Enrique J Martin

Practice Areas

Rick Martin is the Office Managing Partner of Winston’s Miami Office. Rick is a seasoned practitioner with over 30 years of experience representing clients in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America on their domestic and cross-border M&A, private equity, joint venture, securities, and financing transactions. Throughout his career, he has worked on a variety of matters and has extensive experience in the media, energy, telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure, technology, and financial services sectors. He has also assisted numerous Latin American and European companies in establishing and expanding their operations in the United States. In addition, he has extensive experience advising global corporations in managing their legal matters throughout Latin America.

Chambers USA notes that Rick is “diligent, responsive, and astute” and a “good cross-border adviser and listener who works to understand the client's business and give personalized advice” (2021). Rick has also recently been recognized as a "Distinguished Leader" by the Daily Business Review Florida Legal Awards 2023 and in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America as the Miami "Lawyer of the Year" for Mergers and Acquisitions Law. Best Lawyers selects only one attorney in each practice category and designated geographic region as their "Lawyer of the Year," making this recognition especially noteworthy.

Career

Managing Partner of the Miami Office, Rick has 30 years of experience advising public and private U.S. and multinational companies, including Fortune 100 companies on complex corporate transactions including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financings and general securities matters. Rick advises firm clients across a range of industries including media, energy, telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure, technology, and financial services.

Professional Memberships

Rick is a member of the United Way Tocqueville Society Cabinet.

Publications

Commentaries, Latin America M&A – the Year Ahead: Activity and Trends (March 2021)

Reprints, Mapping the Territory: Navigating Sales in Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico (The Latin American Lawyer) (September 2020)

Quotes, Miami – A Bridge Both Ways (Iberian Lawyer) (July/August 2008)

Personal

Distinguished Leader, Daily Business Review Florida Legal Awards 2023

The Best Lawyers in America — Miami "Lawyer of the Year" for Mergers and Acquisitions Law (2020)

Chambers USA: Corporate/M&A and Private Equity (2022)

The Legal 500 Latin America: Corporate and M&A

Florida Super Lawyers — Mergers and Acquisitions

Florida Trend magazine, "Legal Elite" for mergers and acquisitions law

Experience

Some of the experience represented here may have been handled at a previous firm.

Advised JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation in connection with various transactional matters.

Advised Ferrovial Airports, a leading global infrastructure operator, in connection with its joint venture with Lilium Jets, a developer of all-electric, vertical take-off and landing jet aircraft, to develop a network of vertiports throughout the State of Florida.

Advised Spanish Broadcasting System in connection with its successful recapitalization of its outstanding preferred stock and publicly traded Senior Secured Notes.

Advised LarraínVial in its acquisition of equity interests in the holding companies of Black Salmon, a Miami-based, national commercial real estate investment firm, and TSG Holding Company, a South Florida diversified real estate development and investment company.

Advised Paymentez, LLC in its sale to Nuvei Corporation, a publicly traded electronic payment processing company based in Montreal, Canada.

Advised SpeedETab, Inc., a restaurant ordering and payment technology provider, in its sale to Wix.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIX), a global leader in software development, cloud-based services, e-commerce, and other online services.

Represented Otras Producciones de Energía Photovoltaica, S.L. ("OPDE Energy"), a member of the OPDE Group, in connection with the sale of 80% of its equity interests in two photovoltaic power plants, and associated electrical substations and interconnection lines, located in the Mexican states of Aguascalientes (34.2 MW) and Coahuila (82.5 MW) to an affiliate of Riverstone Holdings, an energy and power-focused private investment firm. As a part of the transaction, OPDE Energy entered into a joint venture agreement and a management agreement with Riverstone pursuant to which OPDE Energy and Riverstone jointly acquire, finance, develop, construct, and operate new photovoltaic solar power projects in Mexico.

Advised JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., one of the world's largest solar panel manufacturers, in the sale of two solar photovoltaic (PV) plants in Mexico to White River Renewables.

Advised Alantra Capital Privado SGEIC, S.A.U. and Magnum Capital Industrial Partners, S.L. in establishing a joint venture with Ryonet Corporation to serve as the distributor of ROQ's products in the U.S. market. ROQ is a manufacturer of screen-printing machinery based in Portugal.

Advised RPM International, Inc. and its subsidiary, The Euclid Chemical Company, with the acquisition of a construction material distributors in Puerto Rico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.

Advised Engie Solar in the sale of its interest in PanamaSolar2, S.A., a 16MW photovoltaic power plant located in Panama, to Latin Renewables Infrastructure Funds managed by Real Infrastructure Capital Partners.

Advised Millicom International Cellular S.A. and its subsidiary Telefonica Celular del Paraguay S.A. in the sale of approximately 1,400 wireless communications towers to a subsidiary of American Tower Corporation in Paraguay for approximately Gs700 billion (US$125 million) in cash.

Represented Hyatt Hotels Corporation, an American multinational owner, operator, and franchiser of hotels, resorts, and vacation properties, in connection with a series of corporate transactions effecting the purchase, sale, and recapitalization of a significant luxury hotel and resort property in Latin America, including a preferred equity investment and financing by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyatt in the acquiror (and controlling owner) of the resort property; a refinancing of the resort property's existing senior secured bank debt with an international financial institution; the acquisition by the new controlling owner of the resort property; and certain related commercial arrangements between Hyatt and the new controlling owner of the resort property.

Represented Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and its affiliates and subsidiaries in connection with the global restructuring of Takata Corporation and its subsidiaries. The restructuring involves over $50 billion in potential liabilities resulting from worldwide recalls of PSAN airbag inflators and is to be effectuated through (a) the global sale of certain Takata's non-PSAN businesses to Key Safety Systems for almost $1.6 billion, and (b) a restructuring of Takata's PSAN inflator business into a stand-alone business. The restructuring is to be implemented across multiple jurisdictions, including via insolvency proceedings in Japan and the United States, and an out-of-court transaction in Germany.

Advised Paymentez, LLC, a payment processor serving businesses throughout Latin America, in the acquisition of a controlling interest in SpeedETab, Inc., a payment systems provider for restaurants.

Advised ACS Infrastructure Development, Inc. in its formation and organization of a joint venture that was awarded the right to develop and operate the Angels flight funicular railway in the district of Downtown Los Angeles, California.

Advised the majority owners of Mentez, LLC, the parent company of Paymentez, LLC, a leading payment processor for online games, websites, and mobile applications in Latin America, in connection with the purchase of the membership interests of Mentez owned by a minority equity holder.

Advised Crédito Real, S.A.B. de C.V., SOFOM, E.R. (“Crédito Real”) in completing the purchase of a 70 percent equity interest in Marevalley Corporation, a Panamanian holding company with entities in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama operating under the name “Instacredit.”

Represented Arendal S. de R.L. de C.V., a Mexican company specializing in the construction of pipelines, plants, electromechanical, and heavy civil engineering works, in its acquisition of the Vanuatu flagged vessel "Texas," as well as certain equity interests of Hoc Offshore, S. de R.L. de C.V. and Tiburón Ingeniería y Construcción, S. de R.L. de C.V. from Cal Dive Offshore Contractors.

Represented Asbury Automotive Group, Inc., one of the largest automotive retailers in the U.S., in connection with its issuance of an additional $200 million aggregate principal amount of 6.0% Senior Subordinated Notes due 2024 in a Rule 144A and Regulation S offering. J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Wells Fargo Securities acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

Advised Crédito Real, S.A.B de C.V., SOFOM, E.R. ("Crédito Real") in its acquisition of 65 percent of the equity interests issued by AFS Acceptance LLC, a financial institution focused on granting loans for the acquisition of used cars in the U.S.

Advised Grupo T-Solar with the sale of a minority equity interest in each of two projects consisting of two 20 MW PV plants in southern Peru. Sojitz Corporation of America, through a Peruvian investment vehicle, acquired a minority interest in each of the project companies. Grupo T-Solar remained with a majority stake in the project.

Represented TissueTech, Inc., a Miami-based bio-tech company and industry leader in amniotic membrane tissue products, in connection with its further issuance of Common Stock in a private placement to certain accredited investors.

Represented BearingPoint, Inc. and the BearingPoint Liquidating Trust as lead counsel in connection with the wind down of BearingPoint's Latin American operations.

Represented Telefonica, Spain's largest telecommunications company, in connection with numerous acquisitions throughout Latin America.

Languages Spoken

English and Spanish

Industry Sector Expertise

Mergers & Acquisitions

Private Equity Transactions

Transactions - Asia

Transactions - Latin America & Caribbean

Transactions - Europe

Expert in these Jurisdictions

District of Columbia and Florida