A new sports campus in Guatemala, a luxury hotel in Costa Rica, and a debt-for-nature swap in El Salvador might seem worlds apart. But one firm has been central to them all: BLP.
Business Law Partners, or BLP, is today the dominant regional player in Central America, with more than 150 lawyers across 28 practices in five countries. If a transformative deal is taking shape in the region, chances are BLP is at the table. Its reputation for handling complex, high-impact projects has once again made it Infrastructure Law Firm of the Year – Central America.
“BLP’s strength lies with its capacity to work on complex projects that bring together infrastructure development with environmental and social demands,” says partner Mónica Malcotti.
That capacity was tested on the San Cristóbal Green Academics & Sports Campus in Guatemala, a $60 million project that took more than four years to structure. Backed by IDB Invest and CABEI, the initiative integrates a K-12 school, a university, and world-class sports facilities designed to meet international standards. BLP advised lenders on the legal due diligence, bankability assessment, and the intricate usufruct agreements that tied the project to public land and federated sports bodies.
“It is a landmark project for Guatemala and Central America,” Malcotti says. “I think that this project shows how things can be done with social infrastructure.”
The firm has also been instrumental in Costa Rica’s push to strengthen its tourism infrastructure, acting as legal advisor to investors in a $155 million syndicated refinancing for Nekajui, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel on the country’s exclusive Península Papagayo. The resort, developed by Gencom Group, represents the high end of Costa Rica’s tourism sector, a key growth engine for the economy.
“There is a strong connection between tourism and opportunities for infrastructure,” says founding partner Luis Castro. Airports, water systems, and transport projects often follow in tourism’s wake, he adds, and legal structures must keep pace.
BLP’s scope also extends to energy and environmental innovation. The firm advised on El Salvador’s landmark $1 billion debt-for-nature conversion, channeling savings over 20 years into conservation of the Lempa River watershed, which supplies nearly 70% of the country’s water needs. Backed by the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and CAF, this sovereign transaction is the most ambitious of its kind in Latin America, setting a precedent for aligning debt management with environmental resilience.
Partner Julio Castellanos, who specializes in project finance, points to the sector’s momentum: Costa Rica is preparing new renewable tenders after nearly a decade, Honduras approved regulations for battery storage systems in 2024, and governments across the region are integrating electric mobility into their energy agendas.
“We have seen a great deal of appetite, especially in bus fleets,” Castellanos says. “There is demand to structure financing for e-mobility.”
He also sees a new chapter unfolding in public-private partnerships (PPPs). BLP is leading the structuring of a PPP for Costa Rica’s Caldera Port, the country’s main Pacific gateway, a project expected to bee Costa Rica’s first major PPP in more than ten years.
“It is an extremely important project for Costa Rica. It will start a new chapter in infrastructure development,” says Castellanos.
The firm’s versatility is underscored by its work advising Canadian-based Aura Minerals in its acquisition of Guatemala’s Cerro Blanco mining project, a politically sensitive, complex deal carried out under tight deadlines. Successfully closing the transaction, BLP notes, sent a strong signal about the country’s investment potential.