Practice
Michael McGuinness, a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, leads the firm’s Latin American M&A practice. A fluent Spanish speaker of Mexican descent, he manages complicated, cross-border transactions in the region, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. He also maintains an active U.S. M&A practice.

Mr. McGuinness returned to Shearman & Sterling in 2009 from General Electric, where he held a number of senior legal roles, including General Counsel of GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies. While at GE, he received CEO Awards in recognition of his work on the sale of GE Insurance Solutions, the sale of a majority interest in Genpact and the purchase of Smiths Aviation.

Mr. McGuinness was recognized as a “Legal Star” by the Latin Business Chronicle in its publication of the leading 30 lawyers from international firms and is ranked as a “Leading Individual” for Latin American Corporate and M&A by The Legal 500. Mr. McGuinness also received an honorable mention Dealmaker of the Year from the American Lawyer in 2012 for his frequent presence on Latin American transactions.

Mr. McGuinness is an elected member of the firm’s Policy Committee.

• General Electric Company in its pending $4.3 billion acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A; in its $4.8 billion purchase of Smiths Aerospace, the aviation division of Smiths Group plc; in its $9.3 billion sale of GE Insurance Solutions, GE’s property and casualty business, to Swiss Re; in its $825 million sale of Medical Protective Liability, GE’s malpractice insurance business, to Berkshire Hathaway; in its $500 million sale of majority interest in Genpact (formerly known as Gecis), GE’s business process outsourcing business, to General Atlantic Partners and Oakhill Capital; and in its $800 million sale of Global Exchange Services, GE’s information services division, to Francisco Partners
• Helm Corporation in its pending sale of Helm Bank SA to CorpBanca Columbia, a subsidiary of CorpBanca SA, for cash and shares
• GrupoSura in its approximately $3.6 billion acquisition of ING’s Latin American pensions, life insurance and investment management operations and in its related co-investment transactions with General Atlantic Partners, the IFC and JPMorgan
• Anglo American plc in its sale to Mitsubishi of a 24.5% interest in Anglo American Sur, a Chilean copper mining company; in its subsequent settlement of the related dispute, and $2.8 billion sale of an interest in AA Sur to, CODELCO, a Chilean state-owned company, and Mitsui; and in its $1.0 billion auction sale of Moly Cop and AltaSteel businesses to OneSteel Limited
• Industrias Bachoco in the purchase of OK Foods, in its inaugural acquisition in the US
• JBS in its joint venture with US-based Link Snacks, Inc.; in multiple acquisitions of blocks of shares of Pilgrim’s Pride from Pilgrim Interests, Ltd.; and in its $2.8 billion acquisition of a majority stake and certain assets of Pilgrim’s Pride through a US bankruptcy proceeding
• Indústrias Romi SA, the Brazilian machine tools manufacturer, in its unsolicited offer to purchase the US company Hardinge Inc.
• Eton Park Capital Management LP in its controlling equity investment in HydroChile SA, a small hydroelectric energy company in Chile
• Cyrela Commercial Properties in its Brazil-focused $400 million real estate venture with GIC Real Estate (the real estate investment arm of the Singapore Investment Corporation) and CPPIB US RE-A (a subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)
• SmithKline Beecham plc in its $1.63 billion sale of anti-viral drugs Famvir and Denavir/Vectavir to Novartis AG and in its $1.23 billion sale of anti-emitic drug Kytril to Roche Holding AG
• Intermagnetics General Corporation in its initial unsolicited bid for Invivo Corporation and in its later friendly $152 million acquisition of Invivo
• Quest Diagnostics Incorporated in its strategic alliance with Enterix Inc., a provider of colorectal cancer screening tests
• Thomson Corporation in its strategic alliance with Unext, Inc., an online provider of business education backed by an academic consortium including Stanford and Columbia
• Mexican project company Cantarell Nitrogen Company S.A. and its principal shareholders—BOC Group, Inc., Marubeni Corporation and Westcoast Energy Inc.—in the start-up, construction and $623 million limited recourse financing of world’s largest nitrogen production facility
• Fondo Mexicano para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza in its fundraising activities in connection with the development of the IMAX film Flight of the Butterflies
• A domestic partner of a victim of WTC tragedy before Federal Victims Compensation Fund

• American Bar Association
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• International Bar Association

• “Investment: The Middle East Comes to Latin America,” Americas Quarterly, Spring 2010 (with Manuel Orillac). http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/1529
• “Corporate Governance for Foreign Private Issuers: Overview,” Corporate and Securities web service at http://uscorporate.practicallaw.com/2-386-6205, PRACTICAL LAW COMPANY (w/R. Ellison, F. Camara & F. Sakai, 2009)
• “Going Private Transactions: a Practitioner’s Guide,” 30 THE DELAWARE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE LAW 2 (with T. Rehbock, 2005)
• “The Politics of Labor Regulation in North America: a Reconsideration of Labor Law Enforcement in Mexico,” 21 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW 1 (2000)
• “The Landscape of Labor Law Enforcement in North America: an Examination of Mexico’s Labor Regulatory Policy and Practice,” 29 LAW & POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, THE INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL OF GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER 365 (1998)
• Recent Development, The Protection of Labor Rights in North America: a Commentary on the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, 30 STANFORD JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 579 (1994)
• “Hacia una Política Social para América del Norte: Ensayo sobre la Importancia de la Carta Social y el Fondo Estructural Europeos para el TLCAN, in MÉXICO, ESTADOS-UNIDOS, CANADA,” 1991-92 at 131 (Gustavo Vega Canova ed., 1993)