Hernando Diaz-Candia is the managing partner of Squire Sanders' Caracas office. He concentrates his practice on corporate, administrative law and arbitration with particular emphasis on joint ventures, financing, merger and acquisition transactions, and antitrust and competition. Mr. Diaz-Candia represents global investors in connection with significant business interests in Venezuela. He has been listed by LatinLawyer magazine in the top five of the 25 most prominent Venezuelan lawyers under 40 years of age. In 2006 he made his debut in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers. He also appears in The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in Venezuela, Chambers Latin America, IFLR1000 and LatinLawyer 250.

Mr. Diaz-Candia represents lenders and borrowers in asset-backed financing. He also renders advice on legal aspects of antitrust issues in Venezuela. In addition, Mr. Diaz-Candia has worked on corporate and private finance transactions in New York, assisting clients in the areas of international investment and transactional work, in both corporate and private finance.

Mr. Diaz-Candia is an approved arbitrator for a prominent arbitration center in Venezuela and has been appointed as arbitrator in various cases.

Mr. Diaz-Candia has taught law at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He is a member of the American Bar Association and Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. Mr. Diaz-Candia is a member of the board of directors and former president of the Venezuelan Fulbright Association. He has published several legal articles in Venezuelan law journals on administrative and constitutional law.

Representative Experience

• Advising numerous clients in asset-backed financings including aircraft financings.
• Providing project finance advice for an upgrade of an aluminum plant in Venezuela.
• Providing project finance advice for the construction of a fertilizer plant in Venezuela.
• Advising the acquisition of an international automobile manufacturer including corporate and antitrust aspects.
• Advocating successfully in several domestic and international arbitrations.
• Counseling a divestiture of pharmaceutical and consumer-product companies.
• Providing counsel in the acquisition of mobile telephony companies in Venezuela.
• Advocating successfully in numerous antitrust investigations.
• Advising frequently on regulatory and government aspects of energy projects.