Pablo Echenique

Pablo Echenique LL.M.

he/himPartner
About
Pablo has around 20 years of professional experience and has been involved in numerous corporate and financial transactions, many of them cross-border/multi-jurisdictional, mainly in the energy, infrastructure and construction sectors in Europe, Latin America, the United States, China, South Africa, Israel, India and the Middle East.
Pablo focuses mostly (but not only) on energy transactions. He leads the energy&infrastructure practice in Spain and is an active member of DLA’s global Energy&Natural Resources group.

He represents energy companies (IPP’s), infrastructure funds and fund managers, utilities and all kinds of lenders in the purchase, sale, development, construction and financing of energy projects, portfolios and companies, including renewable generation projects (utility-scale, distributed and residential solar, onshore and offshore wind, biomass, self-consumption schemes and hydro), energy storage facilities, transmission systems, hydrogen production facilities and other energy-based transactions. He has a deep knowledge particularly of the renewable energy business, after his more than 9 years as general counsel in leading energy companies (in which he led very significant deals, including a “bet-the-company USD 1,8 bn deal with EIG, an energy private equity firm).
Pablo is also active adivising in M&A and finance transactions concerning different concession-based assets.

He was listed as a “leading individual” in Legal 500’s first edition of the GC Powerlist for the Iberian legal market. Pablo is an active “fellow” in Spain of the Aspen Institute, an American leadership organization.

EXPERIENCE

  • Ongoing advice to the energy efficiency divi­sion of a leading Energy fund in the design and implementation of a triangular scheme to finance self-consumption projects with and without surpluses, and other energy efficiency projects (in various sectors, such as real estate, ports, etc.) throughout Spain. 
  • Advising a leading Energy fund on the acquisition of a stake in a Spanish group in the energy efficiency and consumption sector.
  • Advising a European specialist asset manager specialized in sustainable transition on the design of a micro-pooling and financing schemes for self-consumption projects in Spain.
  • Advising a European OEM company on the sale and purchase of a portfolio of self-consumption projects.
  • Advising a Luxembourg-based investment and asset management company on the acquisition of a portfolio of 13 photovoltaic plants in Spain.
  • Advising a Spanish collective investment schemes management company on the acquisition/capital deployment of several PV plants across Spain.
  • Advising a leading utility-scale solar development platform in connection with the re-structuring of the investment in a 200 MW greenfield PV plant in the Dominican Republic.
  • Advising a Spanish private equity company dedicated to renewables investments on a joint venture related to the development of common interconnection infrastructures for renewable plants in Spain.
  • Advising a Luxembourg-based investment and asset management company in connection with a joint venture and shareholders’ agreement with a Swedish IPP for the development of 300 MWs of renewable power across Spain.
  • Advising a private group of investors on the acquisition of an anti-pollution filter/CO2 emission filter business in Spain.
  • Advising a family-owned multi-disciplined engineering and industrial manufacturing company on the Spanish tranche of the acquisition of Bergen Engines from a British luxury automobile maker.
  • Advising a Spanish family office on the acquisition of an anti-pollution filter business and of a portfolio of photovoltaic plants in Spain.
Languages
  • Spanish
  • English
  • French
Education
  • Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Law degree

  • IE Business School, Master of Laws (LLM)

  • IE Business School, Executive Program in Energy Law- PSDE

  • Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB Universidad Complutense), Post-graduate program in the Law of Financial Markets
  • Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (IEB Universidad Complutense), Post-graduate program in the Law of Financial Markets

AWARDS

  • He appeared as a "Leading Individual" in the first list of corporate lawyers in the Iberian market published by The Legal 500. He is also a fellow of the Aspen Institute Spain, a leadership forum. 

Publications

  • Pablo is also a regular contributor to the press and specialised publications.

Prior Experience

He began his professional career at a prestigious Spanish Law firm, where he worked for more than 7 years advising on mergers and acquisitions (of companies and assets), shareholder agreements/joint ventures, financing transactions, sale and lease backs and corporate restructurings, especially in the infrastructure, real estate and financial sectors.

Later, he worked for more than 7 years in General Secretary/Corporate Counsel at a multinational energy/environmental services conglomerate, during its phase of significant international expansion, where he had the opportunity to advise on numerous matters related to renewable energies (M&A, private placements, Corporate and Project Finance, etc).

After this stage, Pablo broadened his experience in renewable energies as General Counsel of an Energy Company, the Spanish subsidiary of a relevant Saudi industrial company.

Prior to joining DLA Piper, Pablo was a Corporate/M&A partner for almost 4 years at a national renowned legal boutique.

Additional Information

  • Pablo is actively involved in academic activities. He is currently a professor of Business Law at IE University. He has also taken part in "customised business programmes" at Georgetown University (Washington DC).

Memberships

  • Member of the Madrid Bar Association

Connect