Brokering deals across five countries with different political and economic realities is no trivial matter, but Costa Rica-based law firm BLP makes it look easy.
The firm operates in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Unlike other international firms in the region, BLP is a single practice with country offices.
“From the outside, people see Central America as this homogenous region, but the five countries we work in are not only very different, but the differences change over time,” says Luis Castro, one of BLP’s founding partners.
He cites El Salvador, which until recently was basically off limits for investors because of crime and violence. Today, investment is flowing across a growing list of sectors, with BLP a leader there in banking, finance and corporate M&A.
BLP was founded more than 20 years ago in Costa Rica and has been a regional firm for the past decade. It has 28 practice areas that range from advertising – it is a member of the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance – to telecommunications, where it is a regional powerhouse. It currently has 180 lawyers, 33 of whom are partners.
“The firm has consolidated as a regional player and we are participating in nearly all the large transactions in the region, either representing buyers, sellers or the structuring banks,” says Castro.
The past 12 months clearly highlighted the firm’s strength across practice areas and geographies. BLP was part of El Salvador’s return to the capital markets after four years with a $1 billion bond placed in April 2024. It represented deal manager, BofA Securities.
In July, it advised the investors, including IDB Invest, in Costa Rica’s first blue bond for $50 million. Castro calls the transaction “historic” for the country’s capital markets.
It was involved in EnfraGen’s $1.04 billion complex project financing to acquire renewable assets in Costa Rica and Panama in November 2023, and first sustainability bond by the Guatemalan branch of Panama’s Banco Proamerica. That $50 million deal, placed in May 2024, was also anchored by IDB Invest. The bond was part of the Proamerica’s program to issue up to $500 million in social and sustainable bonds.
Castro says that while the firm has consolidated its practice areas, new opportunities are on the horizon. He says that compliance and regulatory issues are becoming important as the number of transactions increase in Central America the region becomes more sophisticated financially.
Another growth area is technology, particularly cryptocurrencies, which Castro says are starting to take off, and artificial intelligence (AI). “We are watching very closely to understand what AI will mean for practicing law,” he says.