Álvaro E. Garza-Galván

Partner

About

Álvaro has extensive experience in issuances, repurchases and exchange offers, both domestic and international; advises domestic and international clients on a wide range of matters and has a strong track record in mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, restructuring, banking and finance, and securities transactions.

As a leading partner in the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice in Mexico, he offers clients authoritative advice on a wide variety of complex corporate and financial transactions, both in Latin America and Europe. He has extensive experience in all types of complex local and cross-border M&A transactions, providing innovative alternatives to clients of all types of industries. Clients benefit from Álvaro’s vast and extensive knowledge in securities regulations, especially through complex M&A transactions of publicly traded companies in Mexico.

Additionally, his significant experience in corporate matters, allow him to provide innovative solutions throughout all stages of an M&A transaction. His robust experience and knowledge make him an ideal asset for clients, which has also led him to be appointed to serve on the board of directors of multiple companies in Mexico.

Clients such as Banorte, PEMEX, CFE, Fibra Shop, GAP, HSBC, Actinver, USB, Goldman Sachs and CLS Bank International, value his ability to provide transactional and regulatory advice in areas related to their products and services, including their day-to-day dealings with regulators and other public authorities in Mexico.

Álvaro’s extensive experience in complex, high-profile bankruptcies and restructurings, include those of ICA, M&G Polymers, URBI, Comerci, Metrofinanciera, Su Casita, Vértice and Crédito Real. Álvaro provides elite expertise advising clients on the restructuring and insolvency aspects of strategic acquisitions, both in Mexico and with a significant cross-border components.

Known for his vast legal knowledge, as well as his deep understanding of the local regulatory environment, Álvaro has also been appointed as an elite advisor to government entities in the drafting of various laws and regulations for the banking and financial sectors.

Alvaro’s international experience was enhanced by his time working in the New York office of an international law firm from 2007 to 2009. During this time, he gained valuable experience advising and representing clients in connection with Mexican and Latin American corporate and finance transactions, securities law, and corporate restructurings.

Areas of FocusCorporate Mergers and Acquisitions Restructuring

Bar admissionsMexico

EXPERIENCE

Álvaro has led or co-led the following significant matters:

Crédito Real, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R., a leading financial institution in Mexico, with presence in the United States, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras, focusing on lending with a diversified business platform, in a complex process of restructuring both national and cross-border, under the United States of America bankruptcy laws and the Mexican bankruptcy laws, with a large number of interests and creditors in the US, Mexico and Europe.
iSquared Capital acquisition of KIO Networks, 2021 Alvaro represented iSquared Capital, the leading US-based private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments, through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III and ISQ Growth Markets Infrastructure Fund, on its acquisition of KIO Networks, the leading Mexico-based digital infrastructure service provider, which is the largest data center operator in Mexico, with an extensive network of 11 core data center campuses and 11 EDGE facilities, and more than 20 MW of installed operational capacity and significant expansion potential throughout Central America and the Caribbean. KIO is also the holding company of subsidiaries with activities in Mexico, Spain, Panama, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, which were also part of the transaction.
Financing to Exitus Capital, 2021 Álvaro advised the leading company in the field of financing for small and medium-sized companies through the placement of loans, leases and financial factoring, as a debtor of a secured credit US $ 100 million, granted by Goldman Sachs under NY law with guarantees granted under Mexican law. The financing was mainly destined to the financing of the Mexican automotive industry segment.
Médica Sur sale of its laboratory business, 2021 Alvaro represented Médica Sur, the leading Mexico-based private health institution on the sale of its laboratory business to Synlab, the leading Europe-based medical diagnostics services provider. This includes more than 100 clinical diagnostic laboratories located in Mexico City, State of Mexico, Puebla, Querétaro and Tlaxcala, as well as in different airports in the country.
Pernod Ricard Acquisition of Mezcal Ojo de Tigre Stake, 2020 Alvaro represented Pernod Ricard México, a Mexican subsidiary of Pernod-Ricard SA, a multinational company dedicated to the manufacturing, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages and spirits, on its acquisition and investment of 40 percent of the capital stock in Mezcal Ojo de Tigre, a Mexican entity dedicated to the manufacturing, distribution and sale of the mezcal brand “Ojo de Tigre,” and a subsidiary of Casa Lumbre.
Fibra Shop MXN 2.3 Billion Notes Offering and Exchange Offer, 2019 Álvaro represented Fibra Shop, an investment trust vehicle under Mexican law dedicated to the acquisition, development and operations of shopping centers in Mexico, in the regulatory procedure to increase the maximum amount of a dual program established in 2015 to issue short- and long-term debt notes in the Mexican market from MXN 8 billion to MXN 9 billion, and on the fourth and fifth offerings under such program.
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico Certificados Bursátiles Issuance, 2019 Álvaro represented Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico in the sixth issuance of debt instruments (certificados bursátiles) with the ticker GAP 19, under the dual program established in 2015 by GAP to issue short- and long-term debt instruments up to a revolving amount of MXN 9.0 billion in the Mexican market, which was increased in 2018 to a maximum of MXN 15.0 billion. GAP is a Mexican public company listed on both the Mexican and New York stock exchanges, and operates 12 airport government concessions in Mexico and one airport in Jamaica.
Codere Mexico Refinancing, 2018 Álvaro represented the entertainment conglomerate Codere Mexico, as borrower in the amendment and restatement of a US$30 million secured credit facility with Nomura Corporate Funding Americas, LLC, as lender. Proceeds were used for the repayment of different intercompany debt and the corporate purposes of the borrower.
Grupo Financiero Banorte US$1.4 Billion Merger with Grupo Financiero Interacciones, 2018 Álvaro represented Grupo Financiero Banorte in reaching an agreement to acquire, through merger, Grupo Financiero Interacciones. The acquisition included the banking, broker-dealer, insurance and asset manager subsidiaries of Grupo Financiero Interacciones. The merger was valued at circa US$1.4 billion. Grupo Financiero Banorte became the second-largest banking financial group in Mexico, and the country’s largest infrastructure lender.
US$50 Million Revolving Credit Facility for Frisa Forjados and Frisa Industrias, 2018 Álvaro represented BBVA Bancomer, as administrative agent on a senior unsecured US$50 million revolving credit facility for Frisa Forjados, and Frisa Industrias, as co-borrowers, which was guaranteed by Frisa USA, Inc., a US subsidiary of one of the borrowers. Frisa is a Mexican manufacturer of an extensive range of alloy and steel products servicing a wide spectrum of industrial markets.
Goba Internacional “Barrilito” MXN 640 Million Sale, 2018 Representation of Goba Internacional and its shareholders in the MXN 640 million sale of 100 percent of its capital stock, including its two subsidiaries to ACCO Brands, one of the largest designer, marketers and manufacturers of branded academic, consumer and business products. Goba Internacional is a leading provider of school and crafts products in Mexico, including its leading brands Barrilito, Colop, Delta, Sizzix and Acme.
Afirme Grupo Financiero Acquisition of UBS Bank Mexico, 2018 Álvaro represented Afirme Grupo Financiero in the acquisition of a 100 percent equity stake of UBS Bank México. Afirme is a leading Mexican financial institution in retail banking.
ConCrédito MXN 2.613 million sale of FinÚtil stake, 2017
Álvaro represented ConCrédito on the sale of an equity stake in FinUtil and Comfu, to Gentera, an international entrepreneurial banking group focused on the financial inclusion of low-income individuals, for MXN 2.613 million (US$130 million).
Bolsa Institucional de Valores Concession Title to Operate a Stock Exchange in Mexico, 2017
Álvaro represented Bolsa Institucional de Valores (“BIVA”), Mexico’s second stock exchange, and the first stock market to be created in México in more than 100 years. Álvaro led the work for BIVA’s parent company, Central de Corretajes, (“Cencor”) in order to negotiate all aspects of a minority equity investment in Cencor of MXN 450 million by LIV Capital, a Mexican private equity fund, in order to fulfill the capital requirement in BIVA mandated by the SHCP, an investment that was a fundamental piece to fund BIVA.
FibraShop Increase to Maximums for Debt Instruments Program, 2017 Álvaro represented Fideicomiso Irrevocable (“Fibra Shop”), in the regulatory procedure to increase the maximum amount of a dual program established in 2015 to issue short- and long-term debt instruments in the Mexican market from MXN 5 billion to MXN 8 billion, as well as in the second and third offerings under such program.
Fibra Shop MXN 2.662 Billion Acquisition of Shopping Mall, 2017 Álvaro represented Fibra in the acquisition of the shopping mall center Puerta La Victoria, owned by Abilia, one of the largest real estate developers in Mexico, with more than 25 years of experience and approximately more than three million square meters built. Puerta La Victoria is a mixed-use shopping mall center located in the State of Querétaro. The value of the transaction is MXN 2.662 billion.

Languages

Education

Law Degree (J.D. equivalent), Universidad Iberoamericana

LL.M., Columbia University School of Law

Awards

Publications

“Doing Business in Mexico: Chambers Guide 2024” July, 2024
"Doing Business in Mexico: Chambers Guide 2023" July, 2023
"Doing Business in Mexico: Chambers Guide 2022" August, 2022

Media Mentions

"US aviation group buys controlling stake in Mexico’s Aerocharter", Latin Lawyer, 19 February 2024
"US and Mexican investors reel in tuna assets with cross-border buy", Latin Lawyer, 23 January 2024

Prior Experience

Prior to joining DLA Piper, Alvaro was an international partner at another highly regarded international law firm in Mexico City in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and transactional.