About

Number of years practice: 30 Principal practice areas: Bankruptcy and restructuring, finance, M&A, private equity Bar admissions: New York, US Court of Appeals (First Circuit), US Supreme Court Languages spoken: English

A debt restructuring leader in Latin America, Richard Cooper has immense experience in Mexico, where he has worked on a multitude of headline restructurings. In recent years, he has acted as counsel to an ad hoc group of bondholders in connection with the 2013 debt restructuring of Maxcom Telecomunicaciones, the first time a Mexican company has managed to effect a chapter 11 plan involving a concurrent tender offer and recapitalisation. He also represented Corporación GEO, one of Mexico’s largest residential construction companies, in connection with the restructuring of approximately $4.5bn of its bank and bond debt (the first restructuring to be filed in Mexico through a pre-packaged bankruptcy proceeding since amendment of the Ley de Concursos Mercantiles); and acted as counsel to the ad hoc committee of international bank creditors of Comerci, Mexico’s third-largest retailer and the operator of Costco Wholesale Corp. in Mexico, in connection with its restructuring of $3.3bn worth of creditor claims. More broadly, Cooper’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, and leveraged finance, including project and acquisition finance.