SAI Law & Economics

Chairman: Jaime Serra
Managing Partners: José Rodrigo Anaya Lafforgue
Number of partners: Lucía Ojeda Cárdenas, JoséÁngel Santiago Ábrego, Beatriz Leycegui Gardoqui, and Mariano Gomezperalta (lawyers). Jaime Serra and Luis Alberto Ibarra (economists). Hernán Sabau García and José Rodrigo Anaya Lafforgue (financers).
Number of lawyers: 17
Languages: English, Spanish

Firm Overview:
In 1995, after holding key positions in the Mexican delegation that negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and having contributed to the implementation of the Economic Competition policy in Mexico, a group of lawyers and economists decided to leave the public sector to create a firm with a new concept in Mexico: legal and economic consulting services, with an interdisciplinary approach which includes the services of distinguished attorneys and economists that allows SAI to provide its clients unique legal and consultancy services in the market.

Main Areas of Practice

Competition of Antitrust:
SAI is a leader and pioneer in economic competition offering unique advice in the market on concentrations, investigations for monopolistic practices, applications to the immunity program, and procedures to eliminate barriers to competition and regulate access to essential facilities, among others. SAI is a highly recognized firm, with a wide experience in competition matters. In particular, its team masters all procedures before regulatory bodies, as well as specialized litigation before the Federal Judiciary.

Partners:
Lucía Ojeda Cárdenas and JoséÁngel Santiago Ábrego (lawyers) based in Mexico City.

SAI is known as a highly reliable firm, with a broad knowledge in antitrust in a great variety of sectors, such as banking, energy, self-service chain, automobile, telecommunications, steel and gas, among several others. Particularly, its professionals dominate all the different procedures before the antitrust authorities (merger notifications; investigation of anticompetitive practices; favorable opinions for public tenders; etc.), complementing its practice with legal representation on trials before antitrust-specialised tribunals and the sector-specific regulators.

Recently:

• SAI represented Allergan in the merger notification procedure before the Federal Economic Competition Commission (“COFECE”) regarding AbbVie’s acquisition of Allergan, in a cash and stock transaction for a transaction equity value of approximately $63 billion. COFECE authorized the transaction without conditions. The case was led by Lucía Ojeda.

• Nestlé and LALA established a trust in the dairy market in Mexico. SAI advised and successfully collaborated with Nestlé by defining the legal strategy in the procedure for a possible unlawful concentration in the dairy market before COFECE. Finally, COFECE closed the investigation concluding the concentration did not harm the competition in said market. The case was led by JoséÁngel Santiago.

Key Clients: Nestlé, Unilever, Bimbo, Walt Disney, Home Depot, Pfizer, Bayer, Adidas, Novartis, BBVA, Cemex, Volkswagen, Kimberly Clark, Pernod Ricard, Abbott, IEnova, Continental Tires, Ternium, Banorte, among others.

Contact: Lucía Ojeda
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6653
Email: [email protected]

Contact: JoséÁngel Santiago
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6647
Email: [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL TRADE/WTO:
With 25 years of experience, SAI’s International Trade practice is highly recognized for providing inter-disciplinary counsel on international negotiation and trade policy, as well as public policy and regulatory matters, both from a legal and economic perspective. SAI advices and represents domestic and foreign enterprises with respect to the negotiation, implementation and protection provided for under free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. SAI also supports governments in the negotiation of these international instruments and in the adoption of the public policies and regulations needed in order to bolster exports, attract more investment, and create a better business environment. In addition, SAI has ample experience in trade remedies matters, offering legal and economic advice in antidumping, anti-subsidy, and safeguard investigations.

Partners:
One partner (Beatriz Leycegui); 3 fee earners, all based in Mexico City.

Key achievements of SAI’s International Trade team, led by Beatriz Leycegui, include:

• Advising a group of top-tier energy companies regarding the impact of certain public policies adopted and implemented by the Mexican government.

• Supporting a global leading company in the semiconductor industry in the reopening of its Mexican facility due to the regulatory discrepancies in the measures adopted by the United States and Mexico in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented a serious disruption in the global supply chain of semiconductors.

• Representing an operator of a container terminal and investment fund in the filing of notices of intent to submit a claim to arbitration.

• Supporting the European Union in the modernization of its FTA with Mexico.

• Advising the Government of Pakistan in its negotiations with China regarding safeguards and tariff-rate quotas.

• Representing the Mexican olive oil industry in the only successful case in Mexico against subsidies by the European Union to agro-industrial products.

Key Clients: General Motors, IEnova, Vitro, the Federal Electricity Commission (“CFE”, after its initials in Spanish), Government of Guanajuato, Contecon Manzanillo, World Trade International Advisors, Metso Minerals, Dimova, Alfa, Tenaris, Fondo de Fondos, IGS, Accenture, Braskem, Bachoco.

Contact: Beatriz Leycegui
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6685
Email: [email protected]

Contact: Cristina Hernández
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6671
Email: [email protected]

CORPORATE/Structured Finance: 

Partners:
Mariano Gomezperalta Casali, based in Mexico City.

In alliance with robert wray pllc, SAI represents public and private entities on a wide range of corporate and transactional matters, including structured finance projects, export credit agency financing, corporate restructuring, and private equity transactions.

Some of SAI’s most important projects are:

• Representation of commercial lenders and US export credit agency in connection with the documentation and closing of aircraft finance transactions for airlines and operators in Mexico with an aggregate value of over $600 million dollars.

• Counsel to the Inter-American Development Bank regarding the design and implementation of a program to disseminate understanding of Colombia’s foreign investment commitments.

• Counsel to international consortia and government authorities in connection with private investment in airports in Mexico, Ecuador, and Belize.

• Counsel to a leading Mexican company in the lubricant sector upon its merger transaction with a transnational company.

• Counsel to a leading company in the entertainment sector regarding the termination of its joint venture arrangements in Mexico.

Key Clients: Apple Bank for Savings, Inter-American Development Bank and BBVA Bancomer, S.A.

Contact: Mariano Gomezperalta Casali
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6683
Email: [email protected]

Practice Areas and Offices 

Consultancy in Finance, Investments and Economic studies.

Mexico
Monte Cáucaso No. 915, Int. 305
Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec
Delegación Miguel Hidalgo
CP 11000

Ciudad de México
Tel: +52(55) 5985 6618
Fax: +52 (55) 5985 6628
Email: [email protected]

Associated international offices:  

Washington, DC, USA
Robert Wray, PLLC

Address: 1150 Connecticut Ave., NW
Suite 350
Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 349 5000
Fax: 202.293.7877
Email: [email protected]