Corporate and Securities

Raul R. Herrera is a partner in the corporate and securities group where he concentrates his practice on international arbitration and international corporate and financing transactions. Mr. Herrera has been involved in transactions in every country of Latin America and the Caribbean. He represents multilateral and bilateral agencies as well as sponsors in their project financing and private equity transactions. Previously he served as general counsel for Inter-American Investment Corporation, a multilateral financial institution affiliated with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Mr. Herrera serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of CODESPA AMERICA and as Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Latin American Studies Program of The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs; on the Board of Advisors of the Inter-American Dialogue's Energy Adviser; and as a member of the John Carroll Society. 

He served on the Boards of Directors of the Inter-American Bar Association and Inter-American Bar Foundation; on the Executive Committee of the International Council of The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs; on the Advisory Council to the Superintendent of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, as Chair of the Investment and Finance Committee of the DC Bar, on the advisory board of the Hispanic College Fund, as a member of the Southern Florida Regional Corporate Counsel Group, and the Steering Committee of the Choral Arts Society's Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Tribute in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Herrera is a frequent speaker on such topics as project finance, corporate governance, international arbitration, and the economic development of and investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean. He speaks fluent English and Spanish, and is conversant in Portuguese.

Corporate and Securities Representative Matters

• Representing the claimant in Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim A.S. v. Islamic Republic of Pakistan in an ICSID arbitration.
• Representing a mining company in an international dispute with a sovereign state
• Representing the defendant in Addax Petroleum v. Alex Stewart International before the US District Court for the District of Colombia
• Representing the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a partnership of diverse donors that supports affiliated international centers, in designing and negotiating a funding mechanism with the World Bank and governmental and non-governmental organizations.
• Representing the United Nations Foundation and the Gates Foundation in structuring a medium-term guarantee facility to facilitate multi-year purchases of medical equipment and supplies by developing countries based on donor-country financing.
• Representing the Inter-American Cultural & Development Foundation in connection with its corporate governance matters.
• Representing the Austrian development bank, Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG ("OeEB") with its secured term loan financing to the Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura, S.A. (CIFI).
• Representing an international mining services company as claimant in a matter before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) against an African state in a US$458 million breach of contract claim.
• Representing a Vietnamese company in an ICC claim against a US university in a breach of contract claim involving education programs.
• Representing a Latin American government in a petition before the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the US Department of the Treasury (OFAC).
• Representing the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) floating-rate notes issues for US$300 million, maturing on 2022 for which RBC organized the offering; for US$175, maturing in  2013 million, for which BNP Paribas Securities Corp arranged the offering; for US$120 million, maturing in 2012, for which UBS arranged the offering.
• Representing an international securities clearing firm as amicus curiae in Argentina's 2001 bond default dispute in federal district court.
• Representing Mahmood Saeed Collective Company (MSCC) of Saudi Arabia in a US$59.8 million term loan financing from the US Export-Import Bank (ExIm Bank) to expand its aluminum can manufacturing facility in Jeddah. This represented the first-ever Ex-Im Bank direct loan to a private company in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Representing FMO, the Dutch bilateral development agency, in its senior term-loan financing to Bolivia's Banco Sol, S.A.
• Representing Chile's Compañía General de Electricidad (CGE) in its term loan financing from Banco Santander for the acquisition of Spanish utility company Iberdrola's controlling stake in Chilean hydroelectricity company, Iberoamericana de Energía S.A. (Ibener) ; and CGE in a US$517 million cross-border financing transaction funded by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), for the US$660 million acquisition from PPL Chile Energía Limitada of all the outstanding shares of Empresas EMEL S.A. through a tender offer process on the Chilean Stock Exchange. With this transaction, CGE is now the largest electricity distributor in Chile.
• Representing CDB in its term loan to the Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura S.A. (CIFI) to finance infrastructure projects throughout the Caribbean.
• Representing the Societe Belge d'Investissement pour les pays en développement SA/Belgische Investeringsmaatschappij Voor Ontwikkelingslanden NV, the Belgian development bank, and State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland, the Swiss development agency, in the term loan to the Corporación Interamericana para el Financiamiento de Infraestructura S.A. (CIFI) to finance infrastructure projects throughout Latin America.  
• Representing a geothermal development company in the development and financing of a geothermal power project in the Caribbean, including the negotiation of the interconnection, land use and equipment supply agreements.
• Representing a sovereign client in a contractual dispute in an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration against an ethanol manufacturer in an alleged breach of contract claim.
• Representing a private Panamanian financial institution in an international litigation against a global commercial bank in an alleged breach of contract claim.
• Representing the Dominican Republic in three international arbitrations (before ICC, ICSID and UNCITRAL) regarding alleged breaches of a concession agreement and international investment treaties.
• Representing Televisa's subsidiary, Innova S.A., in an eight-country merger and acquisition transaction, the first regional expansion for Innova outside of Mexico, to acquire DirecTv's satellite pay-for-television concession operations in the Dominican Republic, Panama, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
• Representing and successfully defending the Republic of Ecuador and its state-run oil company, PetroEcuador, on a request for a permanent stay of an AAA arbitration in the US Southern District Court of New York (on summary judgment).
• Representing the Republic of Ecuador and its state-run oil company, PetroEcuador, on the Circuit Court appeal of the US Southern District Court of New York's decision on summary judgment granting permanent stay of a American Arbitration Association (AAA) arbitration.
• Representing a private Venezuelan hotel consortium in an International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) arbitration against a major multinational hotel chain in an alleged breach of contract claim.