Miguel is a partner specialising in energy, infrastructure, natural resources, environment and public law.
Miguel is the Chairman of the Spanish practice, specialising in energy, infrastructure, natural resources and environment. He has more than 20 years experience helping major corporations, global investment banks, equity sponsors and public entities with domestic and cross-border transactions. These include acquisitions, public tenders, project finance, privatisations and regulatory issues, as well as related litigation and arbitration matters. Miguel helps clients with deals in Spain and many other jurisdictions.
Accolades
His expertise in energy and natural resources, environment and projects is highlighted by his Band 2 ranking in Chambers Europe and Band 1 in Legal 500. He has also been ranked in Best Lawyers since 2010.
His clients remark that the "spectacular" Miguel Riaño "has an outstanding reputation in the energy sector", "on how quickly he understands their issues", while colleagues praise his “global vision of the infrastructure sector” and his “ability to understand the objectives of the client and provide feedback with added value”; others highlight that he is "a very well-known name with a great deal of experience" and "so quick, he knows what the issue is before you open your mouth", 'very business-oriented and a great strategist. He's an asset in negotiations."
Background
Miguel joined the firm from the Madrid office of another international law firm, where he was head of the projects, energy and infrastructure practice, and co-head of the worldwide infrastructure sector. Prior to that, he was an international partner at Garrigues and a high-ranking civil servant of the Spanish Government, where he helped draft, develop and implement diverse water regulations. He speaks Spanish and English.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
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Consorcio Español Alta Velocidad Meca Medina, formed by Spanish leading rail and construction companies such as Abengoa/Inabensa, ACS/Cobra, Adif, Imathia, Indra Sistemas, Ineco, OHL, Patentes Talgo y Renfe, among others, on all legal aspects of the construction of the superstructure, systems installation, maintenance, rolling stock procurement and operation of the Haramain High-speed Railway (HHR) project Phase II, which links the two holy cities of Makkah and Medinah via Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. This is the biggest international contract ever won by Spanish companies and the first construction of a high-speed AVE (Alta Velocidad Española) line outside Spain
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The Kingdom of Spain on the international arbitration claim filed by several investment funds based on the Energy Charter Treaty (regarding new solar photovoltaic Spanish legislation)
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Abengoa Water and Sojitz Corporation on the development and MIGA backed financing of a 60,000 m3/d reverse osmosis water desalination project in Accra, Ghana, including the drafting and negotiation of the project agreements and the coordination and negotiation of the financing of the project
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Cobre Las Cruces on all legal aspects of the opening and development of the largest copper mining project in Europe located in Seville, Spain, including the negotiation with the Public Administrations involved, permits, subsidies, expropriations, acquisition of land, power supply, corporate issues, project financing, litigation, etc.
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Berkeley Resources on the project development and financing of a uranium mining project in Salamanca, Spain
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Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) on the acquisition from Acciona of a minority stake (up to 49%) with assets in Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico (among other Latin America countries)
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