About
IKER ARRIOLA IS A PARTNER OF THE FIRM AND HEADS OUR MADRID OFFICE. HIS PRACTICE FOCUSES ON MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS AND CORPORATE LAW.
Iker advises national and international companies on mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, business alliances, capital markets transactions, disputes between investors and shareholders, and corporate law matters. His practice has also encompassed competition law, including antitrust investigations and merger proceedings, as well as commercial arbitration and administrative, civil, commercial, and corporate litigation.
In his career, the most representative private and public M&A deals include the acquisition of Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana by Kansas City Southern; the initial public offering of Financiera Independencia on the Mexican Stock Exchange; the sales of Mexicana de Aviación and Aeroméxico by Cintra; the sale by Pfizer Inc. of its nutrition business to Nestlé S.A. (awarded Merger Control Matter of the Year by Global Competition Review in 2013); the sale of Tequila Milagro to William Grant & Sons; the sale of Comex USA to Sherwin Williams; the sale of Consorcio Comex to PPG Industries, Inc. (Mexico's largest private M&A transaction in 2014 and several subsequent years); the sale of Universidad del Valle de México to Laureate Education Inc.; the sale of Grupo Turín to Mars Inc.; Live Nation Entertainment Inc.'s acquisition of control of OCESA; and the co-investment of Grupo Financiero Banorte with Rappi for the creation of a digital bank. In distressed M&A, he advised Altán Redes and its shareholders in the restructuring of Altán Redes as part of a pre-pack process (recognized as the International Company Turnaround/Transaction of the Year 2023 by the Turnaround and Transaction Award Committee).
Iker has led our European office in Madrid since September 2022. In his role as Resident Partner of our European office, among other responsibilities, he is in charge of liaising and coordinating our different practice areas with our clients in Europe to secure round-the-clock operational efficiencies for our European clients' matters in Mexico. Our Madrid office also serves as a Transatlantic sharing platform for business opportunities and market intelligence.
Iker has been recognized as a leading lawyer by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 since 2007. In 2012, Expansión magazine named him one of the 30 Promises Under 30. In 2024, he was recognized in the first edition of the M&A Powerlist Latin America published by Legal 500. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, he was recognized as a Stand-out Lawyer by Thomson Reuters.
He obtained his law degree from Universidad Iberoamericana and a Master's in European Union Community Law from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His native language is Spanish, with the highest proficiency in English.
Iker currently serves or has served as an independent board member for several companies, mainly in the financial sector.