Andrés de la Cruz is a partner resident in the New York office and the Buenos Aires office.
Mr. de la Cruz’s practice focuses on advising private and public sector clients in connection with cross-border corporate and financial matters, including debt restructurings, securities offerings, structured financing, as well as mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures.
In recent years, Mr. de la Cruz has worked on numerous transactions, including security offerings, restructurings and refinancings, in the United States, Latin America and Europe.
Mr. de la Cruz advises the Republic of Uruguay regularly in all cross-border financings since 1993. With his partner Lee C. Buchheit, Mr. de la Cruz led Uruguay’s team of advisors in the groundbreaking reprofiling of practically all of Uruguay’s foreign currency denominated debt obligations to private creditors, domestic and foreign in 2003. In the field of sovereign restructurings, Mr. de la Cruz advised Ecuador in connection with its successful Brady restructuring in 1995 and subsequent liability management transactions, and the republic of Nigeria in its 2005 oil warrant buy back. In 2011 and 2012, Mr. de la Cruz advised the Hellenic Republic in connection with the restructuring of its private sector held bonds (PSI) in the context of the economic reform program agreed with the remaining members of the Euro-zone and the International Monetary Fund.
In 2007, he advised Grupo Clarín S.A., Argentina’s largest media group, in connection with its initial public offering and the listing of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange, the first such listing by a Latin American issuer. In 2008, Mr. de la Cruz advised Grupo Petersen in connection with its acquisition of a 15% interest in YPF S.A. from Repsol and the tender offer in the United States and Argentina for any and all shares of YPF S.A. held by the public. In Latin America, Mr. de la Cruz has worked on many complex restructurings, commencing with the representation of bank creditors in connection with Pecom Energía’s (Argentina) US$1.2 billion bank debt restructuring in 2002 in the aftermath of Argentina’s 2001 financial debacle. He played a crucial role in the development of the Argentine form of “pre-packaged” insolvency restructuring plan known as “APE” and advised Multicanal S.A. (cable TV), the first Argentina “pre-packaged” proceeding to gain recognition by a U.S. bankruptcy court, Autopistas del Sol S.A. (toll road) and Acindar (steel) in connection with the restructuring of their bank and bond debt through APEs. He also advised Loma Negra (cement) in connection with its debt restructuring. He advised the ad hoc committees of creditors of Telecom Argentina (telecommunications), Metrogas S.A. (gas distribution) and Transener (electricity transportation), EMDERSA (electricity generation) and CAPEX (electricity generation and gas production). Mr. de la Cruz advised the lenders in connection with the refinancing of Endesa’s Latin American operations in 2003, a transaction awarded “Syndicated Loan of the Year” by
LatinFinance.
In 2007, Mr. de la Cruz represented the steering committee of senior lenders, including among others Morgan Stanley and BlueBay, in the restructuring of €434 million of existing debt and corporate restructuring of Kiekert, a German autopart manufacturer, after having advised the senior secured creditors in the insolvency of the Rinol Group (Germany) in 2006. He was counsel to the Agent and Lenders in the €3.7 billion senior and mezzanine facilities initially arranged by Goldman Sachs in connection with the acquisition of a portfolio of 137 properties from the KarstadtQuelle group by a joint venture formed by Whitehall and Arcandor AG, and all amendments to the loan agreements since then, including in 2008 as a result of the sale by Arcandor AG of its interest in the joint venture.
Mr. de la Cruz’s corporate practice is internationally distinguished by
Chambers Global,
Chambers USA,
Chambers Latin America,
The Legal 500 Latin America and
Latin Lawyer 250: Latin America's Leading Business Law Firms and
The Legal 500 U.S.
Mr. de la Cruz joined the firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1998. He was resident in the Brussels office from 1988 through 1992, in the New York office from 1992 through 2004 and in the Frankfurt office from 2005 through 2008. Mr. de la Cruz received an Abogado degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1985, an LL.M. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1987 and a Diploma from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in 1988.
Mr. de la Cruz is a member of the Bars in New York, Buenos Aires and Madrid. His native language is Spanish. He is fluent in English, and proficient in German, French and Italian.