Bonds & Loans conducted an interview with our partner Luis A. Nicolau, about the challenges and opportunities that companies and law firms are facing in ligt of the pandemic crisis.

Regarding the situation for the legal market, Luis explained that "we will continue to see a weak but steady flow of transactions, in areas like restructuring or refinancing, with companies needing to reorganize investments as a means to sourcing additional capital in exchange for minority rights, for example. For those well-positioned in the financial sector that will remain the case, but for those law firms dealing in bread-and-butter type services, things will get tougher as it won’t be a priority.

As for the areas that expect greater opportunities in Latin America, Luis believes there will be "refinancings of all types and flavours; liability management transactions, some resulting in debt purchases; and perhaps some opportunistic M&A transactions as certain companies embark on fire sales of assets. My guess is that the government, in an effort to reactivate the economy, may provide additional support to oil & gas, infrastructure and electricity projects in Mexico. In terms of other markets, we will see more stratification. Brazil is likely to remain attractive; so will Mexico – if the government takes the right steps; Peru and Colombia will be hit hard, and will require government interventions in the form of tax relief and subsidies".