Career
Ricardo M. Arango joined ARIFA in 1987 and became a partner in 1995. Mr. Arango is Co-Managing Partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He also heads the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group, and the Securities Regulation practice area.
Professional Memberships
Consejo Empresarial de América Latina (CEAL); the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD); Lex Mundi; and Interlaw.
Director of the Panama Canal Authority (2016-2024); Director of Banco General, Panama’s largest bank (since 2012); Director of Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (BLADEX), a NYSE-listed company (since 2002).
Experience
Widely recognized for years as one of Panama’s preeminent capital markets experts, he has also been commended for his leading role in many of the largest and most complex financial and M&A deals in Panama and the Central America region: the Republic of Panama’s Brady Bonds offer; the first securitizations of credit cards receivables, toll road payments, DPRs and residential mortgages in Panama; the IPOs of Bladex, COPA and Panamerican Beverages on the NYSE; Telefónica’s acquisition of BellSouth; the public tender offer by Bancolombia of Banagrícola; and the merger between Banco General and Banco Continental, resulting in Panama’s largest bank.
Mr. Arango has been instrumental in creating many of the financial structures that are now common in Panama. He spearheaded the 1999 Presidential Commissions that drafted Panama’s current securities act and later on drafted the rules of operation of LatinClear, Panama’s clearing and settlement agency.
In the area of capital markets and banking, Mr. Arango regularly advises clients in connection with medium term note programs, commercial paper programs, syndicated term and revolving loan agreements, project and structured financing,144-A Reg-S notes, securitizations, and initial public offerings.
In the area of merger and acquisitions, he regularly advises clients in connection with stock purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements, and merger agreements.
He is a member of the Consejo Empresarial de América Latina (CEAL) and of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Arango worked in New York.
Education
Master of Laws, Yale Law School (1985) (concentration on securities regulations and finance law), Fulbright Scholar
Master of Laws, Harvard Law School (1984) (concentration on corporate law), Fulbright Scholar
Bachelor of Laws (Licenciatura en Derecho y Ciencias Políticas), sigma lambda , University of Panama (1983)
