Two former Santamarina & Steta partners, Fernando del Castillo and Alfonso Castro, have branched off to form Castillo & Castro Abogados, a restructuring boutique. The new firm has 18 lawyers total, including Castro and del Castillo. While the firm has primarily focused on restructuring work so far, the firm also works on M&A, capital markets and dispute resolution matters. The lawyers have traditionally focused on representing debtors, but have increasingly been representing creditors, according to del Castillo.
In an interview with IFLR1000, del Castillo discussed his views of the restructuring market. He expressed that the market had cooled down in 2018 (as many of the restructuring issues were ongoing from 2015, 2016 and 2017), but that he expected the restructuring market to pick up in 2019.
“The government is reducing the number of people who work for the government and have also implemented saving programs that will slow down government spending, and that’s going to create some liquidity problems in the Mexican market,” he said. “The Mexican market is very sensitive to the exchange rate between the peso and the dollar and that is going to play a role but lack of liquidity may be the reason companies start restructuring efforts soon so as to protect its treasury. It may not show for the first half of 2019, but after that the restructuring market will pick up.”