Roberto Masud
More actions
Roberto Masud (born January 2, 1960, in Havana, Cuba), also professionally known as Robert Masud, is an American international business executive, strategic adviser, and financial professional. He is the Managing Director of Masud International Limited, a London-headquartered international strategic advisory firm specializing in cross-border finance, private equity, international banking, mergers and acquisitions, project finance, corporate structuring, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and complex international transactions.
Masud's work has involved governments, multinational companies, merchant banks, investment banks, private-equity firms, financial institutions, investment funds, and high-net-worth individuals across the United States, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, and offshore jurisdictions.
His career combines formal education in finance, business administration, law, and international negotiation with decades of experience in global finance, corporate strategy, international business, and cross-border advisory. His representative work includes serving as Special Financial Envoy for the Republic of Ecuador, advising on securities and international-banking matters, negotiating loan agreements of up to US$7.5 billion involving Dubai World and Nakheel Properties, and working on institutional financings, bond transactions, project finance, private-equity matters, and corporate governance structures.
Early life and background
Roberto Masud was born on January 2, 1960, in Havana, Cuba, and is a United States citizen. He grew up in Miami, Florida, with family ties to Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Immaculata-La Salle High School.
During his school years, Masud was a member of the National Honor Society and Key Club and volunteered at Mercy Hospital. He also developed an early interest in magic and was associated with the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Florida State Magicians Association, winning the State of Florida championship in 1976.
Masud has described an early interest in business, technology, and entrepreneurship. During the formative years of personal computing, he became an early user of the IBM PC and developed an interest in software and the potential of computing to transform business processes and communications.
He later followed the development of the commercial internet and began acquiring internet domain names in 1995, viewing domain names as emerging forms of digital identity and commercial property before online branding became a conventional component of business strategy.
He has characterized these early interests as part of a broader approach to business centered on identifying developing markets, technologies, and commercial structures before they become widely established. His interest in technology continued alongside his later work in international finance, law, private equity, and cross-border business.
Education
Masud attended the University of Miami, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance in 1982. While at the university, he was a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma honor societies.
He later earned a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Miami Business School in 1987.
In the same year, Masud received his Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of Law. During his legal studies, he was associated with Commentaries: Journal of Book Reviews.
Between 1990 and 1994, Masud undertook advanced coursework through the Program on Negotiation resident at Harvard Law School, with a focus on international negotiation strategy. He completed the majority of the coursework, although the associated internship remained unfinished. The program contributed to his later approach to international negotiation, transaction structuring, and strategic dispute resolution.
Career
Early professional career
Masud began his professional career as an associate at Kelley, Drye & Warren, where he worked from 1987 to 1990. He also served as captain of the firm's softball team.
His early career combined his education in finance and law and increasingly concentrated on sophisticated commercial, financial, and international matters. During the 1990s, Masud began developing an independent international business and advisory practice and progressively moved toward complex cross-border financing, institutional lending, corporate transactions, and international strategic advisory work.
Roberto Masud later established and led a succession of advisory and professional firms:
- Masud & Associates — Principal, 1990–2000
- Masud & Company — Chief Executive Officer, 2000–2011
- Masud & Co., PC — Chief Executive Officer, 2011–2022
- Masud International Limited — Managing Director, 2022–present
Masud International Limited
Roberto Masud is the founder and managing director of Masud International Limited, an international strategic advisory firm headquartered in London.
Through Masud International Limited, he advises U.S. and international clients on international business, cross-border finance, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, international banking, project finance, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and corporate structuring.
His work typically involves assignments requiring coordination among financial institutions, investors, advisers, operating companies, governments, and counterparties across several jurisdictions.
Masud's responsibilities include structuring transactions, negotiating principal agreements, evaluating commercial and financial risk, coordinating foreign counsel and professional advisers, and developing execution strategies for complex financial and business matters.
His client base has included governments, multinational companies, merchant banks, investment banks, private-equity firms, investment funds, investment syndicates, financial-services providers, and high-net-worth individuals.
His stated long-term objective for Masud International Limited is to develop the firm as a senior-level international strategic advisory platform connecting U.S. markets with business and financial opportunities in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
International business and cross-border advisory
A central part of Masud's career has been advising clients on international business and cross-border financial transactions.
His work has covered the United States, United Kingdom, continental Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia, and various offshore jurisdictions. His international advisory responsibilities have included market-entry planning, financing structures, corporate organization, transaction negotiation, and coordination of foreign advisers across different legal and regulatory systems.
Masud has advised on the creation of offshore special-purpose companies, Delaware corporations, partnerships, and other corporate structures used in international financing and investment arrangements. He has also coordinated foreign counsel and other advisers in multijurisdictional transactions involving financial, commercial, and regulatory issues.
His approach to cross-border advisory combines legal documentation with the commercial realities of a transaction, including the interests of lenders, investors, borrowers, government-related entities, operating partners, and international counterparties.
Corporate strategy, governance and financial advisory
Masud's work spans corporate strategy, governance, international banking, private equity, project finance, commercial lending, bond financing, investment banking, and strategic financial advisory.
He has advised companies, investors, merchant banks, private-equity firms, and financial institutions on corporate and entity structuring, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, financing transactions, governance arrangements, investor and lender protections, and contractual risk allocation.
His experience also includes structuring special-purpose vehicles and multinational joint ventures, developing banking and financial systems for international operations, and negotiating principal operating agreements.
Masud has represented and advised institutions including Chase Manhattan Bank, Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover, Banco Espírito Santo, Banco Sabadell, Union Carbide, and Continental Can, among others. This work has given him experience across capital structure, lender requirements, credit considerations, investor expectations, financing terms, and execution risk.
Major international transactions
Masud's international transaction experience includes several large-scale financing and capital-markets matters.
During the Dubai financial crisis, he served as primary lawyer for a U.S. private-equity firm in negotiations involving Dubai World and Nakheel Properties, including loan agreements valued at up to US$7.5 billion.
He also advised on a US$135 million Inter-American Development Bank private-sector A/B loan for a Latin American educational institution, a US$200 million bond issue and placement for a Brazilian university, and financial advisory work connected with the first public credit rating of a university in Latin America by a major institutional rating agency.
Masud's experience further includes advising on a master guarantee designed to secure annual debt-service repayments for a bond offering associated with the development of what was described as the world's tallest building.
Private equity, capital markets and international advisory
Masud has advised private-equity firms, merchant banks, investment banks, financial institutions, governments, and international organizations on commercial lending, acquisition financing, debt negotiations, strategic investments, bond transactions, capital structures, guarantees, and cross-border financing arrangements.
His work has involved matters across Australia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, often combining international finance, corporate governance, legal structuring, and strategic negotiation.
He also served as Special Financial Envoy for the Republic of Ecuador, representing Ecuador in securities and international-banking matters involving the Office of the U.S. Vice President, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other domestic and international agencies.
Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Republican Party from 1994 to 1995 and held leadership roles in the Dole for President New England organization and exploratory committee in 1995.
Masud attained affiliate status with the Law Society of England and Wales in 2001–2002. Beginning in 1998, he also represented a Vatican-based foundation in financial transactions and eleemosynary and charitable activities.
Public speaking
Masud has participated in professional legal and industry events.
On August 7, 1993, as Chairman of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division section on Art, Entertainment and Sports Law, he served as a panelist and moderator at the association's annual meeting in New York City.
The session was titled Legal Issues in Art Theft and Art Fraud Cases.
Awards and recognition
- Special Financial Envoy, Republic of Ecuador
- American Law Firm of the Year for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Corporate Vision Magazine, 2017
- Top 100 Registry, 2017
- Top 100 Registry, 2013
- Marquis Who's Who in Finance and Business, 2008
- Marquis Who's Who in America, 2005
- Marquis Who's Who in the World, 2003
- Marquis Who's Who in American Law, 2000
Personal life
Masud has also identified charitable involvement with the World Monuments Fund, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
External links
- Official website – RobertoMasud.com
- Official website – RobertMasud.com
- Roberto Masud on LinkedIn
- Masud International on LinkedIn
- Roberto Masud on Instagram
- Roberto Masud on Facebook