Biography
His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, public financing, debt restructuring, project finance, distribution & sales representation laws and contracts, government bids & contracts, and public-private partnerships.
Mr. Céspedes chaired the Firm’s Corporate Practice Group from 2002 to 2018. He is ranked as one of Puerto Rico's Leading Attorneys in the Corporate/Commercial field by the international publication Chambers & Partners in both its Global and Latin America Guides. He is also ranked as a Highly Regarded attorney in Banking, Capital Markets and M&A by IFLR1000, the international guide to the world's leading financial and corporate law firms. He is also ranked in the Corporate and M&A Law field of The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico guide.
Before joining the Firm in 1993, he worked as law clerk to then Chief Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, selected as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. He also served as Deputy Director and General Counsel of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration in Washington, D.C., and as Legal Counsel to Governor Rafael Hernández Colón.
Mr. Céspedes serves as Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Universidad del Sagrado Corazón; as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Corporación La Fondita de Jesús, a not-for-profit organization that provides assistance to homeless people in San Juan; and as Trustee of Guayacán Endowment Fund, dedicated to invest in Puerto Rico's local entrepreneurial system. He also serves as Puerto Rico Liaison to the Corporate Laws Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association.
Representative Transactions
His experience spans a wide range of practice areas. Some of his representative transactions include:
- Working in major corporate acquisition transactions in Puerto Rico, such as America Móvil's purchase of Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Liberty Cable's acquisition of OneLink, Hub International's purchase of Carrión, Laffitte & Casellas' stock, the sale of Puerto Rico television assets by Univision to Liberman Media Group, the sales of EDIC College and Columbia Central University stock, and the sale of the San Lucas Guayama Hospital, as well as major corporate reorganizations (Kraft/Mondelez, Pfizer, Covidien and Medtronic, amongst others).
- Leading the team of Firm attorneys that assisted Autopistas Metropolitanas de Puerto Rico LLC (“Metropistas”), an Abertis/Goldman Sachs consortium that was awarded a concession to operate and maintain two major toll roads in Puerto Rico. This is the first public-private partnership project developed under the Puerto Rico Public Private Partnerships Act of 2009. He has also worked on all of Metropistas’ debt financing transactions.
- Serving as bond counsel and underwriter’s counsel in bond issuances of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its agencies and instrumentalities, such as Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority, Puerto Rico Municipal Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority, Puerto Rico Infrastructure Finance Agency, Puerto Rico Industrial, Tourist, Educational, Medical and Environmental Control Facilities Financing Authority (AFICA) and Puerto Rico Public Finance Corporation.
- Counseling AmeriNational Community Services, servicer of GDB Debt Recovery Authority, in the sale and restructuring of debt issued by the Puerto Rico government, its instrumentalities and municipalities.
Practices
- Act 60
- Antitrust
- Aviation and Aerospace
- Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring
- Corporate
- Corporate & Commercial Finance
- Cuba
- Distribution & Franchising
- Government Affairs & Public Policy
- Infrastructure/Public-Private Partnerships
- International & Cross Border Transactions
- Mergers & Acquisitions
- Nonprofit Organizations
- PROMESA Task Force
- Securities & Public Finance
News & Publications
News
- McV NewsJuly 12, 2023
- McV NewsAugust 21, 2019
- McV NewsAugust 21, 2018
- McV NewsAugust 28, 2017
- McV NewsJuly 27, 2017
- An McV AlertOctober 18, 2016
- Ricardo J García-Negrón participates as panelist during Grupo Guayacan’s 20th Anniversary ConferenceOctober 3, 2016
- Corporate NewsAugust 15, 2016
- July 14, 2016
- June 7, 2016
- 17 McV Attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico© 2016September 11, 2015
- Twenty-six McV Attorneys Recognized in Chambers & Partners Latin America GuideJune 22, 2015
- McV serves as local counsel in Liberty Global’s acquisition of Choice Cable TVDecember 10, 2014
Publications
- An McV Health Care AlertJune 23, 2023
- An McV Health Care AlertNovember 8, 2022
- An McV Securities Practice Team AlertOctober 14, 2022
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 21, 2022
- An McV Health Care AlertJuly 14, 2022
- An McV Health Care AlertMarch 24, 2022
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertAugust 10, 2021
- An McV Health Care AlertJune 8, 2021
- An McV Corporate AlertApril 13, 2021
- An McV Corporate AlertJanuary 19, 2021
- November 13, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertOctober 30, 2020
- An McV Health Care Practice Team AlertOctober 21, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 10, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 9, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 9, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 8, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 8, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 7, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertJuly 7, 2020
- An McV Tax & Health Care AlertJuly 1, 2020
- An McV PROMESA Task Force AlertJune 1, 2020
- An McV Corporate & Tax AlertApril 28, 2020
- April 24, 2020
- An McV Corporate AlertApril 14, 2020
- April 8, 2020
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertMarch 26, 2020
- An McV Government Affairs AlertMarch 23, 2020
- An McV Government Affairs AlertNovember 6, 2019
- An McV PROMESA Task Force AlertSeptember 30, 2019
- McV Cuba Practice Team AlertSeptember 17, 2019
- An McV Government Affairs AlertAugust 7, 2019
- An McV Government Affairs AlertAugust 5, 2019
- An McV Government Affairs AlertAugust 2, 2019
- An McV Government Affairs AlertJuly 26, 2019
- An McV PROMESA Task Force AlertFebruary 19, 2019
- Puerto Rico P3 Authority Issues Request for Public Comments on Transformation of the Electric SystemAn McV Infrastructure & Public-Private Partnerships Practice Team AlertFebruary 4, 2019
- An McV Infrastructure and Public-Private Partnerships Practice Team AlertDecember 19, 2018
- An McV Infrastructure and Private-Public Partnerships AlertNovember 1, 2018
- An McV Corporate & Health Care AlertJune 20, 2018
- An McV Government Affairs & Financial Institutions Practice Team AlertJune 14, 2018
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertMay 29, 2018
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertMay 16, 2018
- An McV Government Affairs AlertApril 2, 2018
- An Energy & Government Affairs AlertMarch 13, 2018
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertFebruary 21, 2018
- An McV Government Affairs AlertFebruary 14, 2018
- An McV Government Affairs and Energy AlertJanuary 23, 2018
- An McV Government Affairs AlertJanuary 15, 2018
- An McV Corporate AlertDecember 28, 2017
- An McV Corporate AlertDecember 27, 2017
- An McV International & Cross Border Transactions AlertDecember 11, 2017
- An McV Corporate AlertNovember 30, 2017
- An McV Corporate AlertNovember 29, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs AlertNovember 17, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs AlertNovember 8, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs AlertNovember 1, 2017
- McV NewsOctober 4, 2017
- An McV Tax AlertJuly 19, 2017
- An McV Corporate AlertMay 26, 2017
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertMay 5, 2017
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertApril 5, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs AlertMarch 22, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs and Tax AlertMarch 8, 2017
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertFebruary 24, 2017
- An McV Government Affairs and Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertJanuary 30, 2017
- An McV Bankruptcy & Debt Restructuring AlertJanuary 13, 2017
- An McV Securities & Tax AlertDecember 19, 2016
- An McV Government Affairs AlertNovember 9, 2016
- McV NewsSeptember 1, 2016
- An McV Corporate AlertJune 22, 2016
- March 16, 2016
- An McV Corporate AlertMarch 11, 2016
- Retail Consumer Laws, November 30, 2015
- Government Affairs, October 21, 2015
Member, Policy Committee
Chairman, Pro-Bono Committee
Leader, Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Team
Bar Admissions
- Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
- Pennsylvania
Education
Bachelor's Degree, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
J.D., Columbia Law School
Memberships
Puerto Rico Bar Association