Ernesto has extensive experience advising clients on sale and purchase transactions, projects, financings and other business-related issues, as well as on matters relating to the securities market, corporate finance and financial management. Ernesto was previously a partner at the Monterrey office of a prestigious international firm. He also worked as an internal adviser for a Mexican company and for a firm in Mexico City. He taught courses on Comparative Corporate Law and International Contracts on the Master’s Degree in International Law at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores of Monterrey, Monterrey Campus, and he is a lecturer on International Contracts on the Master’s Degree in Law at Instituto Internacional de Derecho y Empresa
Experience
Ernesto Silvas is a partner in the Corporate and M&A practice. He has a wealth of experience in complex corporate transactions, including acquisitions, mergers, syndicated financings and debt restructurings in a wide range of industries and jurisdictions. He has advised companies and international banks on high-value transactions involving complex regulatory issues.
His achievements include advising on the multi-billion US$ sale of the water technology branch of a construction, chemical and oil company with operations in Latin America. He also represented a global supplier of specialized chemicals in the acquisition of assets in multiple jurisdictions, including Mexico.
He has led the structuring and negotiation of strategic joint ventures, such as the joint venture between a Mexican company and a Turkish company to establish an industrial plant to produce recycled metal, and has represented a German buyer in an acquisition of a controlling stake in a Mexican manufacturer of acoustic metal structures.
His experience also extends to the financial sector, where he advised a foreign bank on bond issue and security agreements in Mexico to back a multimillion-dollar restructuring under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. He has also represented private equity funds in major acquisitions, such as the US$230 million purchase of a Mexican company, and in the sale of industrial real estate portfolios for US$453 million.
In the finance sphere, he took part in the restructuring of syndicated credit facilities of local and foreign banks with a Mexican consortium, and advised a foreign bank on a financial claim against a Mexican business group in the glass industry. In addition, he worked on the restructuring of debt securities for a Mexican pharmaceutical company, which included a debt-for-equity swap by a strategic foreign shareholder.
In the aeronautical sector, he advised an issuer on an IPO and its listing on the stock exchange, consolidating public subsidiaries as part of a corporate reorganization process. His comprehensive approach and wide-ranging experience enable him to successfully address the most sophisticated legal and financial challenges.
Ernesto is fluent in English and Spanish.
Academic background
- Master of Laws (LL.M.), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA.
- Degree in Law, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico.
Memberships
- Former chairman of the Legal, Financial and Business Affairs Committee and member of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives (Monterrey). He currently serves as legal adviser to the institute and as a member of its governing board.
- Member of the American Bar Association.
Distinctions
- Chambers Global and Partners Global 2024
Band 5 - Chambers and Partners Latin America 2025
Band 5 - Legal 500 2025
Recommended Lawyer - IFLR 1000 2024
Highly Regarded - Best Lawyers 2025
- Leaders League 2025
- Singled out by Chambers and Partners, Latin Lawyer, Who’s Who Legal and Best Lawyers International as one of the leading corporate and transactional lawyers in Mexico.
Publications
- “Mercado de Valores” (Securities Market) in the book “Realizando Negocios en México”, published by Juris Publishing Inc. (2001).