profile picture of Rafael Hernandez

Rafael Hernandez

Of Counsel | Washington, D.C.
rhernandezmayoral@mofo.com |
(202) 778-1442
| |

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Practices

Regions

Education

  • Johns Hopkins University, B.A.

  • Johns Hopkins University, M.A.

  • Yale Law School, J.D.

Bar Admissions

  • New York

  • Puerto Rico

  • District of Columbia

Experience

Advised a consortium of major airlines in negotiations with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority and Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnerships Authority in connection with the privatization of the San Juan Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. Those negotiations led to a landmark $2.5 billion public-private partnership, consisting of a 40-year lease to operate and improve the airport, and 15-year use agreements with the major airlines operating at the airport. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is the first sizable airport privatized under a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program. The deal closed in February 2013 after securing FAA approval and was named “North American Transport Deal of the Year” in 2013 by Project Finance magazine.

Advised Southwest Airlines, the leading carrier at Midway Airport, in negotiating the terms and conditions under which the airline would agree to the privatization of the airport by the City of Chicago, including a new 25-year Use Agreement for the airline’s lease and utilization of the airport after privatization, and the Concession Agreement under which a concessionaire/operator would be granted a 99-year lease of the entire airport.

Advised the City of Atlanta and its Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (the busiest in the world) in the negotiation of new Lease and Use Agreements to govern airline and airport finances, development, and operations at the airport, including a capital improvement program running into the billions of dollars, as well as federal regulatory and complex real estate and financing contracts.

Represent a leading Brazilian infrastructure developer in connection with the privatization of Guarulhos, Brasilia and Campinas airports, including the analysis of the government’s proposed bidding terms and negotiations with a major international airport operator regarding their collaboration in the privatization process.

Represent Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Nippon Export Investment Insurance (NEXI) in connection with the $435 million non-recourse financing of a 1,000 MW dual turbine, gas-fired electrical power project in Tuxpan, Mexico, sponsored by Union Fenosa.

Represent JBIC as lender to the Tuxpan V project, an approximately 450 MW power project in Mexico. Selected by Project Finance Magazine as Latin America Deal of the Year (Power).

Represent Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as a political risk insurer in connection with a power project in the Dominican Republic.

Represented Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in connection with a $212 million loan, arranged by Citibank and unconditionally guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Colombia, for several projects being conducted by ISAGEN S.A. E.S.P., a state-owned power company located in Colombia.

Represent Transierra, a Bolivian gas pipeline owner and operator, as borrower with respect to an International Finance Corporation (IFC) $150 million A/B loan in connection with the Yacuiba to Rio Grande 432-kilometer gas pipeline in Bolivia. The shareholders at time of the IFC Loan were Total S.A., Repsol YPF and Petrobras.

Represent Repsol YPF in connection with its negotiations with Hunt Oil with respect to certain aspects of Repsol’s participation in the LNG liquefaction plant contemplated for the Camisea project in Peru.

Recommended in Project Finance

The Legal 500 USA 2022