Selene Espinosa
+52.55.3602.8029
Overview
Selene Espinosa is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Mexico City office, where she focuses her practice on corporate service and financial transactions.
Ms. Espinosa assists clients by providing business-focused advice, and her strong background in corporate matters allows her to represent strategic buyers and sellers in complex cross-border transactions involving U.S., Canadian, European and Latin American entities and assets. She has relevant experience on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), secured loans, project finance, international joint ventures, insurance, mining, infrastructure and real estate matters.
In her career, Ms. Espinosa has stood out for her pro-deal mindset, her international standard service and her understanding of her clients' businesses and structure transactions to address key business concerns, ensuring seamless delivery across practices and geographies.
Ms. Espinosa also advises clients in corporate governance and foreign investment matters across a variety of industries such as mining, aviation, insurance, construction, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, retail and automotive.
In addition, Ms. Espinosa represents insureds and underwriters in connection with the issuances of representations and warranties (R&W) insurance policies.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Espinosa trained at General Electric (GE) in the commercial finance department, where she was involved in the implementation of credit agreements for GE as lender, and worked at two international law firms and a Mexico City law firm for several years.
Representative Experience
- Represented Telefonica S.A. in the sale of its data centers located in Mexico and other Latin American countries in a deal worth 550 million euros and the related housing services agreement
- Advised the acquirer company in the bid process for the 330 million euro acquisition of an international technology group of industries based in Canada as part of the global acquisition of equity interests
- Advised a company leader in the pharmaceutical industry in the acquisition of a Mexican entity, a distributor of raw materials for the pharma, food, pet and dietary supplements industries
- Advised a master food and beverage franchisor in Mexico in a strategic deal and master franchise alliance with the largest non-U.S. pizza delivery company in the world.
- Advised a plastic packaging group in the US$320 million sale of its participation in the Mexican subsidiary, as part of a cross-border transaction governed by Dutch law
- Advised a leading private equity fund, as investor/buyer, in implementing the corporate structure to invest in a group of Mexican and U.S. technology entities
- Advised a U.S. company in its US$114 million acquisition of a global, Canada-based company that offers design, development, manufacturing and delivery of lighting and electronic products and full-service solutions to the automotive and commercial vehicle markets
- Advised the second-largest mobile operator in Mexico on the restructuring, sale and lease of assets and shares of its five Mexican subsidiaries to different purchasers
- Advised a French energy group in the US$3.2 billion sale of specialty chemical affiliate
- Acted as lead counsel in the due diligence and the acquisition of a subsidiary company of a U.S. healthcare company and of a resin plant in Brazil
- Represented a Colombian airline in the acquisition of a cargo airline
- Advised an international technology group of industries based in Canada as borrower in the implementation and structuring of Mexican guarantees due to a credit granted by a Canadian bank to its holding company based in Canada for a US$305 million line of credit
- Advised a lending bank in the restructuring of a US$310 million loan to a private entity for a gas project in Mexico and with the value added tax (VAT) loan agreement for the project
- Advised a lending bank in a loan agreement in the amount of MXN$2 billion to a listed company for the prepayment of certain international notes and the company growth plans
- Advised a Mexican infrastructure development bank in connection with its US$178 million loan agreement provided to a Mexican energy company for the financing of a public contract related to the transformation and construction of an energy project; and with the implementation and structure of the VAT loan agreement for the project
- Advised a Mexican infrastructure development bank in connection with a loan to be granted to a Mexican group for a wind project
- Advised foreign funds and banks acting as creditors in structuring packages for guarantees in securing credit agreements
- Implemented financing structures for mining projects among Canadian mining companies that have a presence in Mexico
- Representing the National Development Bank in Mexico (Bancomext) in the implementation of a financing structure for a mining project related to the exploitation of silver and gold in Sinaloa, Mexico
- Led the negotiation of a joint venture (JV) agreement and formation of a JV company constituted by a Canadian mining company and Mexican mining conglomerate for the exploration of a mine located in Durango, Mexico
- Represented an international mining fund in the financing of a mining tailing project in Chihuahua, Mexico
- Negotiated a joint venture between two Canadian mining companies for the exploitation of silver mine in Mexico, with a committed investment of more than US$16 million
- Advised an insurance company with respect to its underwriting process to determine how best to address the representations and warranties (R&W) policy on a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deal whose target was a Mexican company
- Advised a leading manufacturing company of pressure and temperature instrumentation gauges in the process of running its new plant in Querétaro, Mexico; assisted in incorporating a new company, negotiating its lease agreement for the new plant and obtaining a Maquiladora, Manufacturing and Export Services Industry (IMMEX) authorization and value added tax (VAT) certification for the imports of machinery, equipment and inputs as part of the manufacturing process
- Advised an underwriter in an R&W insurance matter where the target company had significant operations in Mexico
- Participated in a major infrastructure project for the Mexican government and drafted and negotiated public infrastructure and service agreements for public entities and governmental bodies
- Advised the Mexican government in the negotiation and structuring of the US$130 million public agreement for the loading, unloading and transportation of heavy stone for the construction of runways
- Advised a U.S. company on a renewable development project in Mexico that included the sale of a Mexican subsidiary to a U.S. company
- Led the corporate restructuring of Mexican subsidiaries of a leading American group and negotiated with the creditor's counsel the terms of the restructure
- Represented a multinational company in multiple land acquisitions and land leases throughout Mexico involving large retail outlets
- Represented a multinational company on anticorruption compliance policy and procedures and its implementation in Latin America
- Negotiated with the largest retail stores in Mexico on the introduction and marketing of extended warranty products in their stores provided by a Mexican subsidiary of an American company
Credentials
Education
- Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, LL.M.
- Universidad Panamericana, J.D.
Bar Admissions/Licenses
- Mexico
Memberships
- Mexican Bar Association
- Abogadas MX
Honors & Awards
- The Best Lawyers in Mexico, Banking and Finance Law, Corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Project Finance and Development Practice, 2020-2025
- Chambers Global – The World's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, Mexico: Corporate/M&A (Up & Coming), 2024
- Chambers Latin America – Latin America's Leading Lawyers for Business guide, Mexico: Corporate/M&A, 2024, 2025
- Highly regarded, M&A, IFLR1000, 2023, 2024
- Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2020
- The Legal 500 Latin America, Banking and Finance, Real Estate, Projects and Infrastructure, 2019
- The Legal 500 Latin America, Projects and Infrastructure, Next Generation Lawyers, 2017, 2018
Spoken Languages
- English
- Spanish