Elia Naranjo, Director of BLP in San José, specializes in Business Law and Mergers & Acquisitions. With more than ten years of experience, she advises on domestic and cross-border transactions, due diligence, restructurings, corporate governance, and negotiation of commercial contracts. Her transactional experience includes telecommunications, technology, transportation, manufacturing, and other industries. She also has experience in Antitrust and Dispute Resolution, advising on policy implementation and litigation and arbitration procedures. Elia represented the University of Costa Rica in the ELSA Moot Court Competition of the World Trade Organization, reaching the finals with her team. She began her career at Nassar Abogados and completed a business development internship at the Italian fintech start-up FinDynamic in Milan. She joined BLP in 2018 and was promoted to Director in 2021.

Education
Specialization in Notary and Registry Law, Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología, Costa Rica, 2019.
Master in Business Administration (MBA), Politecnico di Milano, Italy, 2017.
Course in Economics, Financial Accounting and Business Analytics, Harvard University, 2016.
Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration, New York University, 2015.
Course in Investment Law, Universidad de Barcelona, ??Spain, 2013.
Law degree, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica, 2013.

Significant Accomplishments
IDB Invest and Liberty Costa Rica issue first Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) for Costa Rica’s digital infrastructure. Advised IDB Invest on issuance of a Sustainability-Linked Bond as part of the financing of $450 million in favor of Liberty Costa Rica to increase access to 4G and 5G digital infrastructure and broadband quality in Costa Rica.
Cementos Progreso acquires CEMEX’s operations in Costa Rica and El Salvador. Advised Cementos Progreso Holdings, S.L on acquiring Mexican multinational CEMEX’s assets in Costa Rica and El Salvador for $335 million.
CMI acquires AUG Corporation in Costa Rica. Counseled Corporación Multi Inversiones (CMI) on the purchase of AUG Corporación S.A., its subsidiaries, and its poultry business.
Barentz acquires DIVSA in Central America. Advised Barentz International, global distributor of ingredients for life sciences, on the acquisition of Distribuciones Industriales Variadas, S.A. (DIVSA), a transaction that involved eight jurisdictions.
Laboratorios Saval enters the Costa Rican pharmaceutical market. Advised Chilean pharmaceutical company Laboratorios Saval on purchasing Laboratorios Stein’s operation in Costa Rica and entering the local market.
Sale of Grupo ACI to Industrias Martec. Represented Chilean company Agrosuper and its affiliate Empresas Aquachile S.A., the second largest salmon farming company in the world, on the sale of Grupo ACI S.A., a leading Costa Rican company in the tilapia aquaculture industry, in favor of Industrias Martec.
Grupo Garnier acquires WeWork’s operation in Costa Rica. Advised Garnier & Garnier in the acquisition of WeWork’s business in Costa Rica, as well as in the formation of an alliance with WeWork to operate its franchise in Central America.
Sale of Quartz Tecnología to Vencora. Advised on the sale of 100% of the shares of the Costa Rican software company Quarzo Tecnología in favor of Canadian technology group Vencora.

Professional Associations

• Costa Rican Bar Association
• International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) – Costa Rica Local Representative
• International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration (CICA) of the Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce – Member of the Board of Directors
• Costa Rican Association of International Law (ACODI) – Member
• International Bar Association (IBA) – Member
• Women in a Legal World (WLW) – Member