Gonzalo A Vargas has been a partner in the Mexico City law firm Gonzalez Calvillo SC since 1991. He graduated with honours from the Universidad Anahuac, is a certified mediator and has undertaken postgraduate studies in tax law and international arbitration.

He has extensive experience in providing legal and business advice and counsel, both to multinational and Mexican companies, in various different types of multimillion-dollar projects and investments in the areas of real estate, infrastructure and the hospitality industry. His practice also includes the structuring of joint ventures and consortiums for the purpose of carrying out development, infrastructure and investment projects. He strives to cover and combine aspects commonly addressed in foreign jurisdictions in real estate transactions, jointly with aspects typical to such projects under the Mexican legal system, thus guaranteeing the legal issues of any cross-border transaction or international project while offering an integrated and personalised service to his clients. Mr Vargas Ateca's practice also has significant experience in performing due diligence reviews of real estate assets and has implemented sophisticated purchase and sale schemes, always searching to minimise tax impacts on his clients' assets and transactions.

For the past 25 years Mr Vargas Ateca has developed critical knowledge and made key contacts through his work with national and multinational developers, financial institutions, general contractors, management companies, architectural firms, sponsors, brokers, service companies and other clients in a broad range of transactions related to the real estate sector, including their participation in international public and private bids associated with the acquisition of major real estate assets or construction of infrastructure. He also provides advice for the management of distressed assets and is widely recognised in the Mexican legal and business sectors due to his experience in relation to the construction, acquisition and sale of golf courses and clubs and also the design and implementation of transactions involving the management and operation of various hotels, clubs, convention centres and similar venues.

Mr Vargas Ateca is an active member of boards of directors of several joint venture companies and has served both as special counsel to parties and as an expert witness in domestic and international arbitration proceedings. He is also a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants, an exclusive society of over 200 professionals, which has become one of the world's most reliable sources of expertise and counsel in the hospitality industry.