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Alejandro Peña-Prieto
Partner
Alejandro Peña-Prieto is the managing partner of our Santo Domingo office and leads the Latin America Practice. He counsels clients on corporate, mergers and acquisitions, energy, finance, taxation, government relations, contracts and regulatory issues related to doing business in the Dominican Republic. He concentrates his practice on assisting and providing strategic business counsel to US, Latin American and European investors with significant business interests in the Dominican Republic, particularly in the energy, banking and finance, real estate and hospitality and consumer products sectors.
For the past several years, Chambers and Partners has recognized Alex as one of the country’s top lawyers in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers. In 2016, they recognized the Santo Domingo office under his leadership with the Dominican Republic Client Service Award. He is listed in the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association’s approved list of Corporate/M&A Lawyers for the Dominican Republic for 2014 and in Who’s Who Legal: Mergers & Acquisitions 2014 as one of the world’s leading practitioners in this field. He has also been recognized in Chambers Latin America since 2012, and has been included in IFLR1000 2009, The International Who’s Who of Mergers and Acquisition Lawyers 2008, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers 2011 Annual Compendium and LatinLawyer 250 for his work in the Dominican Republic. Moreover, for the past five years, LatinVex has included Alex in its list of Latin America’s Top 100 Lawyers.
Alex recently served two terms as president of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Dominican Republic, where he has been a member since 2000, and one term as vice chair of the board of governors of the Association of American Chamber of Commerce of Latin America (AACCLA). He is also a member of the board of directors of the Association of Foreign Investment Companies of the Dominican Republic and a member of Fundación Institucionalidad y Justica (FINJUS).
From 2011 to 2013, Alex served on the board of directors of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution of the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santo Domingo. In 2010, he was appointed by presidential decree to serve as the representative of the Stock Exchange on the National Securities Council of the Dominican Republic.
He is a member of the Dominican Bar Association.
- Represented the principal shareholders of Banco León in its successful integration with Centro Financiero BHD, S.A., owner of the Dominican Republic’s second largest bank, resulting in the creation of a combined financial group called Centro Financiero BHD León, S.A. The historic merger, the largest deal to date in the Dominican Republic’s financial sector, will eventually result in the establishment of the country’s second largest privately held bank, with assets RD$182 billion (approximately US$4.2 billion).
- Advising a Canada-based mining corporation, as well as a large Brazil-based construction company, on various aspects of the Dominican Republic regulatory framework of the electricity sector.
- Assisting a player in the electric energy sector of the Dominican Republic in its negotiations with a foreign power producer for the development of a 100 MW natural gas-fired power plant.
- Advising the largest distributor and retailer of liquid petroleum gas in the Dominican Republic and one of the largest players in the hydrocarbon fuels market of the Dominican Republic on various issues related to the country’s regulatory framework governing hydrocarbons and energy, as well as on various acquisition initiatives within the hydrocarbons distribution and retail market of the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting one of the leading advertising groups in the Dominican Republic in the acquisition of the shares of one of its principal shareholders.
- Counseling the region’s largest supplier of liquid petroleum gas in various aspects of its operations in the Dominican Republic, including the negotiation of a joint venture for the development of a fuel importation and storage terminal in the Dominican Republic.
- Representing the Dominican Republic’s distributor of a US-based heavy machinery manufacturer in the acquisition of the manufacturer’s distributorship in Jamaica.
- Advising an international bank in the acquisition and takeover of a major bank in the Dominican Republic, as well as in its negotiations and dealings with the regulatory authorities in the Dominican Republic.
- Counseling a major US-based energy company in its successful bid and acquisition of a capitalized electricity distribution company in the Dominican Republic.
- Representing the Dominican Republic’s government in structuring and carrying out a successful public bidding process for the privatization of the largest gold mine in the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting multinational energy companies in the development and financing of the Dominican Republic’s greenfield power generation projects.
- Acting as Dominican Republic counsel to a publicly traded US multinational in the issuance of US$350 million of bonds eligible for resale under Rule 144A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
- Acting as Dominican Republic counsel for major US- and UK-based banks in the issuance by the Dominican Republic of US$750 million of sovereign bonds, at the time the largest single issuance of bonds by the country in all of its history.
- Assisting a foreign sovereign on various real estate acquisitions and related transactions, leading to the construction of a compound to house its entire diplomatic delegation in the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting a US-based cruise ship company with certain sanctions imposed by the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
- Counseling a Europe-based cruise ship company on various aspects related with an arbitration proceeding brought against its joint venture partners in the Dominican Republic.
- Counseling a multinational manufacturer of plastic bottles on legal aspects related to their operations in the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting a leading manufacturer of sports apparel in the acquisition of its supplier in the Dominican Republic and the initiation of operations in the country.
- Advising the Dominican Republic-based subsidiary of PriceSmart, Inc. in real estate transactions for the development of additional stores in the country, as well as in matters related to its operations in the country.
- Assisting a multilateral organization in a financing transaction for the development of a project in the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting a multinational tools manufacturing corporation in coordinating a recall process of one of its products in several countries of Latin America.
- Advising the largest savings and loans association in the Dominican Republic on various matters.
- Counseling a major league baseball team on real estate, labor and corporate matters related to its development and operation of a training facility in the Dominican Republic.
- Providing counsel on all legal aspects related to the development of a high-end condominium project in the Dominican Republic.
- Advising numerous multinational financing corporations in structuring and securing asset-based financing transactions in the Dominican Republic.
- Assisting the climate change solutions group of a major US-based energy company in the development in Colombia of landfill gas capture and combustion projects under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.
- Counseling a local financial services provider in the drafting of legislation to be submitted to the Dominican Congress for the development of international financial centers in the country.
- Advising a joint venture of multinational investors in the development and financing of the first WiMax telecommunications network in the Dominican Republic.
- Representing a major US-based credit card company in structuring, negotiating and implementing a credit card management structure in conjunction with a consortium of Dominican Republic-based and non-Dominican Republic-based banks.
- Participating as local counsel to US-based underwriters as well as to various corporations in transactions to issue bonds eligible for resale under Rule 144A of the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
- Representing non-Dominican Republic-based manufacturers in agency and distribution issues, including the drafting, negotiation and enforcement of agreements under Dominican Agent/Distributor Protection Law No. 173.
Education
- Harvard University, LL.M., 1992
- Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena, LL.B., magna cum laude, 1990
Admissions
- Dominican Republic, 1990
Memberships & Affiliations
- Dominican Bar Association
Languages
- English
- Spanish
- Recognized by leading Latin America business publication Latinvex among the region’s Top 100 Lawyers in “Corporate/M&A” and “Energy”, 2012 – 2020
- Highly regarded in IFLR1000 2018 and 2019 for banking, capital markets and M&A in Dominican Republic
- Recognized by Chambers Latin America as a leading individual for corporate and commercial law
- Recognized by Latino Leaders as one of the Top Latino Lawyers in 2017
- LACCA Approved for 2019, as voted for by leading in-house counsel in Latin America
- Selected by Latinvex as one of Latin America's Top 100 lawyers