Juan Carlos Machorro > Santamarina y Steta > Mexico City, Mexico > Lawyer Profile

The ‘agile and precise’ team at Santamarina y Steta is lauded as ‘truly committed to the interests of their clients’ and specialises in assisting local banks and international institutions with a range of financial transactions. The group has a track record assisting issuers, investors, financial intermediaries, developers, and government entities with financing operations and regulatory mandates. The firm’s Monterrey office provides support to high-profile borrower clients doing business in the northeast of the country. Mexico City-based finance and M&A specialist Juan Carlos Machorro steers the national practice group and also acts as co-head of the firm’s corporate department; he garners praise for ‘always delivering high quality work on time’. Additional key contacts include Sergio Chagoya (corporate, project financing, fintech); Ricardo Orea, who has experience advising local, international and multilateral banks on financing transactions involving energy, transport and social infrastructure projects; and Diego Ostos (banking and finance, securities, corporate, M&A). Counsel Margarita Casarin covers syndicated and structured finance and project finance mandates; Pablo Ortiz Monasterio and Iñigo García are the key associate contacts.

Noted for its ‘great organizational and response skills’, the practice group at Santamarina y Steta is well-equipped to handle the financing and development of infrastructure projects, for which it is frequently instructed by governmental agencies, state-owned and private banking institutions, and private companies. The practice is jointly led by Juan Carlos Machorro, who deals with the financing of projects involving highways, energy infrastructure, airports, and railroads; Sergio Chagoya, singled out by one client for his ‘great technical knowledge in project financing and finance in general’; and Ricardo Orea, who primarily takes care of banking and finance, project finance, M&A, and restructuring and insolvency matters. Additional names to note include Diego Ostos (banking and finance, securities, corporate and M&A); and counsel Margarita Casarin (syndicated and structured finance, project finance and infrastructure projects).

Santamarina y Steta‘s practice in the energy sector has recently involved advising numerous domestic and regional stakeholders in the industry seeking regulatory and contractual advice on their relationships with Pemex and other state entities. Led by Juan Carlos Machorro, who is well versed in corporate, M&A and financing law, the practice has capabilities across oil and gas, as well as alternative and renewable power. At senior associate level, Norma Álvarez is the key contact; adept in energy, regulation, ESG, climate change and environment issues, she can draw on professional experience in the public sector – notably at Mexico’s energy regulatory body (the CRE) and the enironmental Ministry (SEMARNAT).

The ‘very professional and well-prepared’ team at Santamarina y Steta is composed of lawyers based across the firm’s three offices – located in Mexico City, Monterrey and Querétaro. The group handles M&A and joint venture transactions (including the drafting and negotiating of transaction agreements and related due diligence), as well as corporate mandates such as incorporations, dissolutions and company spin-offs in the automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, hospitality and manufacturing sectors. Practice heads Juan Carlos Machorro and Jorge León Orantes lead the department from Mexico City. Machorro handles the development and implementation of investment and financing projects in Mexico, while Orantes focuses on M&A, corporate advisory and financing transactions. Additional key corporate and M&A contacts in Mexico City include Pablo Laresgoiti, Alberto Saavedra and Aarón Levet. In Monterrey, César Cruz Ayala and Guillermo Moreno are the names to note; José Ramón Ayala works from the Querétaro office and specialises in M&A, public tenders and project finance. Associates Ilse Bolaños and Daniela Flores support from Mexico City and Monterrey, respectively. However, senior associate Diego Acosta left the firm in May 2023, as did Carlos Argüelles of the Monterrey office in August 2023.