José Rafael advises local and multinational companies on tax matters and cross-border transactions, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions. He has extensive experience structuring and negotiating engineering, procurement, and construction agreements for clients in the oil, petrochemical, power generation, and consumer-goods sectors. Fluent in English since childhood and proficient in French. He earned his law degree from the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB) and completed postgraduate studies in Tax Law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Master’s degree from the University of León (Spain). He is a professor at the School of Law of Universidad Monteávila. Former professor of the Graduate Program in Tax Law at UCV and the Graduate Program in Financial Law at UCAB. Visiting professor in the Master in Business Administration and in the Graduate Program in Finance at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración (IESA).
Mr. Bermúdez has also worked on some of Venezuela’s most high-profile transactions, including AES Corporation’s unsolicited tender offer for C.A. La Electricidad de Caracas (EDC), The Coca-Cola Company's purchase of five bottling plants, and the transaction where 18 Pepsi bottling plants became bottlers for a joint venture between Grupo Cisneros and The Coca-Cola Company.
He represented Pfizer Inc. in its acquisitions of the Venezuelan subsidiaries of Pharmacia, Wyeth, and Warner Lambert. He advised an international engineering and construction company on the sale of its subsidiaries and contracts in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and the U.S. He has provided services to law firms in the United States and the United Kingdom in litigation related to Venezuela and in international arbitrations, particularly on highly complex contractual and evidentiary matters.
Ha actuado como árbitro en arbitrajes realizados en Venezuela y como testigo experto en derecho venezolano ante tribunales extranjeros. Integró el equipo venezolano que negoció el convenio para evitar la doble tributación suscrito entre los Estados Unidos y Venezuela (1998), y participó en las comisiones del Ministerio de Hacienda responsables de la elaboración de legislación financiera y tributaria entre 1992 y 1994.
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