Pinsent Masons is launching its third international office in less than a year with the opening of a Madrid office in May.
The new office comprises six partners, four of whom join Pinsents from local Madrid firm Ramón y Cajal Abogados (RyC). Diego Lozano arrives from the Madrid outfit after acting as head of the firm’s corporate and commercial department. Lozano offers extensive experience in various roles, having served as head of legal services for the tax department in the Spanish ministry of economy. Lozano also worked in-house as deputy general counsel of Telefónica and oversaw its IPO in 2016.
Joining him from RyC is Antonio Montero, an M&A specialist who advised The Coca Cola Company on its merger process to form Coca Cola Partners, in a deal worth nearly €4bn. Also from RyC is Idoya Arteagabeitia, a project finance specialist alongside Imma Castelló whose practice covers M&A, corporate investment and restructuring.
Ricardo Garcia joins the new Madrid office from top 30 global contractor OHL, with significant experience in the infrastructure sector. Pinsents energy and infrastructure disputes associate Sofia Parra completes the initial Madrid line-up, being made up to partner in the move. Parra had been based in London and Dubai.
In the past year Pinsents has also opened offices in Dusseldorf and Johannesburg, in addition to acquiring boutique Munich firm Mayrhofer & Partner.
Pinsents senior partner Richard Foley commented: ‘Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the global sectors in which we operate, and we recognise that we can only do that if we are serious about supporting our clients across key commercial centres. We have found a team in Madrid which not only exudes quality but also shares our sector-focussed vision.’
Earlier this year, Pinsents acquired a 20% stake in New Law outsourcing business Yuzu, which was founded by former Colt group general counsel Robin Saphra.
The firm is providing seed funding and strategic support to start-up Yuzu, which offers clients the opportunity to transfer parts of their legal function out of the business in order to reduce fixed costs and benefit from further training, development and the use of modern technology.
tom.baker@legalease.co.uk
