About

Practice areas: Capital markets Bar admissions: New York Languages spoken: English and Spanish

Grissel Mercado is a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s capital markets group where she advises issuers and financial institutions, particularly those based in Latin America, on debt and equity securities transactions and regulatory and governance matters. Her impressive Mexico record includes advising Credit Agricole Securities (USA), Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Daiwa Capital Markets America in connection with a $500m Rule 144A/Reg S offering of senior notes by Nacional Financiera, a development bank controlled by the Mexican government. Though she only made partner last year, Mercado has for a number of years led on extremely high-profile and complex mandates for various large companies and institutions. She is designated underwriter counsel on all Pemex’s debt offerings, and in the last year alone has acted for BBVA Securities, HSBC Securities (USA), JP Morgan Securities and Santander Investment Securities as managers on Pemex’s $5bn debt offering and advised Barclays and HSBC as managers on Pemex’s $450m debt offering. She has also acted for JP Morgan Securities on a $1bn note offering by BBVA Bancomer and for the initial purchasers on Bancomext’s $700m issuance of capital notes. Outside of her capital markets work, Mercado has been involved in WISER (Women’s Initiative for Success, Excellence and Retention), takes on pro bono assignments for New York Family Court and similar establishments, and has also been an active member of Cafecito, an informal network of Latina lawyers in New York City.