An interview with Federico Rucavado: Facio & Cañas partner discusses the challenges corporate clients face and the advantages of investing in Costa Rica

Latin Counsel: How have you grown within Facio&Cañas?

Federico Rucavado: Last February 1st we celebrated 4 years of being part of Facio & Cañas. It has been a wonderful 4 years. Throughout this time, we have managed to reposition Facio & Cañas internationally as the reference firm in the legal services market in Costa Rica. This has allowed us to grow at an even faster pace than we were expecting, as the reaction has been extraordinary. We have grown in all practice areas and in the last 12 months we have opened two new offices, one located in the area of Conchal, Guancaste, and the other in Santa Teresa.

LC: What is the last deal you have worked on, and what other relevant deals of the last months can you detail?

FR: The last deal we closed was the purchase by BIA COFFEE of Café Rey. It was an extremely challenging transaction, as it involved the participation of members of our M&A, Corporate, Competition, Labor, Public, Environmental and Litigation (both civil and criminal) practices. Additionally, we have recently participated in the sale of Tico Electronics to GW Lisk, the sale of PREINSA to GW Liks and the purchase of Truck Parts by Repuestos El Camionero (a MATRA group company). At this moment, we are in the final stages of closing 3 additional transactions (two representing the buyers and one representing the seller).

LC: In the area of mergers and acquisitions, what are the most frequent obstacles your corporate clients face and how do you help them overcome them?

FR: I would say that the main obstacle we face is when our client is the buyer and the company being acquired has not been advised by lawyers specialized in the different practice areas (corporate, labor, tax, competition, etc.), in which case the acquisition process becomes complex due to the discovery of important contingencies (and unknown to the owners) that entail the need for more extensive negotiation processes. The best way to solve this situation is through our specialized teams in each practice area, which, when preparing the Due Diligence process reports, make it easier for the seller to understand that, although they were unaware of it, their companies have incurred in some actions or omissions that make them susceptible to some unexpected contingencies. This, together with the accumulated experience of our M&A team in this type of negotiations, usually makes these processes much easier.