BANKRUPTCY & INSOLVENCY PRACTICE
"Leading the Puerto Rico market for bankruptcy and restructuring matters..."
-Chambers & Partners, Latin America, Editorial on Puerto Rico Overview, 2015.
Our team has the largest restructuring and bankruptcy practice in Puerto Rico and we help clients face virtually any aspect of an insolvency matter—whether it be creditors of a troubled company or an investor looking for the opportunity to purchase a distressed business or certain of its assets. Our lawyers have been involved in the largest and highest profile restructuring matters in Puerto Rico, including the ongoing financial restructuring of Puerto Rico with more than US$70 billion of debt and the bankruptcies of, among others, Betteroads, Betterecycling, El Comandante Racetrack (now Camarero), Ciudadela, Metro Plaza, Gallery Plaza, Pueblo Supermarkets, El San Juan Star, Mueblerias Mendoza, Industrias Vasallo, Diamond Palace Hotel & Casino, Farmacias El Amal, Palmas del Mar Country Club, Hospital Damas de Ponce, Hospital San Gerardo, Supermercados Grande, Best Western Ponce and Cabo Rojo Hotels, Iglesia Mision Cristiana, Hotel Serafina, among many others.
Our clients turn to our firm for their most challenging matters seeking sophisticated, yet practical and timely legal advice to preserve and maximize economic value for clients.
Our team focuses in all areas of bankruptcy, restructuring, distressed acquisitions, commercial litigation and the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA).
Our lawyers are recognized for their innovative representation of financial institutions and private equity funds in distressed transactions and investors in distressed debt and asset acquisitions.
Marini Pietrantoni Muñiz’ lawyers have devised cutting-edge solutions for banks and other financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors, debtors and borrowers, indenture trustees, distressed investors, and other interested parties. We have extensive experience in handling Chapter 11 cases, pre-arranged and pre-packaged bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, refinancings, recapitalizations and asset sales. Our lawyers have particular strength in handling complex and sophisticated creditors’ rights matters for many of leading financial institutions and all commercial banks in Puerto Rico. Further, we represent nontraditional banking clients, like hedge funds and private equity firms, in distressed transactions and M&A. The firm also represents the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency & Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF) and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the bankruptcy cases commenced under Title III of PROMESA of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Puerto Rico Highway and Transit Authority, COFINA, Employee Retirement System, and the Public Building Authority. These are some of the largest bankruptcies filed in the US, with over $70 billion of debt.
Learn more about our practice areas on the pages below:
Luis C. Marini and Carolina Velaz serve as chairs of the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Practice.
Market and Industry Recognition
Our lawyers have been recognized as leading the insolvency market in Puerto Rico. As part of its overview of the Puerto Rico legal market, Chambers & Partners recently commented that: “[t]he economic climate has, however, contributed to an increased volume of bankruptcy and restructuring matters, an area currently led by [Marini Pietrantoni Muniz’] Luis Marini.” Chambers & Partners, Latin America Edition, 2016.
Our lawyers have been recognized by Chambers & Partners, both in the Global and Latin America editions, as leading practitioners for bankruptcy, restructuring, and dispute resolution, and have received the highest individual rankings from such organizations for bankruptcy and restructuring in Puerto Rico (see here). Our lawyers have also been recognized by Best Lawyers® as among the top practitioners in Puerto Rico, as Lawyer of the Year for Bankruptcy and Restructuring, by the Legal 500® as leading insolvency lawyers, by LawDragon’s list of 500 Leading Bankruptcy & Restructuring Lawyers, and by Benchmark Litigation® as leading trial attorneys. Recently, our team was recognized as the Law Firm of the Year for Bankruptcy and Restructuring in Puerto Rico and received the M&A Atlas Deal of the Year award for its work in the COFINA’s insolvency proceedings.
Our co-chairs of the practice include the only lawyer, Luis C. Marini, ranked as “Band 1” by Chambers & Partners for Bankruptcy & Restructuring in Puerto Rico and the only lawyer, Carolina Velaz, from Puerto Rico to have been selected by the American Bankruptcy Institute as one of 40 attorneys under 40 list for leaders and top lawyers in insolvency and bankruptcy across the United States.
Our team is also deeply involved in the insolvency community. Among our lawyers are a member of the Local Bankruptcy Rule Committee for the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Puerto Rico, a member of the Advisory Board of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, a board of directors member of the Federal Bar Association, an editor of the American Bar Association, Insolvency Chapter, a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 40 Under 40 Leadership Team, members of the Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Federal Bar Association, American Bar Association, among others.