The Legal 500

El Salvador

Banking and finance

Banking and finance - ranked: tier 2

Lexincorp

Lexincorp is adept at advising domestic and international clients, both borrowers and lenders, on traditional as well as syndicated loans, credit agreements and asset securitizations. Among renowned practice head Enrique Escobar’s key clients is Blue Orchard Microfinance Fund, for which recent work includes advisory on three different loans (aggregate value: $22m) to Salvadoran banks Optima Servicios Financieros and Banco Hipotecario. Other matters saw associate Antonio Guirola undertake the cancellation of $4m warranties on behalf of Grupo Monge; advised Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium II on various loans totalling up to $3.5m; and represent Puma El Salvador, as borrower, in the negotiation of a $10m loan granted by Banco Agricola. The client list also features Productos Atlas, Fid Energetica and Bandesal.

Leading lawyers

Next generation lawyers

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Corporate and M&A

Corporate and M&A - ranked: tier 2

Lexincorp

Lexincorp’s personnel expansion, including the recent hire of associate Adriana Portillo (who specialises in antitrust and corporate matters), has evidently born fruit as an increasing number of clients –such as Superprint and Supertex El Salvador– seek the team’s advice on corporate, transactional and regulatory matters. The team advised recent client addition Pettenati Centroamerica on procurement contracts with Zeta Gas and Gas One. A particular area of expertise is the energy sector: co-practice head Enrique Escobar continues to assist Comisión Ejecutiva Hidroeléctrica del Rio Lempa with the construction of the $300m El Chaparral hydroelectric project; while Stefany Rascon assisted MGM Sustainable Fund El Salvador, a PE fund that acts in the energy-efficiency and renewable energy sectors, with the opening of operations in El Salvador. Other long-standing clients include Grupo Monge, Sony and Banco General.

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Dispute resolution

Dispute resolution - ranked: tier 3

Lexincorp

Lexincorp’s four-partner practice is best known for energy-related litigation; Enrique Escobar is currently representing Termopuerto in administrative proceedings against the Salvadoran Energy and Telecommunications Agency related to a rise in charges for the operation of a power plant. Other focus areas include commercial, financial and tax litigation; a recent example for the latter specialisation is the representation of Livsmart in a tax-return dispute. Fertilizantes Nordic and Drogueria Americana joined long-term clients Lageo, Scotiabank and Empresa Electrica de Oriente on the client list.

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Intellectual property

Intellectual property - ranked: tier 4

Lexincorp

‘Responsive’ firm Lexincorp provides ‘great value for money’ and has built a solid IP practice that represents domestic and international clients such as Grupo Monge, Intermoda, Sony Interamerican and Tigo (Millicom). 2017 saw the practice group register more than 30 trade marks for Mexican pharmaceutical manufacturer Genomma Lab; as well as managing the trade mark portfolio of Caterpillar, which involved more than 50 renewal processes. On the contentious side, Grupo RAF instructed the team in an opposition case regarding the term ‘hot’ in advertising slogans. Edna Lopez, who is ‘always on top of clients’ files’, heads the practice alongside Enrique Escobar.

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