Antonio Peña is a multicultural attorney with wide-ranging legal training in the U.S., Spain and Mexico. Antonio, who is licensed in Florida and Mexico, has advised clients in connection with cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private-equity transactions and financings throughout North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Europe. He has represented U.S., European and Latin American companies in connection with their operations in the U.S. and Latin America.
Areas of Concentration
· Mergers and acquisitions
· Joint ventures
· Financing transactions
· Corporate governance
Significant Representations
· Mergers & Acquisitions
- Representation of Mastercard Inc. in its 50/50 joint venture with Telefonica S.A. for the provision of mobile financial solutions to Movistar's 87 million customers in 12 countries in Latin America.
- Representation of a consortium of investors in the purchase of substantially all of the Latin American and Caribbean operations of McDonald's Corporation for approximately US$700 million.
- Representation of Mastercard Inc. in its 50/50 joint venture with Telefonica S.A. for the provision of mobile financial solutions to Vivo's 65 million customers in Brazil.
- Representation of Grupo Prisa and its wholly-owned subsidiary Sogecable, S.A. in the purchase of a majority interest in V-Me Media, Inc., the fourth-largest Hispanic television network in the United States. V-Me is currently distributed in 36 metropolitan television markets and reaches 61 million households in the United States. Prisa, an Ibex-listed media company, is the world's leading Spanish and Portuguese-language business group in news and other print media, radio and television broadcasting and film productions. Operating throughout over 300 subsidiaries in 22 countries, Grupo Prisa reaches more than 50 million users through its global brands El País, 40 Principales, Santillana and Alfaguara.
- Represented a Chilean publicly-traded company in the acquisition by its subsidiary of a 50% interest in the second largest fish and seafood trading company in the United States measured by volume of sales.
- Represented Argentina's largest branded foods products company in the acquisition by its subsidiary of a 49% interest, with an option to purchase the remaining equity interest, in a wholesaler of Italian specialty gourmet food products in the United States.
- Representation of the stockholders of Esco Interamerica, Ltd., an international construction equipment leasing company operating through over 30 subsidiaries in 8 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in its sale to an affiliate of Harsco Corporation, a worldwide industrial services company (NYSE: HSC) serving global industries, including infrastructure, metals, railways and energy.
- Representation of leading global provider of management print and promotional services in its acquisition of a print management firm that does business in 12 countries in Central and South America.
· Financing
- Represented Arcos Dorados, B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HSC), in the US$350 million acquisition finance facility and US$80 million letter of credit facility for the purchase of the franchise of McDonald's in 18 jurisdictions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean; the financing involved collateral in 18 jurisdictions, with multiple inter-creditor issues, and compliance with the franchise agreement and franchise regime of McDonald's.
- Representation of Salvadoran retailer in connection with US$300 million multi-currency financings secured by assets in 11 different Caribbean jurisdictions. The acquisition was consummated in part through public offers in Jamaica and Barbados.
- Represented Satelites Mexicanos, S.A. de C.V., one of only two privately managed fixed satellite service providers in Latin America, in its offering of US$325 million in principal amount of new 9.5% senior secured notes.
- Representation of MAT Concessionaire, LLC and its sponsors, Meridiam Infrastructure Fund and Bouygues Travaux Publics, S.A., in the Port of Miami Tunnel project, one of the first greenfield public-private partnerships in the United States.
- Representation of Spanish infrastructure company short-listed on Alligator Alley Toll-Road Project, a proposed public-private partnership with the Florida Department of Transportation to lease, operate, maintain and receive toll revenues from the 78-mile stretch of I-75 known as "Alligator Alley".
· Corporate Operations
- Corporate counsel to Arcos Dorados, B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Arcos Dorados Holdings Inc. (NYSE: HSC), in the operation of the McDonald's franchise in 17 jurisdictions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Representation of a group of stockholders in their proxy solicitation to replace the board of directors of a publicly-traded company.
- Representation of a real estate development firm based in the United States in its Latin American expansion and related financing transactions.
- Corporate counsel to Spanish specialty foods company doing business in the United States.
Professional & Community Involvement
· Board, Professional Editors, Law and Business Review of the Americas
· Member, U.S.-Mexico Bar Association
· Member, International Bar Association
· Member, American Bar Association
Awards & Recognition
· Member, team selected by Chambers and Partners for "Corporate & Finance - Law Firm of the Year (Florida-Based)" Award, Chambers Latin America Awards, 2010 and 2011
· Member, team selected by Chambers and Partners for "Focus on Latin America - Law Firm of the Year (Florida-Based)" Award, Chambers Latin America Inaugural Awards for Excellence, 2009
· Member, team ranked as a top corporate law firm in Miami as selected by corporate directors, in the annual "Legal Industry Research Study" by Corporate Board Member magazine and FTI Consulting Inc. (10th year), 2002-2009, 2011-2012
· M&A Deal of the Year Award, Latin Lawyer magazine, 2008
Articles, Publications, & Lectures
Articles
· Mentioned, "MasterCard and Telefónica combine in first of its kind JV," Latin Lawyer, February 8, 2011
· Author, "Unregulated Financial Intermediation in Mexico - The New Sociedad Financiera de Objeto Múltiple or SOFOM," Law and Business Review of the Americas, Volume 14, Issue 1, Winter 2008
· Author, "The Free-Writing Prospectus: A Six Question Approach for Issuers," Securities Regulation Law Journal (Thomson West), Volume 35, Number 1, Spring 2007
· Author, "Estudio de la Tecnocracia y su Relación con la Política Social," Biblioteca Central de la Universidad Panamericana - México, Facultad de Derecho, T DER 2000 P44e, 2000