The developers of the business park in Costa del Este have hired a US company (Hines) to manage the facility.
April 16, 2005, 6:27PM
Hines extends its global reach
Developer hired to manage site for businesses in Panama City
By NANCY SARNOFF
Houston-based Hines, one of the world’s largest private developers, has been hired to manage a business park in Panama.
This is Hines’ first foray into the Central American nation, although the company has been doing business in Mexico and other Latin American countries for years.
The 1.4-million-square-foot project in Panama is called Costa del Este. It is still under construction and will be completed this summer.
The five-building complex, just outside Panama City’s main business district, will include four office buildings with 538,000 square feet, a restaurant, health club, underground garage and a sprawling park with a reflection pond.
The property was designed by Kaplan, McLaughlin, Diaz Architects of Mexico City.
Tenants planning to move into the property include Copa Airlines, of which Houston-based Continental owns a stake; Johnson & Johnson; Telefonica; and Adidas.
The project is being developed by the Motta family, which has interests in banking, insurance, transportation and real estate.
Hines, which has expanded in such cities as Beijing, Barcelona and Berlin, is constantly eyeing untapped markets.
The company said it’s too early to know if its Panamanian venture would lead to development projects there.
“We’re just learning the market,” spokeswoman Kim Jagger said.
Hines is also looking into possible developments in India.
“We’re spending a lot of time analyzing development opportunities in India in all of the major cities,” Jagger said.
There’s been little movement on a Hines office and hotel project in Libya. Chairman Gerald Hines announced his intentions to build there during a speech at a conference in Houston last year.
“We’ve looked carefully at a development opportunity in Tripoli but are not actively in discussions surrounding it at this time,” Jagger said.
SOURCE: Don Winner @ Panama-guide.com
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There are about 150 banks in Panama and they come in several flavors. One is the offshore bank that can only do business with entities not in Panama. There are banks that can only do business with entities in Panama and then there are banks that can do business with those offshore as well as those entities within Panama. In addition there are Savings and Loans (like a Building Society in UK) which operate like banks except they must invest 70% of their long term deposits in Panama real estate with appropriate controls.
If you are not living here and just walk in to your local bank on the corner I doubt you will get an account opened no matter what country you are from. If you own or rent a home here then things are different. You should have a cell phone number, a regular house phone number, a mailing address (mail does not get delivered to your house in Panama, you need a mail box), a good reason as to what you are doing in Panama like retired, a bank reference from your home country (states how long you have had an account, average balance and that you are in good standing), reference letter from local people who know you, and a reference letter from lawyer or accountant back home. Then add in your passport and drivers license and you should be good to go with a letter explaining your source of funds such as commissions, savings, proceeds from house sale, etc. It would be a real bad idea to try to open an account with a cash deposit instead use a wire transfer from your home town bank. Do not make any substantial cash deposits as this would be a warning flag. Checks from USA will take 3-4 weeks to clear. You are not allowed to write Panama checks outside of the country. They will give you a Visa or MasterCard Debit Card readily with your account. Most banks have Internet Banking.
If you get a residency first before opening the account it will be easier and all these references may not be needed. More on Visas, Residency and Citizenship can be found here.
Privacy and Banking in Panama Panama has serious bank secrecy laws. Your money here is safe from lawyers and others who wish to abusively take it away from you. Collecting a civil debt from another country in Panama is close to impossible, don’t plan on it happening. A government trying to get at your money has numerous difficulties. First it must be a national government. Next it has to involve a criminal case on file in their court system. The equivalent of their Justice Department contacts the State department and through their consulate in Panama papers are filed according to the MLAT (Mutual legal Assistance Treaty) by their consulate in Panama with the Panama Government. The papers are reviewed and questions in return are filed along with requests for more information. Thus the dance begins and can last years. If the request is lawful the information will eventually be supplied. Sometimes the country which the bank is located in may themselves get interested thinking a crime may have been committed in their country let us say, and they may seize the records and keep them for a long time while they do their investigation.
Your money here is safe from lawyers and others who wish to abusively take it away from you. The MLAT is a process that the USA would like to play more of but other countries are generally sick and tired of it and do not like it at all. If you are a criminal and they are after you they will eventually have the bank records and even get the money seized. A fun trick the USA plays is once they find out how much money their target has and can justify to their courts confiscating it, they then confiscate this amount from the offshore banks correspondent bank in the USA telling the bank to take the money back from so and so depositor who was their target. If in the interim from the time the USA has the bank records and made the seizure against the correspondents bank account the depositor took all or part of his money out of the bank and the USA took the full amount away, the bank would be in the position of trying to get the USA to return the money which probably would never happen or if so years later after a court battle that would cost a fortune. So now many people have taken to keeping their funds in Euros or non dollar denominated accounts so the USA can’t possibly say the money on deposit in America is theirs in whole or part. With few exceptions Panama Banks only have dollar accounts.
In Summary There are banks and then there are banks in Panama. Some are better than others. There is no FDIC or FSLIC in Panama. Make sure you get recommended to a bank before you open a bank account in Panama, don’t just pick one. So if you are privacy conscious I would avoid the Canadian and British Banks.
Panamaexpertos.com Call us — 561-210-5832
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
It’s easy to travel in Panama. Read on to find out how and explore the dispelling of two common myths.
I began to get anxious. Did Mario forget me? I left him only a week before leaving with him only the day and time I would return. Would he be at the airport to retrieve me?
As I focused my gaze through the window of, what seemed to be a twin-engine and very small plane, I became entranced by the topography. I flew into Panama City from David and was awestruck as my eyes rested on the Bridge of the Americas. I took a snapshot through the thick glass and walla; I really captured it. Although I didn’t know it until I arrived home. I was a relic still using a thirty-five mm so I had to wait and see. From the air I could see the Panama Canal and I contemplated. Should I go see it?
Would I have time? My plane back to the States would leave at 2:30 p.m. and it was nearly 10 a.m.
I weighed all the facts. The Canal is one of the Modern Wonders of the World. I was so close, could I afford to miss it? At a cost twenty dollars and the escort hourly fee of twenty?
We landed. I didn’t see Mario anywhere when I got off, so I found a phone and called. Whew, I was relieved. He was on his way. He had not forgotten. The roadway and traffic in the city was heavy. I was left with the impression it was a day like any other; a fast and furious, beat the traffic day in Panama City.
As I waited a local Kuna Indian in her native dress was waiting for a bus. Her garb, which was typical of all the Kunas in the crowd, included beaded arm sleeves and leggings. Extremely hot colored and patterned cotton material made up the dress that wrapped around similar to a sari. Each Kuna female I saw at Albrook that day wore a red patterned headscarf. The appendage pieces were of orange-colored beads making everything look hot. Hot colors and black backgrounds in such humidity!
I wanted a photo of her, although myths abound about natives fearing their spirit/soul will be stolen if one is taken. No matter what native we might see, that is the standard belief about them. I asked the lady’s name.
She told me, “It is Beatrice.”
And I repeated, “Beatrice,” to be certain I heard her correctly. That is when I asked what native she was and she told me Kuna Indian.
I then asked if she would mind if I took her photo. Beatrice was willing to be photographed for a price.
She said, “One dollar.”
I paid her the dollar for a photo and five dollars for a piece of her handiwork; which is only the beginning of a kitchen mitt, but it is a colorful toucan on black cotton, and I couldn’t leave it behind. I just couldn’t pass up owning a true native piece of artwork. The Kuna are excellent seamstresses. The Embera tribe is known for their material crafting as well, at least the ones I met in Boquete.
Beatrice was old and very thin, perhaps ninety pounds, if that. Her face was a bronze-brown and cheeks sunken in because her teeth were missing. She was very sure of herself and seemed not only crafty, but also wily.
When my driver fetched me my plan was to go directly to Tocumen Airport for my flight back to Denver. But on the way we got waylaid. Mario, had to make many detours. A demonstration was taking place on the only bridge to Tocumen. The presidential election had just taken place and Torrijos, the son of an ex-dictator was elected, while the female presidente Morocoso was out on her ear. A traffic jam ensued and we were stuck in mall parking lots often as we tried to find an escape route. I decided then I had time to spend at the Canal. Mario finally maneuvered our way out of the shopping mall and we detoured to the Canal. We beat the traffic and by-passed the bridge.
We toured through the now empty military barracks. He explained to me that the government would not allow the barracks to be used even for temporary housing for the city’s poor. The city is like a beehive, but in contrast, the barracks like a graveyard, barren with no signs of life.
June is hot and humid in the City, but once inside the museum and tour area it is just right. I wasn’t going to do it, but I did break down and I’m so glad I did. It is an awesome place soaked with history and beautiful sights, and if you stay outside long
enough you get soaked, too. Drenched with the heavy humidity and perhaps even a tear or two in empathy for those you gave their lives to build this awesome structure.
The Panama Canal is something that should just not be missed. The museum at Miraflores Lock has an outstanding display of facts and photos of those that died building the canal, the number of dead being 20,000. It tells where they were from (most from the West Indies) and why they were there, how they lived, and how they built it. It further describes the types of machinery it took to build it, and the cost, along with brilliant models of ships, rail cars and a simulation machine making it appear as though you are on a ship rising on a water elevator. If you are an entomologist, go just for that display. I have never seen such large bugs in my entire life. The more I saw and heard, the more my mouth dropped to the floor.
The fee for passage through the Canal is astronomical. The ships I saw began on the Pacific side, at the Mira Flores Locks, traveling on to the Pedro Miguel Locks and ending at the Gatun Locks in Colon on the Atlantic side. The expanse of the Isthmus is a mere 80 KM from ocean to ocean and the canal itself is 51 miles.
The price paid for passage seems high to me being from such humble beginnings and frugal spending habits. Since Hurricane Katrina, the price that ships pay now is much more, but it would be even greater if they chose to travel around Cape Horn and back to the West Coast of the U.S.
What I witnessed that day was historical for me. The two ships idling from Lock to Lock, the enormous size of the ships riding a water elevator is even unbelievable in concept, much less reality. And the prices they did have to pay that day, when I heard it, well, I was stunned. According to the tour announcer the Israeli ship paid $105,000 and a Norwegian ship paid $190,000 for passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The orange ship was from Norway crossing through the Canal on June 23, 2004. The Israeli ship had the containers on it. The sailors offered friendly waves.
The brochures claim the Canal averages nearly $600 million billion per year. “$450 million is spent each year for the overall operation of the Panama Canal, of which nearly $100 million is committed to maintaining and improving the waterway,” a quote from http://www.panamacanal.com/map.htm . If you are a history buff this site is loaded with historical fact. Even though the figures for maintenance are also astronomicalFeature Articles, my thought was what happens to the remaining $50 million? How much of it went toward helping the city’s poor?
The container-laden ship from Israel carried approximately 4000 metal containers of goods stacked six to eight high. These containers are railroad car sized. The locks themselves are 305 meters long and 33 meters wide. The ships fit with two feet to spare on either side; fore and aft there is room to go forward under their own power and idle as the water in the next elevator rises. The next shot is the Israeli ship with its containers on the second elevator of water. The water rises 26 meters in eight minutes. It is all fresh water gravity driven from Gatun Lake. Ships save a lot of time and fuel expense by traveling the canal.
I recommend you not miss this wonder of the world. For a trusting friend and guide I recommend going to this website http://www.solarteinn.com/SI-Trans-Ground.HTML. Contact information for Jose Saenz can be found here. He will treat you well and be certain you are safe. Jose and Mario speak English. Jose’ direct number is 011 507 614-7811 and email bocasfrog@yahoo.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Linda also studied painting at the Art Academy in Loveland, CO and loves to travel, write, paint, design, and decorate
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
Offshore financial centers are often used to run tax shelters. They have little or no taxes, and little or no financial regulations. For example, in the British Virgin Islands, corporations can be formed without the public disclosure of the names of the directors or officers of the corporation. Favorite offshore tax havens include colonial relics such as the Cayman Islands (British), the Dutch Antilles and Curacao (Netherlands). Other places are feudal relics like Monaco, Liechentenstein and Andorra in Europe, or other nominally independent small nations from the old British, Dutch and French Empires. Other places historically in the U.S. zone of influence are Panama and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The leading offshore center is the Cayman Islands, which is now the fifth largest banking center in the world, after New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
This is the backdrop on looking over legal papers from a court opinion on July 20th 2006. The judge in Texas District court ruled that certain technicalities of the case against the BLIPS tax shelter were wrong. This will have some effects in the case against 8 KPMG Accounting Firm former executives. KPMG itself has already pled guilty and paid a $456 million fine. One gets a feeling how these illegal tax shelter were carried out from these papers. BLIPS stands for Bond Linked Issue Premium Structure. It created a financial structure to make the capital gains tax deductions, through a capital loss. However, this loss had been paid at the beginning of the deal as the premium, hence the BLIPS.
The mechanism was as follows: Two companies in the Isle of Man (UK), St. Croix and another investment firm Rogue each borrowed $41.7 million from National Westminster Bank. The loans were for 7 years at fixed interest rates. The loans paid Interest Only, until a balloon payment at the end of the 7 years. St. Croix and Rogue agreed to pay high interest rates of 17.97%, in exchange for a $25 million payment to them from Nat West at the time the loans originated. So St. Croix and Rogue, received at the beginning of the loans a total of $66.7 million. Then the $66.7 million plus $1.5 million from each was put in an interest bearing loan at Nat West.
In addition, St. Croix and Rogue agreed to pay $25 million to NatWest, if they paid off the loan early, which is exactly what they did a couple of weeks later, May 25th, 2000. To make it a little juicier, the two onshore companies behind the offshore companies had an interest swap deal with NatWest, where they received a floating interest rate, in exchange for the high fixed interest rate. Those under indictment argued that the $25 million that they received upfront was a liability or not. It was money they received, but it was not actually ?loaned? to them. Plaintiffs argued that it was not a liability under IRS section 762, because this money was never lent to them. The tax shelters aim to create an illusion of capital losses, and also interest payments, both of which are tax deductible.Howard Giske is a legal consultant for legal information for small businesses and Incorporation services for http://www.incparadise.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Howard_Giske
In todays fast-paced and highly competitive globalized economy, corporations need to be highly mobile. This means that they must have quick access to their cash assets at a moments notice. More often, home countries have strict laws on the withdrawal of large amounts of cash, especially if they are in dollars.
Corporations then seek sanctuary in countries with less strict guidelines and create what is termed as offshore bank accounts. This is a practice around the globe for big companies. The favorite destinations for offshore banking are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Delaware, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liberia, Mauritius, Nevis, Panama, and Turks & Calicos Islands.
Offshore banking allows corporations to be more flexible with their cash assets, enabling them to pursue opportunities at a faster pace. These offshore banks also shield them from the prying eyes of institutions that are after their financial assets.
This practice is a widely accepted fact among financial and business circles. Even governments have no laws preventing offshore backing. There are, however, international laws that regulate these offshore banking systems to monitor and catch money-laundering activities and other illegal transactions. One such regulation is the IBC, or the International Banking Corporation, that mandates all accountholders to have an incorporated entity in the host country.
Most offshore banks provide their clients with a debit-and-credit automated teller card to allow them to withdrawal and deposit cash to their accounts wherever they are and whenever they choose. This is an important feature for most corporations, as they do not have to constantly fly in to their offshore bank to transact their business. Through online banking, they can also transfer their funds to anywhere in the world. Another advantage of an offshore account is that it is not subjected to taxes. So depositors and accountholders can enjoy the full benefits of the interest rates.
Offshore Banking provides detailed information on Offshore Banking, Antigua Offshore Banking, Offshore Banking Accounts, Bahamas Offshore Banking and more. Offshore Banking is affiliated with Online Banking Services.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Morris
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
What is Offshore Companies: An Offshore Company is a limited company who establish in foreign countries for get more benefit from easy tax structure offered by offshore jurisdictions. Offshore jurisdictions are uses for those countries who provides easy tax structure for get more international investment. The popular offshore jurisdictions are hong kong, china, b.v.i, samoa, seychelles, panama and etc. Offshore company is also knows as international business company.
Company Formation Services: Some company formation consultants or company formation services offers Company Formation Services to investors or businessmen who want to set up business in the foreign countries. These company formation service providers enable client to navigate the often daunting government rules and regulations required to establish offshore business.
Benefits of Offshore Company Formation: 1. International Trading2. Virtual Office3. Tax minimization4. Asset protection5. Property and land ownership6. A more favorable business climate7. Security of property rights8. Nominee services and directors9. Commercial services and sourcing
Professionals that can use an offshore company: 1. Marketing and communications professionals2. Private Film Makers3. Recruitment consultants 4. Life, sports and fitness coaches5. Executive producers, television producers6. Website Designers, programmers, IT consultants, web developers. 7. Teachers of any foreign language.8. Phisical Trainer9. Business Consultant
Aspen Global Incorporation is a company formation service provider offers http://www.aspenoffshore.com/ offshore company formation in hong kong, china, bvi, seychelles, belize and other offshore jurisdictions.
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
Panama Banking Law by Smythe Bradley
Panama Banking Law The Panama banking legal structure has some excellent features for an offshore banking jurisdiction and tax haven which Panama certainly is in addition to being a retirement haven. Our law firm will discuss some of these points of law to help a prospective investor better understand the workings of the Panama Banking System.
Panama Superintend of Banks This position was created when Panama revised its banking laws for the betterment of Panama as an offshore tax haven. The position is a judicial personage and was created to be independent of the other components of the Panama Government. The Superintend of Banks was enabled to have its own separate funds from the central government and is allowed to administer its own agent autonomously from the rest of the government. The Superintend of Banks is responsible to the Panama Constitution, Banking Laws and the General Comptroller of Panama. It is relatively free of interference by other parts of the Panama Government.
Panama Superintend of Banks Responsibilities They are as follows: Issuing the licenses to banks operating inside of Panama, regulating the banking sector of Panama which includes other non-bank regulated financial businesses, the right to do a bank reorganization, liquidation or in some way restrict, supervise or control the operation of a bank in distress, give approval to banks merging together or acquiring other banks in Panama, and in general controlling itself and the banks and other licensed entities under its supervision. Since the Americans left on 12/31/1999 there has been one bank failure in Panama and the troubles would have begun before 2000.
Panama Banking Licenses The following describes the different types of banking licenses available in Panama.
Panama General Banking License This license requires a $10,000,000 paid in capital (think cash deposit with the Government of Panama) and is a full banking license enabling to bank to have both onshore and offshore clients.
Panama International Banking License This license requires a $3,000,000 cash deposit with the government of Panama. This license could be referred to as an offshore banking license and only enables the bank to conduct its activities with offshore entities although the bank itself is in Panama. It can not do business with Panama Corporation, Panama Foundations and Panama residents or citizens.
Panama Foreign Representation License This is a license enabling a foreign bank to operate in Panama. They must have the permission of the banking authorities from their home country. This has a $10,000,000 paid in capital requirement which may not need to be kept inside of Panama.
Panama Bank Legal Prohibitions Licensed Panama banks can not do any of the following:
* Panama Banks may only make payments or dividends through shares after having complied with any and all requirements for minimum capital and have reserve levels met for amortized or delayed expense accounting entries. * Panama Banks can not loan to any one entity be that a judicial or natural personage, any line of credit greater than 5% of the total deposits and capital of the bank. * Panama Banks can not lend in an unsecured way and loans or lines of credit exceeding 15% of their capital. Or exceeding 25% of their capital in regards to secured loans, to any of the banks directors, or to a judicial entity where one of the directors is an officer of the lending bank or a director of the lending bank. The same applies to banks managers, officers, employees and their spouses with the exception being secured real estate loans for a personal residence.About the Author
Smythe Bradley is an expat living in The Republic of Panama. He has published many articles on offshore asset protection in panama, panama visas and residency, as well as many other expat issues.
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
Panama IBC by Smythe Bradley
Panama IBC Introduction A Panama IBC is an International Business Corporation incorporated in Panama. Most of the 400,000 corporations in Panama are of the anonymous bearer share type and are eligible to conduct business around the world as well as inside of the Republic of Panama.
Panama IBC Limitations To be accurate Panama does not have IBC entities in the strict definition of the term. An offshore IBC is not allowed to do business in the country where it was formed. It can not engage in commercial activities in that jurisdiction. It can not have a bank account in that country. It can not own real estate in that country. It can not have a stock brokerage account in that country. In Panama we generally form a bearer share corporation for our clients. This bearer share corporation can have a Panama bank account, a Panama stock brokerage account, own real estate in Panama or anywhere else, do business in Panama and so forth. The IBC format is a very limited type of corporate structure and Panama only offers a better more flexible corporation.
Panama IBC Bearer Shares Sometimes an offshore IBC can issue bearer shares and sometimes not. It depends on the jurisdiction being used for the corporate formation. If bearer shares are being issued one must pay attention as to whether or not the shares can be issued in blank as they can be so issued in Panama. One must also determine if the shares can be held anywhere in the world or if they must be kept with the registered agent in the country where the IBC was formed. Panama allows the shares to be kept anywhere in the world. One needs to consider what reportage requirements there are for the sale of the corporation and the transferring of the shares. Panama has no such requirements. Whether or not any ownership records are in the public domain is another important question to consider when evaluating a jurisdiction for privacy and asset protection. Panama does not put any ownership records pertaining to any Panama Corporation or Panama Foundation in the public domain in fact the Panama Government never collects any ownership records on the Panama corporations. It is possible to have a Panama Foundation own the shares of the Panama Corporation thus removing one from being in the position of being the owner. Panama Foundations by definition do not have owners and have no share certificates.
Panama IBC Taxation Panama corporations only pay a fixed annual tax of $300 per year if their income is offshore derived. Panama also has no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax and no tax on bank interest income. The lack of taxes applies to the Panama Corporation and to private individuals.
Panama IBC Formation Times A Panama corporation can be formed in 2-3 working days from the time our law firm has received the funds and required documents. One does not have to come to Panama to form a Panama corporation or Panama IBC.
Panama IBC Nominees Panama corporations can use nominee directors who do not know the owners of the corporation. The nominees are trusted by our law firm. One must have at least two nominees. Nominees can also be judicial persons like other corporations.
Panama IBC Real Estate Ownership A Panama IBC can be used to hold real estate anonymously anywhere in the world. Through the use of bearer shares the Panama Corporation is anonymous in that no ownership records appear in any public registry or database and the government does not even have any records showing who owns the corporation.
Panama IBC Banking A Panama IBC can have one or more bank accounts in Panama bank accounts or banks in other countries. The bank accounts would be in the name of the Panama IBC. One need not come to Panama to have a bank account for their Panama IBC or even a personal Panama bank account.
Panama IBC Stock Brokerage Accounts A Panama IBC can have stock brokerage accounts in Panama or in other countries around the world.About the Author
Smythe Bradley is an expat living in The Republic of Panama. He has published many articles on offshore asset protection in panama, panama visas and residency, as well as many other expat issues.
SOURCE: panama-travel-bureau.com
David, Panama ContentDesk) June 19, 2006 — Panama Farms Noni of David, Panama has announced its merger with the San Jose company Costa Rican Tropical Noni. This move brings the total to three companies that have been purchased or that have merged and are now operating under the name Panama Farms. Last year Leap of Faith Farms, another Panama company and an exporter of BULK NONI Juices and Powders, merged with Panama Farms. Mike Vorderburg, Vice President of Operations at Panama Farms told us that “Panama Farms Noni now has the capacity and manufacturing expertise to compete head to head with the market leaders like Tahitian Noni and Hawaiian Noni - two companies that have dominated the market for the last several years. Panama Farms has a full line of Certified Organic products,something that neither Hawaiian nor Tahitian Noni has.
Panama farms wil sell finished products OR Bulk Noni juice so our customers can choose to bottle themselves if they wish to. Plus Panama Farms is ready to price very aggresively in order to take business from these companies. We are very happy to have the people from Costa Rican Noni with us.” Management and staff from Costa Rican Noni has been absorbed in the merger. The tow companies’ comined expertise inInternational business and manufacturing will make a formidable force in the market for Noni health Supplements..
June 14, 2006 — Attorney Álvaro Javier Aguilar joined the Panama law firm of Lombardi Cambra & Co. as a partner. Mr. Aguilar has advised multinational and local clients in real estate purchases and development, international mergers and acquisitions, tax planning, real estate investment funds, joint ventures, trusts, foundations, software licensing, e-commerce, and electronic transfer of funds. Transactions where Mr.
Aguilar has advised include the purchase of real estate by a US retailer, purchase by a US finance entity of a stake in a Central American bank, tax arrangements and sale of a property to a Panama-US joint venture and the structuring of a real estate joint venture for US investors.Mr. Aguilar has published articles on intellectual property, taxation of low-tax transactions, banking law, as well as other business law matters in several international publications. He has lectured before the Panama and New York Bar Associations and the Panama College of Accountants.Mr. Aguilar served as board member of the Panama Bar Association, representing the group in the negotiations of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and the implementation of the 2005 Tax Reform. He serves as Chair of the Commission of Foreign Trade and International Relations of said Association, board member of the Panama-American Chamber of Commerce and country co-chair of the New York State Bar Association chapter in Panama.He graduated from Universidad Santa Maria law school in Panama and received his LLM in International Trade & Banking from Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C.As part of the growth strategy of the law firm, Aguilar joins attorneys Jorge Lombardi and Ricardo Cambra in the partnership, which will change its name to Lombardi Cambra & Aguilar.About Lombardi, Cambra & Co.
Lombardi, Cambra & Co. was created as an alternative for clients worldwide who seek fast, innovative and effective solutions to their legal problems. The firm currently provides services to individual and corporate clients in Panama as well in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its partners maintain a commitment with professional ethics and social responsibility by participating in the board of directors of groups such as the Panama Bar Association, the German Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) of Panama.The firm centers its law practice in private client services and asset protection (Private Interest Foundations, Trusts), business structures (Offshore Corporations), tax planning, real estate and e-commerce. It also advices in areas of Law such as Corporate, Commercial, Intellectual Property, Maritime, Tax, and Immigration Law as well as related litigation that may arise.For more information, contact +507 264-1444 aaguilar (at) nysbar.
com or see: Lombardi, Cambra & Co. http://www.lombardicambra.com/.
