Vanessa Franyutti Johnstone

(The following information was supplied by the firm)

Partner

Vanessa specializes in real estate finance and investment, projects and project finance, energy, structured finance, financing of public entities and M&A. She has particularly strong experience in financing and investments in the hospitality sector as part of a wide real estate practice that also covers the retail, residential and industrial markets. Her hospitality work includes advising on investments in hotels, mega-developments, fractional and timeshare regimes, as well as their related financing.

Vanessa is also an expert in project finance and public-private partnerships, including energy and infrastructure projects. She was instrumental in implementing the PPP schemes in Mexico, advising both the national government and the government of the state of Mexico on the structuring, bidding and implementation of the first PPS projects, and has since been involved in major hospital, road, water, and prison PPP projects. Vanessa has also advised clients on the preparation of unsolicited proposals and bids under the Mexican PPP law.

Her international experience is substantial and she is fluent in English. She regularly advises multinational and national clients, particularly major hotel, tourism and leisure groups, on real estate investments and development in Mexico, as well as in forming bidding consortiums and other aspects of infrastructure and energy projects in Mexico. She also advises financial institutions participating in tourism, energy, and infrastructure.

Vanessa has advised LCA Capital in many real estate transactions. She provides ongoing advice to Marriott and FibraHotel, a Mexican real estate investment trust, in its multiple business class hotel acquisitions. She also advised the Ministry of Transport and Communications on various road concessions and project restructurings.

Vanessa is ranked in band one in Projects and in band two in real estate by Chambers & Partners Latin America where she has been described as a key partner “highly praised by clients”, who impresses clients with her “friendly and helpful” manner. She is recognized as “a hugely capable lawyer who always thinks of a solution rather than a problem.” Vanessa obtained her LLM from the University of Chicago Law School, having graduated as an attorney from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México with honors.

Recent work highlights include:

• Advised Banco Santander (México), and the syndicate of lenders (Banobras and Inbursa) on the preparation and negotiation of a senior loan facility and a VAT facility to finance AT-AT, a subsidiary of OHL México, in connection with its investment in a toll road that will run from Atizapán to Atlacomulco in the State of Mexico.
• Advised FibraHotel, the first real estate investment trust (REIT) specialized in business-class hotels, on its agreement to acquire Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun All Inclusive Hotel with 507 full-service rooms operated by Grupo Posadas, and on the acquisition of a Fiesta Americana hotel, located in San Juan del Río Querétaro.
• Advising the Joint Venture consisting of Marriott Hotels International and Inmobiliaria Xtra Hoteles, on the refinancing its existing loans, with Bank of Nova Scotia and Scotiabank Inverlat, Institución de Banca Múltiple, Grupo Financiero Scotiabank (as co-lenders).
• Advised the Water Commission of the State of Sonora (CEA) on the legal terms of a PPP international bidding process to build, operate and maintain for 20 years a desalination plant in Guaymas, State of Sonora, Mexico partially funded by CONAGUA and FONADIN.
• Advised the Public Workers Social Security and Services Institute (ISSSTE) on the legal terms of various international PPP bidding processes to build and maintain hospitals in Villahermosa (Tabasco), Tepic (Nayarit), and Mexico City.
• Advised Constructura y Edificadora, GIA + A (“GIA”) in its participation in the international public bidding number APP-019GYN006-E3-2016 issued by ISSSTE for the construction of Hospital Regional Mérida, as well as on financial closing.
• Advised the Government of the State of Sonora in drafting and preparing a reform package that includes amendments to the State Constitution and local legislation regarding public finance and public procurement matters including the modernization of public private partnership projects and financial discipline matters.
• Represented FibraHotel, in the long-term lease of a real estate property from Grupo Gicsa for the development of a hotel in the Forum Buenavista mall.
• Advising FONADIN on a participation in capital stock of Energía Eólica del Sur, S.A.P.I. de C.V. (“EES”), as part of the restructuring and refinancing of wind farm project in Oaxaca.