Latham & Watkins Advises Mexican Airline Volaris on Merger of Equals With Viva
Controladora Vuela Compañía de Aviación, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: VLRS and BMV: VOLAR) (Volaris) and Grupo Viva Aerobus, S.A. de C.V. (Viva) announced that they have agreed to combine in a merger of equals to create a new Mexican airline group, with the objective of expanding low fare travel and the connectivity within Mexico and abroad. At closing, Volaris shareholders and Viva shareholders will each own 50% of the combined Mexican airline group on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, customary closing conditions, and approval by Volaris’ and Viva’s shareholders, and is expected to close in 2026. The shares of the combined company will remain listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Latham & Watkins LLP represents Volaris in the transaction with a corporate deal team led by partners Mark Bekheit and Tessa Bernhardt, with associates Valentina Oliver, Anuj Ezekiel, Diego Guimaraes-Blandon, and Sabine Dahi. Advice was also provided on capital markets and securities regulatory matters by partners Roderick Branch, Paul Dudek, and Michele Anderson and counsel Manasi Bhattacharyya, with associates Joann Murphy and Maria Concepcion Olivera; on US antitrust matters by partners Alan Devlin and Patrick English, with associates Andrew Paik and Charlotte Yeung; on ex-US antitrust matters by partner Max Hauser and counsel Nils Bremer, with associates Enno Mensching and Helena Hofmann; on compensation and benefits matters by partner Maj Vaseghi, with associate Jennifer Lin; on labor and employment matters by counsel Laura Waller; on tax matters by partner Eric Kamerman; on sanctions and export controls matters by partner Andrew Galdes and counsel Catherine Hein, with associates Adam Schupack and Maria Stosz; on anti-corruption and anti-bribery matters by partner Daniel Dominguez, with associate Fernando Mercado Violand; on intellectual property matters by counsel Arielle Singh, with associate Claire Jensen; on debt finance matters by partners Graeme Smyth, Benjamin Berman, and Jennifer Kent, with associates Jake Besanceney, Emiliano Flores,* Nino Galdava,** Mahika Narula, Michael Mey, and Jacqueline Rugart; and on derivatives matters by partner Reza Mojtabaee-Zamani, with associates Sloan Ungerman, Daniel Weiss, and Nathan Ye.
*Admitted to practice in New York only.
**Admitted to practice in Russia only.