Alvaro Castellanos
Partner
Consortium Legal
More informationRegional firm Consortium Legal houses a comprehensive banking and finance practice in Guatemala, with expertise spanning syndicated and cross-border loans, debt restructuring, and the development and implementation of new financial products. Capital markets transactions are an additional strength, where the team has a strong recent record in assisting on both the lender and borrower side. The ‘attentive’ department, which offers ‘personalised attention’ to clients, is particularly adept at advising international banks and multilateral development finance institutions and can leverage the firm’s sizeable network of offices in Central America to handle regional mandates. Other thriving areas of the practice include regulatory and, in particular, fintech matters; the firm offers a dedicated team of practitioners from its regional offices in this space. Firm president Álvaro Castellanos leads the department and is widely recognised for his longstanding practice in the banking, fintech and insurtech spheres, and highly experienced senior associate Melissa Morán has also established an active practice, covering syndicated loans, international debt issuances and project finance.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
'Consortium Legal has a unique team that is very experienced and innovative in the banking and financial area, not only in Guatemala but throughout Central America.'
‘It is a very professional team, with personalised attention. They always answer our questions in a very attentive and friendly way. In addition, they are competitive in their prices.’
‘We are attended to on a day-to-day basis by Melissa Morán, who provides a very personalised service and has very good response times.’
'Personally, I have been working with Consortium for 25 years, specifically with Álvaro Castellanos, who has extensive experience in the field and great interest in working hand in hand with us to find innovative solutions that at the same time protect our interests.'
Key clients
- Citibank
- Bank of America
- JP Morgan & Chase
- IDB and IDB Invest
- Deutsche Bank
- Banco Azteca
- Banco de América Central
- Credit Suisse
- Bupa Global and Bupa Guatemala
- Bancolombia/Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala
- Nexa Banco
Work highlights
- Acted as local counsel to Comunicaciones Celulares on the issuance of $900m senior notes through a trust in the Cayman Islands.
- Advised Credit Suisse Securities, as lead arranger and lender, on the granting of a senior secured holdco loan in favour of Estrella Cooperatief, as borrower, and Deocsa and Deorsa, as guarantors, for $175m.
- Advised Commerzbank and Commerzbank Finance & Covered Bond, as lender and security agent, respectively, on a $100m term loan facility granted to Banco Industrial, secured by a pledge of Guatemalan government bonds.
Lawyers
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Melissa Morán
Senior Associate
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Álvaro Castellanos