José María Alonso leads the Environment, Land & Resources Practice in the Madrid office and advises clients on regulatory aspects of complex corporate transactions.

As a former Spanish State Attorney, José María Alonso has extensive experience advising on Spanish public law matters and EU regulation, particularly in the financial, energy, and infrastructure industries. Moreover, his experience at the Ministry of the Presidency and Public Administration and his work as Technical General Secretary of Spain´s Ministry of Economy and Business gives him a deep knowledge of the European market from a financial and economic perspective.

Mr. Alonso's experience includes:

  • Advising SATS in the acquisition of Worldwide Flight Services (WFS), a France-based provider of air cargo logistics, ground handling, and technical services
  • Advising Repsol, a Spanish energy company, in the:
    • Acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Asterion Energies and its subsidiaries located in Spain, France, and Italy 
    • Sale of a 49% stake in the Valdesolar photovoltaic project to The Renewables Infrastructure Group
    • Sale of a 49% stake in its Delta wind farm portfolio to Pontegadea
  • Advising TA Associates in the acquisition of the esPublico group, a Spanish group of companies engaged in the development of legal and economic content platforms
  • Advising Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and KKR of a majority stake in Vantage Towers, a Germany-based mobile telecommunications tower infrastructure operator, in a joint venture with Vodafone
  • Advising EIG Global Energy Partners in the US$4.8 billion acquisition of a 25% stake in Repsol Upstream, a Spain-based exploration and production company
  • Advising Latécoère in the acquisition of Malaga Aerospace, Defense & Electronics Systems, a Spain-based manufacturer of airborne electronic systems and applications
  • Advising Brookfield Asset Management in the acquisition of Spanish slate producer Cupa from The Carlyle Group
  • Advising CVC in its €1.994 billion investment in LaLiga, Spain’s professional football league
  • Advising Block, Inc. (previously Square Inc.) in the financial regulatory aspects related to the acquisition of a qualifying holding in Clearpay, S.A.U., a Spain-based payments company, in the context of the global acquisition of Afterpay for US$29 billion
  • Advising the Ad Hoc Group of bondholders in the context of the restructuring of Spanish shipping company Naviera Armas
  • Advising the shareholders of Grupo Gransolar on the sale of a 60% stake to Trilantic for €425 million
  • Advising Platinum Equity in the acquisition of Urbaser, one of the world’s largest providers of environmental services, from China Tianying Inc. for an enterprise value of approximately US$4.2 billion
  • Advising Sener and Masdar in the sale of Torresol Energy Investments, a company engaged in the thermosolar energy industry, to Q-Energy
  • Advising X-Elio Energy, a Spain-based provider of renewable energy services, in the sale of its portfolio of solar assets to China Three Gorges
  • Advising Cerner Corporation in the sale of its IT Healthcare portfolio in Spain and Germany to CompuGroup Medical for €225 million
  • Drafting numerous legislative projects related to the banking sector, capital markets, insurance, and telecoms*
  • Coordinating several preliminary ruling proceedings, and judicial proceedings with the European Union*
  • Advising the Spanish Public Administration in relation to bank resolution, and foreign investments*
  • Handling and resolving appeals against decisions of the Ministry of Economy and Business, the Bank of Spain, the CNMV (Spanish securities market supervisor), the CNMC (Spanish competition authority), and the ICAC (Spanish accounting association)*
  • Representing and defending the Spanish Administration before the Superior Courts of Justice of Madrid and Cantabria, particularly in the field of energy, public property, infrastructures, and sanctioning procedures*
  • Participating in the defense of the Kingdom of Spain in several international arbitration proceedings related to the renewable energy legislation*

*Matter handled prior to joining Latham

Bar Qualification

  • Spain (Abogado)

Education

  • LLB in Law & Business Administration, ICADE - Universidad Pontificia de Comillas - Madrid, 2007

Languages Spoken

  • English
  • French
  • Spanish