Profile: Antonio Ortúzar Jr

Mining

Biography: Mining

Antonio Ortúzar Vicuña is a partner in the law firm Baker & McKenzie. His practice areas include mining and natural resources, energy, project finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and insurance and pension funds. Mr Ortúzar obtained his degree from Universidad Gabriela Mistral, Santiago, Chile. He is a licensee in Juridical and Social Sciences (LLB, 1988), which he gained from Southwestern Legal Foundation, Dallas, Texas. He also took a course at the Academy of American and International Law in 1992.

Mr Ortúzar has assisted several clients with respect to all aspects of proposed international joint ventures, project financing, foreign investments, corporate and commercial arrangements, major mining infrastructure projects, mining and telecoms. He has been involved with the placement of shares on the Chilean stock market, ADR in the New York Stock Exchange and IPO in Australia and Canada, issue of bonds, several mining infrastructure issues, and energy and water projects in Chile for various clients since 1995, with Baker & McKenzie's Chicago and New York offices.

Among his publications and presentations we can include the following: introduction to structured-finance transactions to Baker & McKenzie associates (February 2001); M&A seminar in Rio de Janeiro to Baker & McKenzie associates (November 2000); banking, finance and insurance presentation in Rio de Janeiro to Baker & McKenzie associates (August 2000); banking and finance seminar in Caracas to Baker & McKenzie associates (August 1999); Latin America banking and finance seminar in Rio de Janeiro (August 1998); and a presentation on arbitration in mining contracts in a seminar organised by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, which took place in Santiago (May 1998).

Mr Ortúzar was a committee member of the NAFTA conference 'Hands Across the Water' in Vancouver in April 1995, and attended the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Sun Valley, Idaho in July 1995. He is vice chairman of the Chilean-Australian Chamber of Commerce, and member of the Chilean-Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Chilean-British Chamber of Commerce, Chilean-USA Chamber of Commerce and Chilean-Spanish Chamber of Commerce. He is assistant professor of Economic Law at Finis Terrae University in Santiago.