Biography: Mergers and Acquisitions

Alejandro chairs the M&A business unit and is a member of the project finance practice group of Gómez-Pinzón Zuleta Abogados. He consistently leads local and cross-border corporate transactions and reorganisations, spin-offs, acquisition of assets and tender offers, among others. He is an attorney from Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá, Colombia, and earned a graduate degree in finance at Universidad de los Andes and an LLM from Harvard Law School. He also earned a graduate diploma on international tax from Harvard University. He has more than 25 years of professional experience; he worked for several years at important positions in the Colombian public sector, including the Office of the President, the National Planning Department and the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit. He is included in the list of arbitrators of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and the international law and practice section of the American Bar Association (ABA).

Alejandro has been a lecturer both for undergraduate and graduate students for more than 20 years in areas such as international economic law, international investment law, public finance law and business law. He is currently the chairman of the legal services chamber of the National Association of Businessmen (ANDI). Besides being the managing partner of the firm, he focuses his practice in complex project financings and cross-border M&A transactions for private equity funds and corporate clients. He has represented the Santo Domingo group in the acquisition of Cine Colombia and Almacenar, and in connection with the merger between Bavaria and SABMiller for US$ 7.8 billion, the largest deal in Colombian history. Alejandro has also represented Mercantil Colpatria in the sale to GE Money (2007) and buyback (2011) of Banco Colpatria and in its recent sale of control to Scotia Bank; and in its acquisitions of Colfondos (sold by Citigroup) and of Termoyopal, a distressed power generation asset. He has represented Avianca airlines in the LBO of Tampa Cargo, in its integration with Taca airlines, and in its recent IPO as well. More recently, he advised credit-checking company Experian in the acquisition of a controlling stake in Colombian credit service information provider Computec, and advised Drummond in the selling of a 20% stake in its Colombian coal mining operation to Itochu for US$1.52 billion.