Juan Barona

Juan is a partner and the head of the banking practice in Madrid. 

He has more than 25 years of national and international experience in a variety of corporate and finance work. He has broad experience in acquisition financing, leveraged financing and restructuring and he is part of Linklaters’ global restructuring and insolvency group. He has also been involved in the financing of an important number of projects in different sectors such as energy (including renewables), shipping and transport, as well as in asset (ships, aircrafts) financing transactions.

Juan is ranked by Chambers as a leading individual in banking and finance, restructuring and insolvency, and project finance, describing him as a top figure in the Spanish banking market. Market sources value him highly, describing him as “smart, quick-thinking and precise in what he does and what he says," and that “his network and the reach of his relationships is important because he knows what is going on in the market”. Clients also attest that “he always finds the right way through the situation and with the counterparty" and that "he simplifies problems, is really easy to work with and creates a fantastic work environment”.

Legal 500 ranks him as a leading individual in banking and finance.

Work highlights

Juan’s prior experience includes:

• Advising the lenders on the €725m financing granted to a vehicle owned by Bruc Energy for the construction and commissioning of several solar photovoltaic projects under development/construction with an expected installed capacity of c. 842 MW.

• Advising the lenders on the €6.6bn financing of the merge between Orange and MásMóvil (awarded M&A deal of the year by Expansión in 2023).

• Advising CVC on the €2bn financing made available to a holdco managed by CVC for the acquisition of a 20% stake in Naturgy (awarded “Deal of the Year” by Expansión in 2018).
• Advising BNZ on the first multi-country Total IPP Financing (TIPPF) in Europe, for a total of €680 million, to enable the construction of a solar PV portfolio of 1.7 GW in multiple countries.

• Advising Matrix Renewables on securing €179m in non-recourse financing from Banco Sabadell for the construction of five solar plants totalling 239MW in Castilla León and Extremadura, Spain.

• Advising CVC, as borrower, on the refinancing of the €605m acquisition financing used to acquire its stake in Exolum.