Latin Finance: UNIFIN named Corporate Restructuring of the Year

UNIFIN has been recognized with the LatinFinance Award for Corporate Restructuring of the Year following its successful emergence from an 18-month restructuring under Mexico’s Concurso Mercantil process. The award highlights a landmark turnaround of a leading Mexican non-bank financial institution and one of the most complex financial restructurings in the region, involving thousands of creditors, regulatory oversight, and the stabilization of a multi-billion-dollar balance sheet.

AlixPartners supported UNIFIN for more than three years, beginning as a financial advisor and evolving into an embedded leadership role post-emergence as part of the Operating Committee on behalf of the new owners. From the start, our mandate extended beyond structuring solutions; it focused on preserving enterprise value and ensuring operational continuity through extraordinary complexity.

During the restructuring phase, our team worked closely with management, legal counsel, creditors, and regulators to stabilize liquidity and maintain business operations while UNIFIN navigated the court-supervised process (Concurso Mercantil). We designed and executed robust cash flow forecasting, treasury controls, and performance reporting frameworks that provided real-time visibility into liquidity and allowed informed decision-making across the capital structure. At the same time, we supported the development of a forward-looking business plan and funding strategy to position UNIFIN for a viable post-emergence future.

Following emergence, our role evolved into operational leadership. The focus shifted from stabilization to enterprise restart and long-term viability. Key priorities included:

• Restarting core lending and origination activities under strengthened underwriting and risk frameworks.
• Optimizing collections and portfolio performance through enhanced governance, accountability, and data-driven management.
• Strengthening treasury and financial management, including disciplined liquidity planning, cash controls, and financial reporting.
• Enhancing corporate governance and controls to support clear decision rights, oversight, and alignment among management, board, and stakeholders.
• Building organizational capability, embedding best practices in operations and financial management to support sustainability beyond restructuring.

As AlixPartners Partner in Turnaround & Restructuring Services, Tony Perez Sales, noted in his interview with LatinFinance:
“Aligning multiple, often conflicting approaches into a solution that worked for every constituency, within the boundaries of an untested Concurso process, was the key challenge. We also faced litigation that threatened the very existence of UNIFIN as a going concern. And we were honored when, as a restructured UNIFIN, the new shareholders asked AlixPartners to stay and help lead the business back into becoming again an industry leader.”

Echoing the human and operational complexity of the project, José Ramón Díaz Arnau, UNIFIN’s Chief Commercial Officer, reflected on the company’s transformation: 
“It was very challenging to keep employees motivated and believing in the project…”, highlighting the depth of change required to refocus the business and drive performance under extreme pressure.

That alignment, across secured and unsecured creditors, legal and financial constituencies, and operating teams, was the foundation for a restructuring that preserved value, maintained essential lending functions, and is re-establishing UNIFIN’s access to capital markets.

This engagement demonstrates AlixPartners’ ability to operate across the full lifecycle of transformation, from complex financial restructuring through operational turnaround and enterprise restart. It shows how we help organizations not just navigate crisis but reset their foundations for sustainable performance in high-stakes environments.

To read Latin Finance's article about the UNIFIN Corporate Restructuring of the Year, click here.