John Keffer is a partner in the London and Houston office of King & Spalding and a mergers and acquisitions and corporate lawyer with considerable experience in U.S., European and Latin American transactions. He is a member of the firm’s Corporate Group and the co-Managing Partner of the London office.
Mr. Keffer has substantial experience in structuring, negotiating and documenting mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and U.S. and cross-border transactions. His work includes the drafting and negotiation of joint venture agreements, cross-border acquisition and sales agreements, shareholder agreements, joint bidding and cooperation agreements and project related agreements. Much of his experience is related to the energy industry, in which he has acted for U.S., Middle East and European clients. He also has substantive experience in representing clients in the sports and retail businesses.
Mr. Keffer has also developed unique experience in the LNG industry, most recently acting for a large energy company in the greenfield development of a liquefaction facility in Mozambique. He also acted for another energy company in the attempted development of a liquefaction facility in Venezuela. Mr. Keffer works closely with his colleagues in Houston, London and Singapore so as to fully cover all aspects of LNG projects.
Born in Cuba and raised in Venezuela, Mr. Keffer is a native speaker of Spanish. He is also fluent in French and Italian. He is a Registered Foreign Lawyer under the Law Society of England and Wales and member of the State Bar of Texas and the International Bar Associations. Mr. Keffer served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Houston in 2001 and 2002. Mr. Keffer graduated from the Foreign Service School of Georgetown University in 1980 and earned his J.D. from Southern Methodist University in 1983.
Mr. Keffer has been recognized by:
- Legal 500’s 2011 UK Legal Guide for “consistently excellent counsel to the firm’s clients.”
- Chambers Global 2012 and 2013 for his “solid background in cross-border transactional work”, and for his “in-depth experience of representing the needs of the energy sector”.
- Legal 500’s EMEA Guide for special recognition in upper mid-market and premium deals, $250 million+.
- Latin Lawyer’s 250 Guide as a leading Latin American lawyer.
- Legal 500’s 2012 Latin America Guide as “highly recommended”.
Representative Publications and Speeches:
- “M & A / Joint Ventures in Emerging Markets” – Florence 2012
- “A Comparison of English and U.S. Law in the context of Oil and Gas Contracts – London 2012
- “International Joint Ventures” - Financier Worldwide, January 2010
- “Venezuela: Migrating Away from the Apertura Petrolera” – Oil, Gas and Energy Law Intelligence, October 2006
- “A Guide for Successful Due Diligence” - Financier Worldwide, Due Diligence Review: M&A Behind the Scenes, 2004 Supplement
- “Navigating the Transatlantic Deal - Avoiding the Pitfalls of Cross-border Transactions” - Corporate Finance Magazine: M&A Review, April 2004
- “Sarbanes-Oxley and the US Deal Market” - Corporate Finance Magazine: International Guide to M&A Supplement, December 2003
- Gas-to-Energy: Structuring LNG Projects- presented to the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Mining and Oil & Gas Development in Latin America; Santiago, Chile and Houston, Texas.
- Structuring International Business Transactions- presented to the Texas State Bar International Law Institute; Monterrey, Mexico.
- Consideraciones Sobre la Adquisición de Una Empresa Estadoudinense- presented to Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey; Monterrey, Mexico.
- Problem Solving in Action- roundtable participant in South Texas College of Law’s International Practice Conference; Houston, Texas.
- Houston/Mexico Trade Conference for Emerging Businesses- roundtable participant; Houston, Texas
