Team
Team
VACE Partners is composed of investment bankers with unparalleled experience in international markets, Latin America and Mexico with most of its members having worked for several years in bulge bracket investment banks like Salomon Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank.
VACE team members have executed many landmark M&A transactions undertaken by Mexican companies inside and outside Mexico, as well as of multinational companies in Mexico.
VACE Partners Team
Carlos Vara – Partner
Carlos Vara is a Founding Partner at VACE Partners. Before joining VACE Partners Carlos worked for 9 years at Citigroup as head of the Mexico and Latin America Investment Banking team. Carlos is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Finance Committee of Grupo Gigante, member of the Board of Directors for Jose Cuervo, member of the Board of Genomma Lab, member of the Board of Directors and President of the Development Committee of Hoteles Presidente, shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Fhipo and former member of both Aeromexico’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee.
His transaction experience includes work with companies in diverse industries such as financial institutions, consumer goods, retail, industrial conglomerates, education, transportation, and metals and mining mostly. Carlos has participated in the origination and execution of M&A transactions with an aggregate value above US$100 billion and capital markets transactions for more than US$50 billion.
In M&A, he has participated in the advisory to Cuervo in the acquisition of Three Olives and Bushmills and in the sale of Tequila Don Julio, to Gigante in their divestiture to Soriana, to Nacional Financiera’s toll roads privatization (FARAC I), to a consortium of Mexican investors in the acquisition of Aeromexico, to Grupo Imsa in the sale of a 43.3% stake, to Cemex in the acquisitions of Southdown, RMC, and Rinker, to America Móvil in the acquisitions of AMTEL, BSE, BCD and America Movil’s spin-off from Telmex (around US$50 bn of aggregate transaction value advised to AMX), to Kimberly Clark in the sale of its consumer products division (Scribe), to Grupo Chedraui in the acquisition of Carrefour Mexico, to AHISA in its sale to Metlife, to PBG in the acquisition of Pepsi Gemex, to Associated British Foods (ABF) in the acquisition of Capullo, to BBV in the acquisition of Bancomer, to Citigroup in the acquisition of Banamex and to Aegon in the acquisition of a 50% stake in Seguros and Afore Banamex, among others.
Carlos has played a leading role in many Mexican landmark equity transactions. To name a few equity offerings, he was involved in OMA’s IPO in 2006, Femsa’s secondary offering in 2005, SPCC’s secondary offering in 2005, Cemex’s secondary offering in 2003 and again in 2005, and Grupo Televisa’s secondary offering in 2001.
In Debt Capital Markets some of the landmark transactions in which Carlos participated were, the first ever perpetual bond offering issued by a Mexican company (issued by Pemex in 2004), the first ever guaranteed bond for a Mexican corporation (Vitro 2003) and the first ever 30-year issuance for a non-investment company (Southern Copper Corporation) among others. In addition Carlos has brought a series of new Mexican names for their first issuance in the market (Cuervo, Xignux, CIE, Posadas, Prenda Facil, among others). He also played a key role in the Debt Restructuring of DESC, Grupo Gigante and TFM, among others.
Carlos worked for McKinsey & Co. from 1996 to November 2000 as a consultant in several offices (Mexico City, Caracas, Lisbon, Madrid and New York). While working with McKinsey, Carlos advised BMV on the conversion to an electronic trading platform and on the creation of MexDer.
Carlos received his B.S. from ITAM , an M.S. in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Ricardo Cervera – Partner
Ricardo Cervera is a Founding Partner at VACE Partners. Prior to founding VACE, Ricardo worked for over 9 years at Salomon Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup. Overall, Mr. Cervera has over 20 years of Investment Banking experience.
Ricardo joined the Investment Banking Division of Salomon Brothers (which became Salomon Smith Barney) in 1999 as an associate. He spent seven years in New York in the Global Power Group, covering US, European and Latin American power companies. Mr. Cervera was transferred to Citigroup’s Mexico Investment Banking Office as a Director in 2006, with coverage responsibilities in the power, energy, infrastructure, consumer, retail, industrial and other sectors. Upon arriving to Mexico, he led the privatization of the first Toll-Roads from FARAC worth over US$4 billion; one of the largest privatizations ever in this sector worldwide and winner of Project Finance Latam Deal of the Year in 2008. Ricardo was Head of Citigroup’s Investment Banking office in Mexico during 2007 and 2008.
Ricardo has participated in multiple capital markets transactions, raising over US$50 billion in proceeds, including transactions for US multi-billion dollar companies, such as FirstEnergy’s US$1 billion equity offering and ConEdison’s US$500 million debt offering. He has also helped Mexican companies raise capital in transactions such as the IPO for Cuervo for $915 million, a bond offering for Office Depot ($400 million) and an FRN issuance for America Movil ($500 million). Ricardo led VACE’s effort in the $5,500 million pesos debt structuring of OHL’s Viaducto Bicentenario, which was awarded Project Finance Latam IPP Deal of the Year in 2010.
Mr. Cervera has extensive experience in M&A, having led the execution of multiple landmark deals in the US, Europe, Mexico and South America, including the acquisition of power generation assets from FPL, the advisory to Aquila on its proxy contest to acquire control of Quanta Services’ Board of Directors, the sale of Elektra Noreste in Panama, the acquisition of Transportadora de Electricidad in Bolivia, the ownership restructuring of Light in Brazil and the sale of Grupo Gigante in Mexico. At VACE, Ricardo has led over 25 M&A transactions for companies such as Grupo Financiero Interacciones, Cuervo, Lala, Office Depot, Grupo Kuo, Grupo Presidente, Ventura Capital, BAC Credomatic, Gruma, Sico, Farmacias del Ahorro, amongst others.
Ricardo currently serves on the Board of Directors of José Cuervo (BMV: CUERVO) and as member of its Audit Committee, Procorp SAB de CV (BMV: PROCORPB), Yale School of Management Mexico Board, Maven Global (UK), Samba Smoothie, on the Technical Committee of Fondo Capital Infraestructura (BMV: FCICK16), and as a Founding Shareholder and Board Member of Concentradora Hipotecaria (BMV: FHIPO).
Philanthropically, Ricardo is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Fundacion VACE, A.C., Trustee and Treasurer of Conexiones para Aprender A.C., and Trustee of Mingei International Museum in California.
From 1995 to 1996, Ricardo worked in Mexico’s Ministry of Finance as an advisor to the General Director of Public Credit and in 1997 became advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance.
Ricardo graduated with High Honors, in the top 1% of his class, with a B.A. in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and received an M.B.A. from Yale University. In 1998, Ricardo received Mexico’s National Award in Economic Research presented by BANAMEX.
Ricardo lives in Mexico and California with his wife Lilian and their 5 children.
Jorge Torres – Director
Jorge Torres is a Director at VACE Partners. Since his incorporation in 2013, Jorge has been involved in more than 30 transactions including buy-side and sell-side M&A, public and private debt and equity offerings, project finance, infrastructure projects, concessions and public biddings.
His experience includes projects for companies in different sectors like infrastructure, financial institutions, consumer goods, industrial conglomerates, retail, spirits, manufacturing, energy, and real estate, among others.
In particular, Jorge’s experience includes Jose Cuervo’s IPO, largest Mexican Company IPO ever and largest IPO in the spirits industry in over 40 years, execution of M&A transactions with an aggregate value above US$1.5 billion in Mexico and Latin America, lead role in the structuring of more than US$1 billion in infrastructure projects, project finance, concessions and public biddings to Mexican State Governments and in the structuring of more than US$2.4 billion in public and private offerings of equity and debt and debt restructurings.
Before joining VACE, Jorge worked at Citi-Banamex Corporate Banking, where his main tasks covered financial and credit analysis.
Jorge graduated from Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) with a major of Financial Management and he obtained the certification of Investment Strategy Advisor by the AMIB. During his studies, Jorge made two specialization courses in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Madrid, Spain.
Jesús González – Associate
Jesús González joined VACE Partners in 2019.
Before joining VACE, Jesus worked as a Business Development Analyst at Enel Green Power where he acquired extensive knowledge in the development of renewable energy projects and in the electric power industry in Mexico.
Jesús studied Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City where he graduated with honors as the best of his class and where he received the Academic Excellence award (top 1%) in the National Graduation Exam (EGEL) by the National Center of Evaluation for Higher Education (CENEVAL). Additionally, he holds a diploma in Business Administration from Berkeley-Haas School of Business.
Santiago Romanos – Analyst
Santiago joined VACE Partners in 2020.
Before joining VACE, Santiago worked for more than a year as a Financial Analyst at Grupo Mexgal, a controlling company of ports and transportation enterprises in Mexico.
Santiago holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), with specialty area in finance.
Andrés Lombana – Analyst
Andrés joined the VACE Partners team in 2021.
Before joining VACE, he worked as an Analyst in the Coverage area of BNP Paribas, a French bank with more than 50 years of experience in Mexico. Andres participated in different projects focused on financing and advising large Mexican corporations and financial institutions.
Andrés is currently studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Financial Management at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM).
Alejandro Del Valle – Analyst
Alejandro joined VACE Partners in 2021.
Prior to joining VACE, Alejandro worked as a Financial Analyst at Alea Capital, an investment banking and consulting firm based in Mexico City. At Alea Capital, Alejandro participated in different M&A and debt restructuring transactions for small and mid-size companies in the country.
Alejandro holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM).
VACE Partners Team
Carlos Vara – Partner
Carlos Vara is a Founding Partner at VACE Partners. Before joining VACE Partners Carlos worked for 9 years at Citigroup as head of the Mexico and Latin America Investment Banking team. Carlos is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Finance Committee of Grupo Gigante, member of the Board of Directors for Jose Cuervo, member of the Board of Genomma Lab, member of the Board of Directors and President of the Development Committee of Hoteles Presidente, shareholder and member of the Board of Directors of Fhipo and former member of both Aeromexico’s Board of Directors and Finance Committee.
His transaction experience includes work with companies in diverse industries such as financial institutions, consumer goods, retail, industrial conglomerates, education, transportation, and metals and mining mostly. Carlos has participated in the origination and execution of M&A transactions with an aggregate value above US$100 billion and capital markets transactions for more than US$50 billion.
In M&A, he has participated in the advisory to Cuervo in the acquisition of Three Olives and Bushmills and in the sale of Tequila Don Julio, to Gigante in their divestiture to Soriana, to Nacional Financiera’s toll roads privatization (FARAC I), to a consortium of Mexican investors in the acquisition of Aeromexico, to Grupo Imsa in the sale of a 43.3% stake, to Cemex in the acquisitions of Southdown, RMC, and Rinker, to America Móvil in the acquisitions of AMTEL, BSE, BCD and America Movil’s spin-off from Telmex (around US$50 bn of aggregate transaction value advised to AMX), to Kimberly Clark in the sale of its consumer products division (Scribe), to Grupo Chedraui in the acquisition of Carrefour Mexico, to AHISA in its sale to Metlife, to PBG in the acquisition of Pepsi Gemex, to Associated British Foods (ABF) in the acquisition of Capullo, to BBV in the acquisition of Bancomer, to Citigroup in the acquisition of Banamex and to Aegon in the acquisition of a 50% stake in Seguros and Afore Banamex, among others.
Carlos has played a leading role in many Mexican landmark equity transactions. To name a few equity offerings, he was involved in OMA’s IPO in 2006, Femsa’s secondary offering in 2005, SPCC’s secondary offering in 2005, Cemex’s secondary offering in 2003 and again in 2005, and Grupo Televisa’s secondary offering in 2001.
In Debt Capital Markets some of the landmark transactions in which Carlos participated were, the first ever perpetual bond offering issued by a Mexican company (issued by Pemex in 2004), the first ever guaranteed bond for a Mexican corporation (Vitro 2003) and the first ever 30-year issuance for a non-investment company (Southern Copper Corporation) among others. In addition Carlos has brought a series of new Mexican names for their first issuance in the market (Cuervo, Xignux, CIE, Posadas, Prenda Facil, among others). He also played a key role in the Debt Restructuring of DESC, Grupo Gigante and TFM, among others.
Carlos worked for McKinsey & Co. from 1996 to November 2000 as a consultant in several offices (Mexico City, Caracas, Lisbon, Madrid and New York). While working with McKinsey, Carlos advised BMV on the conversion to an electronic trading platform and on the creation of MexDer.
Carlos received his B.S. from ITAM , an M.S. in Economics from Yale University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
Ricardo Cervera – Partner
Ricardo Cervera is a Founding Partner at VACE Partners. Prior to founding VACE, Ricardo worked for over 9 years at Salomon Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and Citigroup. Overall, Mr. Cervera has over 20 years of Investment Banking experience.
Ricardo joined the Investment Banking Division of Salomon Brothers (which became Salomon Smith Barney) in 1999 as an associate. He spent seven years in New York in the Global Power Group, covering US, European and Latin American power companies. Mr. Cervera was transferred to Citigroup’s Mexico Investment Banking Office as a Director in 2006, with coverage responsibilities in the power, energy, infrastructure, consumer, retail, industrial and other sectors. Upon arriving to Mexico, he led the privatization of the first Toll-Roads from FARAC worth over US$4 billion; one of the largest privatizations ever in this sector worldwide and winner of Project Finance Latam Deal of the Year in 2008. Ricardo was Head of Citigroup’s Investment Banking office in Mexico during 2007 and 2008.
Ricardo has participated in multiple capital markets transactions, raising over US$50 billion in proceeds, including transactions for US multi-billion dollar companies, such as FirstEnergy’s US$1 billion equity offering and ConEdison’s US$500 million debt offering. He has also helped Mexican companies raise capital in transactions such as the IPO for Cuervo for $915 million, a bond offering for Office Depot ($400 million) and an FRN issuance for America Movil ($500 million). Ricardo led VACE’s effort in the $5,500 million pesos debt structuring of OHL’s Viaducto Bicentenario, which was awarded Project Finance Latam IPP Deal of the Year in 2010.
Mr. Cervera has extensive experience in M&A, having led the execution of multiple landmark deals in the US, Europe, Mexico and South America, including the acquisition of power generation assets from FPL, the advisory to Aquila on its proxy contest to acquire control of Quanta Services’ Board of Directors, the sale of Elektra Noreste in Panama, the acquisition of Transportadora de Electricidad in Bolivia, the ownership restructuring of Light in Brazil and the sale of Grupo Gigante in Mexico. At VACE, Ricardo has led over 25 M&A transactions for companies such as Grupo Financiero Interacciones, Cuervo, Lala, Office Depot, Grupo Kuo, Grupo Presidente, Ventura Capital, BAC Credomatic, Gruma, Sico, Farmacias del Ahorro, amongst others.
Ricardo currently serves on the Board of Directors of José Cuervo (BMV: CUERVO) and as member of its Audit Committee, Procorp SAB de CV (BMV: PROCORPB), Yale School of Management Mexico Board, Maven Global (UK), Samba Smoothie, on the Technical Committee of Fondo Capital Infraestructura (BMV: FCICK16), and as a Founding Shareholder and Board Member of Concentradora Hipotecaria (BMV: FHIPO).
Philanthropically, Ricardo is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Fundacion VACE, A.C., Trustee and Treasurer of Conexiones para Aprender A.C., and Trustee of Mingei International Museum in California.
From 1995 to 1996, Ricardo worked in Mexico’s Ministry of Finance as an advisor to the General Director of Public Credit and in 1997 became advisor to the Deputy Minister of Finance.
Ricardo graduated with High Honors, in the top 1% of his class, with a B.A. in Economics from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and received an M.B.A. from Yale University. In 1998, Ricardo received Mexico’s National Award in Economic Research presented by BANAMEX.
Ricardo lives in Mexico and California with his wife Lilian and their 5 children.
Jorge Torres – Director
Jorge Torres is a Director at VACE Partners. Since his incorporation in 2013, Jorge has been involved in more than 30 transactions including buy-side and sell-side M&A, public and private debt and equity offerings, project finance, infrastructure projects, concessions and public biddings.
His experience includes projects for companies in different sectors like infrastructure, financial institutions, consumer goods, industrial conglomerates, retail, spirits, manufacturing, energy, and real estate, among others.
In particular, Jorge’s experience includes Jose Cuervo’s IPO, largest Mexican Company IPO ever and largest IPO in the spirits industry in over 40 years, execution of M&A transactions with an aggregate value above US$1.5 billion in Mexico and Latin America, lead role in the structuring of more than US$1 billion in infrastructure projects, project finance, concessions and public biddings to Mexican State Governments and in the structuring of more than US$2.4 billion in public and private offerings of equity and debt and debt restructurings.
Before joining VACE, Jorge worked at Citi-Banamex Corporate Banking, where his main tasks covered financial and credit analysis.
Jorge graduated from Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) with a major of Financial Management and he obtained the certification of Investment Strategy Advisor by the AMIB. During his studies, Jorge made two specialization courses in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Madrid, Spain.
Jesús González – Associate
Jesús González joined VACE Partners in 2019.
Before joining VACE, Jesus worked as a Business Development Analyst at Enel Green Power where he acquired extensive knowledge in the development of renewable energy projects and in the electric power industry in Mexico.
Jesús studied Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City where he graduated with honors as the best of his class and where he received the Academic Excellence award (top 1%) in the National Graduation Exam (EGEL) by the National Center of Evaluation for Higher Education (CENEVAL). Additionally, he holds a diploma in Business Administration from Berkeley-Haas School of Business.
Santiago Romanos – Analyst
Santiago joined VACE Partners in 2020.
Before joining VACE, Santiago worked for more than a year as a Financial Analyst at Grupo Mexgal, a controlling company of ports and transportation enterprises in Mexico.
Santiago holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), with specialty area in finance.
Andrés Lombana – Analyst
Andrés joined the VACE Partners team in 2021.
Before joining VACE, he worked as an Analyst in the Coverage area of BNP Paribas, a French bank with more than 50 years of experience in Mexico. Andres participated in different projects focused on financing and advising large Mexican corporations and financial institutions.
Andrés is currently studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Financial Management at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM).
Alejandro Del Valle – Analyst
Alejandro joined VACE Partners in 2021.
Prior to joining VACE, Alejandro worked as a Financial Analyst at Alea Capital, an investment banking and consulting firm based in Mexico City. At Alea Capital, Alejandro participated in different M&A and debt restructuring transactions for small and mid-size companies in the country.
Alejandro holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM).
