Mexico's Top Law Firms 2015

mexico’s

top law firms 2015

new

rules

new

opportu

nities Mexico is ready for new investors

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ince the approval of a series of major reforms in 2014, Mexico is ready to welcome new investors. These reforms also involve legal changes for which the advice of law firms becomes very necessary when doing business.

In these pages, from the perspective of some of the most prestigious lawyers in Mexico, we will have an overview of what the country has to offer in investment matters, as well as the challenges and opportunities that blooming businesses face.

CONTENTs Energy Reform, unfinished work Making a mark on Mexico’s energy infrastructure: The story of IENova Worldwide reforms in intellectual property IP and its role in Mexico’s Structural Legal Reforms Successful stories in Mexico A brief update on Mexico’s structural reforms Mexico´s recent tax reforms for manufacturing entities Old stories, new challenges Great challenges to the insurance industry and great opportunities for foreign investment • Grounds set up for a new Mexican anticorruption legal framework • Shared production contracts: relevant tax and legal matters • Risks and opportunities from a Mexican tax perspective • Mexico reforms: A legal view • Regulatory reforms to promote private investment • Commentary on tax issues of the Mexican Energy Reform • International trade of electricity and oil after the Mexican Energy Reform • Mexico is making the most of its natural resources • Notes on hydrocarbons • Telecommunications Reform: Backbone and shared network • Financial restructurings in Mexico • Environmental challenges of the mexican Energy Reform

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The opinions and the comments in the articles written by the Firms do not represent the views of Grupo Reforma.

mexico’s

top law firms 2015 April 2015

GRUPO REFORMA mexicostoplawfirms@reforma.com

Alejandro Junco de la Vega President and CEO Rodolfo Junco de la Vega Vice President Lázaro Ríos Chief Managing Editor Ricardo Junco Garza Chief Advertising Officer Ignacio Mijares Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Junco de la Vega E. Chief Digital Officer René Delgado Executive Editor Roberto Zamarripa National Editor René Sánchez Business Editor Leonardo Valero International & Soft News Editor

Juan Carlos Pulido Special Editions Manager Marcela Díaz de Sandi Advertising Coordinator / Elena Ramírez Commercial Editor Zusett Santa Ana Commercial Art Editor / Margarita Beltrán Design / Marisol Núñez Investigation Aline Olvera Advertising / 5255-5628-7878 ext.1864 / aline.olvera@reforma.com

Gerardo Lara Advertising Director Roberto Castañeda Deputy National Editor Miguel González Circulation Director Jorge Arturo Padilla Deputy Business Editor Luis A. Soto Digital Content Editor Guillermo Toledo Art Director Jorge Obregón Production Manager Edgar Espinosa Chief Technology Officer Ricardo Del Castillo Deputy Art Director Luis Cantú IT Manager Roberto Segura Circulation Manager

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EnErgy rEform unfinished work AlejAndrA lópez / reformA

It took almost two years to achieve constitutional and legal changes in favor of the Energy Reform, but its impact will need even more time to pay off

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he legi s lati ve package approved by Mexican Congress includes a new regulatory framework that shaped the National Agency for Security, Energy and the Environment (Agencia de Seguridad, Energía y Ambiente or ASEA, in Spanish), a new operator for the electrical grid, the National Center for Energy Control (Centro Nacional de Control de Energía or CENACE, in Spanish), and another for its natural gas pipelines, the National Center for the Control of Natural Gas (Centro Nacional para el Control de Gas Natural or Cenagas, in Spanish).

The package also included the creation of a sovereign wealth fund, the Mexican Oil Fund, which will receive and manage the country’s revenue of gas and oil.

The Minister of Energy, Pedro Joaquín Coldwell, recently stated that domestic companies of every size will play a key role in the industry, as they will have to supply at least 25 percent of the goods and services in this sector.

According to Coldwell, those companies will be backed by several newly-created national funds, including a fostering companies’ and contractors’ development and growth, and a fund designated to ensure the access of small communities to the electrical grid.

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One last fund was devised as a Government vehicle to invest in oil and gas fields, modeled on Norway’s Petoro state-owned oil and gas company.

But even with the landmark Energy Reforms signed into laws, there is still more work ahead.

In the months and years to come, longtime controlled-price policies for LP gas and gasoline will be lifted and Pemex’s monopoly on the former will end, paving the way for other companies and these products’ unfettered importation.

In addition, private companies will be able to compete through the new shared-production and licensing contracts in the E&P (exploration and production) sector, where Pemex will no longer be a contract provider but just another competitor.

The first bidding round for these kinds of contracts is due to be completed by July, 2015.

So far, the Government has announced 23 contracts open for

bidding, involving 23 promising areas in the Gulf of Mexico.

More contracts will be forthcoming later in 2015, the Energy Ministry promises.

The Energy Reform gave Pemex the opportunity to retain the rights to some fields under exploration and production before the constitutional change was enacted, and also granted it the possibility of undertaking production-sharing or profitsharing partnerships for the most difficult fields.

On the power sector front, the National Commission of Power and Electricity (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) lost its monopoly in the generation and sale of electricity, and will now have to compete with private companies for this market.

However, the Energy Ministry will implement the reforms in stages so the new electricity market is not expected to be ready to launch until 2016.

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Making a Mark on Mexico’s energy infrastructure: the story of ienova AlejAndrA lópez / reformA

With or without the Energy Reform, Infraestructura Energética Nueva, IENova, has made its mark in Mexico thanks to many major projects in the energy sector

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he company, headed by Carlos Ruiz Sacristán, owns and operates many natural gas and LP gas pipelines, storage facilities, and compression terminals in the country.

It is present in the States of Baja California, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Sonora, and Tamaulipas.

In a few days, IENova will celebrate 19 years of activities in Mexico with a number of achievements to its name, including to be the first company to win the first contract to distribute natural gas in Mexico.

The company also built the first natural gas pipeline in the state of Baja California; which delivers fuel to the liquefied natural gas terminal, located in the city of Ensenada; which receives, stores, and regasifies it upon arrival.

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This terminal can deliver 1.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day into the pipelines, and has the capacity to store 320,000 cubic meters of this fuel.

IENova swelled its portfolio even before the Energy Reform was announced in 2013 through multiple pipeline bidding contests held by the Federal Comission of Electricity (Comisión Federal de Electricidad or CFE, in Spanish), Mexico’s state-owned power utility.

The privately-held firm also succeeded in winning two contracts to transport CFE’s natural gas through Sonora and Sinaloa, two states that previously lacked of a pipeline.

Also, through a 50-50 joint venture entered with Pemex -called Gasoductos de Chihuahua- IENova has been involved

in two important natural gas projects: the Chihuahua and Ramones pipelines.

The latter is one of the most anticipated pipelines in Mexico’s energy industry, with a capacity to deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet from the United States all the way to San Luis Potosí.

Finally, the company has also two investments in the electrical sector: a thermoelectric, gas-powered energy plant, with a capacity of 625 megawatts; and a wind farm project to export electricity to California.

By the end of 2014, the company provides jobs for 600 employees, and has invested more than 3.5 billion dollars in Mexico.

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mexico’s

top law firms 2015

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