Banking, Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions teams. He focuses his practice on finance, capital markets, corporate and banking matters. He advises multilateral, bilateral, national and international creditors, investors, debtors, borrowers, sellers and buyers in complex banking and finance operations, generally with mercantile, commercial, fiduciary, securities and regulatory components and collaterals. He has been involved in the most sophisticated financial and banking operations in Ecuador, including the first issuance of green, thematic and blue bonds in the country and the region. Before joining BUSTAMANTE FABARA, Juan Bernardo was an associate at a prestigious firm in Ecuador where he was part of banking, finance and M&A areas, focusing his practice and experience on advising clients with emphasis in corporate financing, senior, subordinated or guaranteed loans and financings, local or international issuances; as well as cross-border transactions with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, purchases, sales, and joint ventures, among other operations, in all business areas. Currently, Juan Bernardo works in the Banking and Finance department, advising and assisting clients in syndicated loans and bilateral loans, as well as in bond or share issuances in local and international capital markets, among other transactions of the Firm’s line of business. He also actively collaborates with in the M&A area, on local and international transactions, acquisitions, joint ventures, asset purchases, share purchase agreements (SPA), shareholder agreements (SHA), among other complex corporate matters. He has also developed and has extensive experience in tax and corporate structuring and advice to companies

Senior Associate

Partner José Rafael hast experience in M&A activity in Ecuador. He has been one of the leaders of the department since 2010, structuring complex transactions that have set a precedent in the Ecuadorian jurisdiction. He has thorough experience in antitrust, having successfully cleared complex transactions that have resulted in market concentrations of over 90%. José Rafael´s main areas of practice include: Corporate Law, Mergers & Acquisitions, Antitrust Law, Project Financing and natural resources, including mining and oil & gas. Having vast experience in Antitrust Law, José Rafael advised AB InBev in the merger filing in Ecuador for the approval of one of the biggest worldwide M&A transactions, as part of AB InBev’s global acquisition of SABMiller. José Rafael is currently advising AB InBEv in the fulfillment of the commitments agreed with the Antitrust Authority in regards to the remedies imposed for the merger clearance for the global acquisition of SABMiller.  With extensive experience dealing with mining projects, José Rafael recently participated in the Fruta del Norte Project assisting Kinross Gold Corporation. Recently, he also represented and assisted Corporacion GPF, parent company of the biggest Ecuadorian retail pharmaceutical company, Fybeca, as well as Sana Sana, OkiDoki, Abefarm and Provefarma, in negotiations with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of the World Bank Group, in order to obtain a US$30 million loan for an Advanced Logistic Center that will enhance the company’s efficiency in all of their 634 stores throughout the country. José Rafael also advised ARCA (Mexican COCA COLA Bottling Company) in the acquisition of EBC (Ecuadorian COCA COLA Bottling Company), the biggest non-oil private business transaction in the Ecuadorian history.