Samuel T. Céspedes Jr.

Biography

His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, public financing, debt restructuring, project finance, distribution & sales representation laws and contracts, government bids & contracts, and  public-private partnerships.

Mr. Céspedes chaired the Firm’s Corporate Practice Group from 2002 to 2018. He is ranked as one of Puerto Rico's Leading Attorneys in the Corporate/Commercial field by the international publication Chambers & Partners in both its Global and Latin America Guides. He is also ranked as a Highly Regarded attorney in Banking, Capital Markets and M&A by IFLR1000, the international guide to the world's leading financial and corporate law firms and ranked as a leading attorney in both the Corporate and M&A Law and the Corporate Governance & Compliance Practice fields of Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico guide.

Before joining the Firm in 1993, he worked as law clerk to then Chief Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, selected as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. He also served as Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C., and as Legal Counsel to Governor Rafael Hernández Colón.

Mr. Céspedes serves as President of the Board of Trustees of Universidad del Sagrado Corazón; as a member of the Board of Trustees of Centro Para Puerto Rico Fundación Sila M. Calderón, and as member of the Board of Directors of Grupo Guayacán, Inc., dedicated to invest in Puerto Rico's local entrepreneurial system. He also serves as Puerto Rico Liaison to the Corporate Laws Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association. In May 2024 Mr. Céspedes concluded a twelve-year term as member of the Board of Directors of Corporación La Fondita de Jesús, including seven years as its Chairman, a not-for-profit organization that provides assistance to the homeless and other vulnerable communities.

Representative Transactions

His experience spans a wide range of practice areas. Some of his representative transactions include:

• Working in major corporate acquisition transactions in Puerto Rico, such as America Móvil's purchase of Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Liberty Cable's acquisition of OneLink, Hub International's purchase of Carrión, Laffitte & Casellas' stock, the sale of Puerto Rico television assets by Univision to Liberman Media Group, the sales of EDIC College and Columbia Central University stock, and the sale of the San Lucas Guayama Hospital, as well as major corporate reorganizations (Kraft/Mondelez, Pfizer,  Covidien and Medtronic, amongst others).
• Leading the team of Firm attorneys that assisted Autopistas Metropolitanas de Puerto Rico LLC (“Metropistas”), an Abertis/Goldman Sachs consortium that was awarded a concession to operate and maintain two major toll roads in Puerto Rico. This is the first public-private partnership project developed under the Puerto Rico Public Private Partnerships Act of 2009. He has also worked on all of Metropistas’ debt financing transactions.
• Serving as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in bond issuances of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its agencies and instrumentalities, such as Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority, Puerto Rico Municipal Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority, Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority (AFICA) and Puerto Rico Public Finance Corporation.
• Counseling AmeriNational Community Services, servicer of GDB Debt Recovery Authority, in the sale and restructuring of debt issued by the Puerto Rico government, its instrumentalities and municipalities.  

Practices

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