José Ramón Paz Morales

José Paz Morales is a partner at Consortium Legal - Honduras. He has 11 years of experience in banking, finance, securities, insurance and reinsurance, corporate, contract and condominium property law. He advises foreign and local clients on cross-border transactions, mergers, acquisitions and corporate group reorganisations, international financing transactions, and applications before the Central Bank of Honduras and the National Banking and Insurance Commission.

Some of his notable matters include the merger and acquisition of Banco de América Central Honduras, a banking subsidiary formerly owned by General Electric; the merger and acquisition of Aseguradora Hondureña Mundial, S.A., acquired by insurance group MAPFRE; advising the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and Citibank, N.A., in connection with guarantees for the US$225.0 million international credit facility granted to BAC’s Central American banking network; the application for the US$20 million initial public offering of debt securities issued by Banco Citibank Honduras, S.A., a subsidiary of Citibank N.A.; advising AIG on the sale of its Honduran branch to ASSA SEGUROS; advising CONFIANZA-SAFGR on the establishment of a new mutual guarantee fund, which will provide US$4 million in financing from the IDB to microentrepreneurs in the Department of Gracias a Dios; advising Cerberus Business Finance on US$90 million in financing for the acquisition of a local group in the maquila sector; advising Nucor Corporation on its US$12MM equity investment in Aceros Alfa, Honduras’s largest steel plant; advising CINÉPOLIS on the restructuring of its local companies; advising the US Embassy in connection with the construction of the new diplomatic mission complex; advising on the establishment of condominium property regimes for various real estate developers in connection with five of the most modern buildings in Honduras; in 2017, advising several creditors on anti-money laundering prevention and detection matters related to the compulsory liquidation of Banco Continental; participating in the structuring and preparation of local loan documents for a $50MM facility arranged by Credit Suisse with Banco Cuscatlán and Uno Honduras in 2016; participating in the team that advised ABInBev on the sale of the country’s largest sugar producer.

EDUCATION

• Master of Laws in Financial and Securities Law, Georgetown University, United States (2012)
• Law degree, with a focus on commercial and administrative law, National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), Honduras (2008)

MEMBERSHIPS

• Honduran Bar Association
• Certified arbitrator and conciliator, Conciliation and Arbitration Centre of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Member of the Supervisory Board of the Honduran-American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM Honduras) (2018-2020)