Pacheco Coto’s San José office in Costa Rica has expanded its financial and corporate team with a new partner in the form of Arturo Apéstegui.
Apéstegui joins the firm from San José-based Vector Legal where he was a founding partner. He focuses on M&A, banking, corporate and real estate and his hire brings the total number of partners in the office to eight.
Apéstegui had previously worked at LLM Abogados for 23 years, before he branched off in 2014 with a few other partners to form Vector Legal. However, the founding partners disagreed on how to best structure the new firm. This drew Apéstegui to look elsewhere, which led him to Pacheco Coto.
Pacheco Coto’s international presence was one aspect that drew him to the firm. In addition to a regional presence in Central America, the firm also has international offices in Hong Kong, Switzerland, Spain and New Zealand.
For Apéstegui, an international awareness is important, particularly when it comes to banking. “I think the local banks are changing their legal practices, leaving their local ways and emulating the best international banking practices,” he explained. “I think that adjusting to these changes will separate the more sophisticated banking lawyers from the rest.”
While at Vector Legal, Apéstegui advised Fifco (Florida Ice and Farm Company) and SABMiller in selling their stock in beverage-plant Endelis to beverage can-maker Rexam. He also represented Banco Davivienda de Costa Rica with acquiring some of Banco Cathay Costa Rica’s vehicle loan portfolio, and he helped Reserva Conchal with obtaining a $37 million loan from Panama-based Banistmo.
