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Diego Martinez

Diego Martinez

Co-Managing Partner
Mexico City Office

“Diego is an incredibly practical and business-oriented lawyer. He is our must go reference when dealing with sophisticated corporate matters.”

Carlos Zardain
General Counsel of
Hermes Infraestructura
About
Diego focuses his practice on general corporate law, with emphasis in Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity and Emerging Growth/Venture Capital, as well as corporate finance and debt restructuring transactions either out-of-court or insolvency in-court insolvency proceedings. He has extensive experience on banking and securities financings (capital markets, equity & debt securities), as well as, on simple and structured financings. He also represents financial entities in regulatory matters. He represents Mexican and foreign banks and other lenders, providing counseling in connection with credits or loans and in the creation and perfection of Mexican security packages. He also has experience in corporate governance matters.
Bar admissionsMexico

EXPERIENCE

  • Representation of the second largest Mexican bank, in the “concurso mercantil” and cross-border (Spain and US) debt restructurings in and out of court of a Mexican subsidiary of Abengoa
  • Representation of the second largest Mexican bank in the debt restructuring "concurso mercantil" and cross-border insolvency procedures of the Mexican subsidiary of Mossi & Ghisolfi, S.p.A.
  • Representation of a bank in the debt restructuring of a Mexican subsidiary of Odebrecht
  • Representation of an important publicly traded financial group holding company, a bank, a broker dealer, an insurance company and a manager of investment funds in its merger with one of the largest group holding entities, banks, broker dealers, insurance companies and managers or investment funds to create the second largest Mexican financial group, which after such merger retains Diego in a recurrent basis for financing transactional and regulatory matters.
  • Representation of a bank in the loan and creation of security packages related therewith in the acquisition of the water supply and treatment infrastructure for the city of Puebla, the fifth largest city in Mexico.
  • Representation of a Mexican bank in the structuration of a project financing for the construction and development of the "Barroco Museum" in the city of Puebla, Mexico.
  • Representation of a Mexican bank in the structuration of a project financing for the construction and development of the "Mundo Maya Museum" in the city of Mérida, Mexico.
  • Representation of a top tier Mexican bank in Mexico that is intent to acquire a limited scope bank specialized in governmental loans.
  • Representation of a top tier Mexican bank in the financing of the construction of toll roads in the State of Mexico, the State of Veracruz and the State of Durango.
  • Representation of several lenders in different “concurso mercantil” proceedings such as a mining company, a retail company, a satellite company, and a telecom company, among others cases related to insolvency procedures.
  • Representation of an acquirer in the acquisition of a telecom publicly traded company.
  • Representation of the third largest Mexican credit union in its merger, as surviving entity, with the sixth largest Mexican credit union.
  • Representation of the third largest Mexican credit union in its merger, as surviving entity, with another Mexican credit union.
  • Representation of a French bank to obtain a license from the Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit to provide banking services in Mexico.
  • Representation of a French bank in several financings provided to the top 10 IPC (Indice de Precios y Cotizaciones) (the Mexican stock exchange index) companies.
Education
  • J.D., Universidad Panamericana
  • LL.M., Georgetown University Law Center, 2000

Awards

The Legal 500 Latin America

  • Recommended, Mexico Banking and Finance, 2019 – 2022
    The Legal 500 comments, "Diego Martinez, [who] is skilled in regulatory banking mandates, co-head the team."
  • Recommended, Mexico Capital Markets, 2021 – 2022  
    The Legal 500 comments, "Diego Martinez, a former manager of banking projects at the CNBV (National Banking and Securities Commission) who specializes in private and public debt and equity offerings, securitization and asset-backed finance."
  • Recommended, Mexico Corporate and M&A, 2018-19 and 2021  
  • Recommended, Latin America: International Firms Corporate and M&A, 2019
Other accomplishments
  • One of the top Mexican lawyers in Corporate Finance Law, Who's Who Legal
  • Included in the 2020 Best Lawyers in Latin America for Banking and Finance Law, Corporate and M&A Law in Mexico
 

Publications

  • Co-author, Guarantees of bank deposits ICLG
  • Corporate governance 2014 Getting the Deal Through
  • Corporate governance 2011 IFRL Getting the Deal Through
  • ICLG to Corporate Recovery and Insolvency 2011
  • Corporate governance 2010 IFLR Getting the Deal Through
  • Co-author, Amendments to Mexican Financial Laws Financial (Reforma Financiera) 2014
  • Manual – Mexican Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Transactions executed with illegal origin funds and its Regulations (Anti-Money Laundering Mexican Laws).
  • Co-author, The International comparative legal guide to: Securitization 2011

Additional Information

Diego is retained by clients in regulatory matters of financial institutions such as banks, broker dealers, investment funds, insurance companies, bank non-banks, retirement investment funds, credit unions and other relevant financial entities. He also has experience in general corporate matters with emphasis in M&A of regulated companies, especially those pertaining to the Mexican financial system.

Diego has participated in structured financings, secured and unsecured lending transactions, restructurings and workouts and in-court cross-border insolvency proceedings, private and public offerings of debt and equity, securitization and asset-backed finance transactions, project finance, private equity, venture capital and derivative transactions, as well as financial regulatory matters.

He also has extensive experience in real estate transactions, specifically in the hospitality and leisure, industrial and housing areas, representing landowners, developers, landlords and lenders. Prior to DLA Piper, Diego was a manager of banking projects at Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Mexican Bar, College of Lawyers
  • Member of the Corporate Governance Board of the Mexican Entrepreneurial Council (or its Spanish acronym “CCE”) and Chairman of its legal committee.
  • Legal Member of the Legal Committee of the International Chamber of Commer Mexico (ICC Mexico)
  • Member of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico A.C. (AMCHAM Mexico)
  • Member of the Leadership Council of the Georgetown University Law Center Committee for the Advancement of the Rule of Law in Americas (CAROLA) (Washington D.C.).

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