Energy, infrastructure and tourism projects are reshaping the Caribbean’s investment landscape, drawing unprecedented levels of international capital into markets long viewed as too small or fragmented to sustain large-scale financings. Over the past year, the region recorded some of the most substantial investments in its history, including airport upgrades, energy projects and telecom transactions that signal a structural shift in investor appetite.
One constant amid this surge has been Paul Hastings. The US law firm, long active in the Caribbean, expanded its footprint and reinforced its position as one of the region’s most versatile international advisers. That consistency and breadth of execution earn Paul Hastings the title of Law Firm of the Year in the Caribbean.
“We repeated our incredible breadth of involvement in the Caribbean this year,” says Alex Herman, partner in the firm’s Securities & Capital Markets and Latin America practices.
Over the twelve months to September 2025, Paul Hastings advised on landmark transactions across the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago, while also executing mandates in Aruba, Barbados and the Bahamas. The work spanned capital markets, project finance, bank finance and restructuring, reflecting a market that is no longer defined by isolated deals but by sustained activity across sectors.
Among the most notable transactions were securitizations for two Jamaican airports — Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, the country’s main tourism gateway. The financings were structured to support long-term infrastructure investment while embedding resilience features in a region increasingly exposed to climate risk.
Those structures were put to an immediate test in November, when Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica. The storm killed forty-five people and inflicted economic damage that the United Nations estimated could reach as high as $15 billion. Despite the scale of the disruption, both airports resumed operations within days.
Herman notes that disaster preparedness was a central component of the transaction design. “Part of the structure of the deals was planning for disasters and help to protect from them, because the region is susceptible to major weather events that may become more prevalent,” she says.
The ability to combine capital markets engineering with infrastructure risk mitigation illustrates how Caribbean financings are becoming more sophisticated. What were once straightforward project deals now incorporate elements of climate resilience, long-term refinancing and cross-border investor participation.
Beyond Jamaica, Paul Hastings advised on transactions tied to energy transition initiatives and logistics infrastructure, as well as financings linked to tourism recovery in several island economies. The firm’s work cut across jurisdictions that traditionally struggle to attract large pools of global capital, underscoring the Caribbean’s growing relevance in emerging markets portfolios.
Momentum, Herman says, is accelerating rather than peaking.
“As a result of what we saw this year, I think that the next year is going to be very active. It is not purely in the project financing area, but across the board,” she says.
Her outlook is shaped not only by existing mandates but by a noticeable shift in investor behavior. Historically, many institutions bypassed the Caribbean because of small population sizes and limited secondary markets. That perception is changing as infrastructure needs, tourism recovery and energy transition projects generate scale and repeat issuance.
Herman says she is fielding inquiries from both investors and financial institutions exploring lending, acquisition and partnership opportunities in the region. She expects activity to rise across M&A, project finance and sovereign issuance.
The firm’s involvement reflects the full range of its global practice. “We are seeing the full strength of our practice being used in our work in the Caribbean. It is corporate, capital markets, project finance, bank finance, M&A, trade and international arbitration,” she says. “It is fascinating and I think we are going to see a huge amount of growth over the next couple of years.”
As Caribbean markets attract deeper pools of capital and more complex transactions, Paul Hastings’ ability to operate across jurisdictions and disciplines has positioned it at the center of the region’s transformation. In a year defined by record investments and structural change, the firm emerged as one of the most consistently impactful legal advisors in the Caribbean.