This group, comprised of experts in the field, personally nominates all invitees and develops the Agenda, which forms the basis of our discussions.
Forum Overview
Dates: May 2 - 4, 2027
Location: Miami, FL
The Forum is a private roundtable of up to 40 participants, bringing together senior in-house and private practice lawyers with deep expertise in the negotiation, structuring, and execution of private capital investment transactions and mergers and acquisitions throughout Latin America.
Using candid, seminar-style discussions participants share the most pressing issues they are facing, as well as, examine trends and developments across jurisdictions to learn how others address problems and work together to identify solutions.
2027 Steering Committee
Committee Co-Chairs
Committee Members
Graduated in Law from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He was born in Mexico City on March 21, 1972. Since 1996 he has worked for several subsidiaries and companies related to Grupo Carso and Grupo Financiero Inbursa in which he worked in the international and legal areas Department for more than 15 years. Since the incorporation of IDEAL, he has served as Legal Director and in 2020 he was appointed as General Legal Director, additionally assuming the area of Compliance, Environmental, and Communications. Since the incorporation of IDEAL, he has been the Secretary of the Board of Directors, and previously also of Minera Frisco, SAB de CV; in which he served as Legal Director. He has been the Secretary of IDEAL (and subsidiaries) Board of Directors since 2005.
Since joining Citi in 2011, Alejandra has held progressively senior positions within the organization. Currently, as Head of Legal for Citi’s Legacy Franchises global division, Alejandra advises senior management on sensitive legal and transactional matters across Latin America, Europe and Asia. Building on her expertise in structuring, negotiating and executing complex cross-border M&A and strategic transactions, as well as financial products and services in multiple jurisdictions, Alejandra’s advice spans legal, regulatory, corporate governance, reputation risk and crisis management matters, to drive business objectives while ensuring compliance with applicable U.S. and local regulations and mitigating legal, reputational and execution risk. She has been the Legal lead on all aspects of Citi’s announced exit from Banamex, from the separation into two financial groups in December 2024, to the completion of the sale of 25% of Banamex in December 2025 to a reference shareholder, and the announced agreements to sell 24% of Banamex to multiple institutional investors and family offices in February 2026, as well as the planned Banamex IPO. In addition, she advises on Citi’s announced consumer business sale in Poland, and Citi’s multiple consumer divestitures in Asia.
Prior to assuming her current global role, Alejandra was part of Citi’s Latin America Legal team, with responsibility for the legal function in Andean countries, including all corporate governance and commercial relationship aspects of Citi’s ~$3 billion joint venture investment in Banco de Chile. She also played a leading role in Citi’s business simplification and transformation, executing successful strategic transactions in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Paraguay, comprising complex M&A deals as well as strategic alliances with BlackRock, Chubb, Mastercard and Visa.
Before joining Citi in 2011, Alejandra was a Director with Scotiabank’s global legal team in Toronto, where she had responsibility for the bank’s international and domestic strategic transactions, successfully completing multiple acquisitions and divestitures in Asia, Canada, the United States and Latin America. From 2000 to 2007, Alejandra was an Associate at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto, focusing on multijurisdictional mergers, acquisitions, capital markets and project finance transactions, particularly in the mining and financial services industries.
She holds a bilingual (French / English) Honors B.A. in International Studies from York University (Canada) and a J.D. from the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto (Canada). She is admitted to the Law Society of Ontario (Canada) and is fluent in English, Spanish and French. Alejandra was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, lived 22 years in Toronto, Canada, and her home is now in Miami.
María Shakespear is a partner at Beccar Varela. She is a member of the firm's Executive Committee and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She joined the firm in 1998. María provides corporate advice to local and foreign clients with businesses in Argentina across a wide spectrum of industries. Her main practice areas are mergers and acquisitions, private equity, project finance, and fintech. She has vast experience in the negotiation and drafting of complex commercial agreements, commercialization, distribution, and franchising ones; debt renegotiations, and due diligence. She has advised international organizations on investments and divestitures. She also focuses on the designing of start-ups, entrepreneur businesses, and businesses seeking positive social and environmental impact, following a Triple Bottom Line model. María obtained her Law degree from Universidad de Buenos Aires (2001) and her Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Dundee University, Dundee, Scotland (2007, with distinction). She also studied at Denver University (Colorado, USA, 2004), where she obtained a certificate for certain subjects from the LLM. She worked as foreign associate at Holme, Roberts & Owen (Denver, Colorado, USA, 2004). Since 2005, María is Assistant Professor of International Private Law with Professor María Blanca Noodt Taquela at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Her most recent publications include “Private M&A transactions” (Thomson Reuters, UK, 2014); “Mergers and Acquisitions, questions and answers” (GTDT Market Intelligence, 2014 and 2015 editions); and “Shareholders’ rights (in private and public companies): a global guide from practical law” (Thomson Reuters, 2015). She is a member of the Buenos Aires Bar Association and the International Bar Association (IBA). She is the Treasurer of the Board of Directors of FAME (Foro Argentino de Mujeres Ejecutivas). María has been recognized by Chambers Latin America, Chambers Global, The Legal 500, Latin Lawyer 250 and IFLR 1000. María speaks Spanish, English and basic French.
Rogério Teixeira dos Santos is Managing Director – Legal & Compliance of CPP Investments in São Paulo (Brazil), responsible for the legal and compliance matters related to CPPIB Investments’ activities, assets, investments and transactions in Latin America (which essentially include Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico). Rogério has a law degree from the University of São Paulo (in Brazil), LL.M. degrees from Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen (Germany) and London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), and an MBA degree from Fundação Dom Cabral (Brazil).
Rafael Villarán has over 13 years of experience handling complex legal transactions, particularly in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), banking, finance, and commercial law. He currently is Legal Director of Investments at GRIO, the investment office of Grupo Romero, where he oversees all legal aspects in connection with Grupo Romero’s transactional matters, providing legal counsel and actively participating in the structuring and negotiation of high-complexity contracts for all of Grupo Romero’s M&A transactions, financing matters and the asset management practice, as well as being involved in post-integration matters and other strategic projects. Rafael’s responsibilities also include overseeing the transactional legal matters for Infracorp, the investment manager of Grupo Romero, and GRAM, the Miami-based asset management division of the group.
Rafael is dual-qualified to practice law in Peru and New York. Prior to joining GRIO, he served as the Legal Chief of M&A at Alicorp S.A.A. Before joining Alicorp, he worked as an International Lawyer at a prominent law firm in New York and as an Associate at two of the leading Peruvian law firms.
Rafael earned his LL.M. from Harvard Law School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Universidad de Lima in Peru with a law degree.
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Built on meaningful interactions and genuine connections, the Forum is the premiere gathering for private practice and in-house lawyers from across Latin America who are proficient in the negotiation, structuring, and execution of private capital investment transactions and mergers & acquisitions.
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