Rafael Bazán joins Araoz & Rueda as Head of Banking & Finance Department 

• He joins the firm to lead this area of practice after 4 years as a partner at Baker & McKenzie

Spanish firm Araoz & Rueda has hired Rafael Bazán, formerly a partner at Baker & McKenzie, to lead and strengthen its Banking and Finance practice.

Rafael has more than 20 years of extensive experience in all kinds of national and cross-border transactions involving corporate finance, acquisition finance, asset finance and restructuring of companies in crisis, advising both banks and affected companies in all sectors, with a special focus on the real estate, financial and industrial sectors. In the last five years he has advised both selling banks and investors in transactions involving the acquisition of many of the most significant non-performing loan and asset portfolios in the market. He also has extensive experience in regulatory issues involving supervisory authorities.

Before joining Baker & McKenzie, he worked twelve years in the Banking & Finance departments of Alonso Ureba, Bauzá y Asociados and Ramón y Cajal Abogados (the last nine years as a partner). Prior to this, he spent six years working as legal counsel at HSBC Bank plc. (Spain) and Citibank, and was non-director vice-secretary for Iberpay (Sociedad Española de Sistemas de Pago, SA), the managing entity for the National Electronic Clearing System.

For Pedro Rueda, co-founding partner “his deep knowledge of the banking and financial market, together with his skills and recognized experience in complex transactions, many of them international, constitute a great asset for our firm in an area that is constantly involved in our corporate transactions, which are increasingly more sophisticated and that require, therefore, a global vision”.

Rafael Bazán affirms that "the firm commitment of Araoz & Rueda to position itself among the leading legal advisors in the financial sector as well as the excellent professionals integrating the team, have been decisive factors to take this new challenge in my professional career, with the certainty of being able to offer the best service to our customers. "