Allen & Overy (A&O), Linklaters and Portuguese firm Vieira de Almeida (VdA) have been instructed on the restructuring and rescue of Portuguese Banco Espírito Santo (BES). The Central Bank of Portugal announced at the weekend that BES was to be split in two, with the bulk of its assets and liabilities transferred to a successor […]
Baker & McKenzie has advised state-owned Spanish lender Catalunya Banc on its sale to Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) for €1.2bn. BBVA won the mandate to buy the bank in a competitive auction run by the Spanish Bank Resturucturing Fund (FROB), fending off rival bidders including Banco Santander and Caixabank. As part of the sale, […]
Portuguese firm PLMJ has signed a new cooperation agreement with two-partner Madeira firm Mendes Londral & Associados (ML&A) in an extension to its network. The agreement adds a fifth region to PLMJ’s network of ‘partner’ firms, which already includes firms in the Portuguese cities of Coimbra, Viseu and Guimarães as well as the Azores. It […]
Ashurst’s Spanish litigation head Daniel Jiménez has left the firm to launch a litigation boutique, teaming up with white-collar crime specialist Margarita Santana from Madrid firm Lex Consulting Abogados. The duo have founded Santana Lorenzo & Jiménez (SLJ) in a bid to avoid the conflicts of interest found in larger firms. Jiménez joined Ashurst in 2009 […]
Forget the ‘pain in Spain’ and those deserted villa newsfeeds, say Spanish lawyers – reforms are paying off and investors are showing their faces again Far in the distance, from the depths of the bleak, dark tunnel that is Spain’s economic disaster, there is a tiny pinprick of light. Those with the clearest view and […]
Mayer Brown’s Spanish alliance partner Ramón y Cajal has landed the lead role on the first IPO to take place on the Madrid Stock Exchange this year. Ramón y Cajal managing partner Francisco Palá is advising Telefónica and its call centre subsidiary Atento on the proposed 13 June listing of Atento, which values the company […]
Spain’s second-largest firm Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira has promoted 10 lawyers to partner across its Spanish and Portuguese offices. The Barcelona office gains three new partners – finance specialists Iñigo Aguirrezabala and Manuel Follía along with litigator Juan Antonio Ruiz. In Madrid litigators Pedro Campaña, Esther de Félix and Olga García along with corporate lawyer José […]
A Europe-wide quality drive is elevating Spain’s legal education system to a whole new level. Joanne Harris reports on the benefits and hurdles of implementation Until now, becoming a lawyer in Spain has been a straightforward process. Students go to university, take a law degree and, upon qualification, become members of the local bar association. The system stands […]
SNR Denton has added 10 firms to its Africa network, bringing its total number of tie-ups on the continent to 21. Including its own Cairo office, the firm now has a toehold in 22 of Africa’s 54 countries. Five of the 10 new relationships have come via a new alliance between SNR Denton and Portuguese player F Castelo Branco & Associados Sociedade de […]
Uría Menéndez turned over €186.5m (£158.51m) in 2010, allowing it to retain its position as Spain’s third-largest firm, after Garrigues and Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira.
Litigation boutique Hausfeld and Spanish firm Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira have been jointly instructed by Europe’s largest rail operators to bring a multimillion-pound damages claim against companies involved in a carbon and graphite cartel. The claimants, which include the UK’s Angel Trains, Germany’s Deutsche Bahn and Spain’s Metro, allege they were victims of a cartel that […]
Portugal has been a market in turmoil over the past year, with the necessity of a bailout from the EU hanging over its head. James Swift looks at how the legal market is faring Linklaters’ decision to axe six associates from its Lisbon office in May 2010, amid tumbling transaction levels and a frozen projects […]