founder's biography
Rafael A. Pagán, Jr.
Founder and CEO
Prior to founding RP Advisors, Mr. Pagán worked as Executive Director in the investment banking group of UBS Puerto Rico for over 18 years. Within the investment banking group his area of expertise was corporate and public finance, with an additional focus in M&A advisory engagements. Mr. Pagán participated in several key M&A transactions during his tenure at UBS, including, amongst others, the sale of the Excelsior Hotel (now the Courtyard Marriott Miramar) to a local investor group, the sale of Williams Hospitality Group to Patriot American Hospitality, and the sale of Crown Bank (a Florida-based bank) to R&G Financial. Mr. Pagán has acted as financial advisor in both the buy and sell sides in public-private partnerships assignments, including advising (i) the winning consortium on the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport concession— Aerostar Holdings; (ii) a bidder consortium on the PR-22 highway concession; (iii) Abertis, a world leader in the toll road sector, in refinancing the debt on the Teodoro Moscoso Toll Bridge, and renegotiating the concession agreement with the Government of Puerto Rico; and (iv) the Government of Puerto Rico in the privatization of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA).
In addition to these M&A advisory engagements, Mr. Pagán has participated in excess of $750MM in debt offerings and private placements for commercial and hospitality real estate projects (including the Dorado Ritz Reserve Hotel $231MM debt financing- the largest hotel financing ever executed in Puerto Rico); and in excess of $1 billion of preferred stock and follow-on offerings for financial institutions in Puerto Rico. In the public sector space, Mr. Pagán has participated in excess of $15 billion in debt issuances for the Government of Puerto Rico and its instrumentalities in both the Puerto Rico and U.S. tax-exempt markets.
Mr. Pagán earned his Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University with a concentration in Finance (School of International Public Affairs) in 1997. He also earned a Master of Arts degree in International Development Economics from Yale University (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) in 1995. Mr. Pagán holds a B.A. degree in Economics and minor in Mathematics from Haverford College (Graduated with Honors). During his senior year, he attended the London School of Economics and Political Science where he completed the 1-year General Course program.
RP Advisors has over 20 years of experience in providing investment banking services for public and private sector clients. Our objective is to provide smart, sensible, and practical business advisory solutions to our clients.
We cover a wide range of clients across various industry sectors with a particular focus in commercial real estate and hospitality. Each relationship is valued greatly and treated with dignity and respect to ensure the client receives the professional service he or she deserves. Each engagement benefits from the depth and breadth of our expertise.