As Dentons hires IDB’s general counsel in hunt for regional mergers
Last month saw leading Iberian law firm Uría Menéndez acquire a 30% stake in the merger of its best friend firms and national heavyweights, Chile’s Philippi and Colombia’s Prietocarrizosa, as part of its strategy to consolidate its commitment in the region.
Named Philippi, Prietocarrizosa & Uría, the newly combined firm will start operating on 1 January 2015 and house 220 lawyers across offices in Chile’s Santiago, and in Bogota and Barranquilla in Colombia.
Resources afforded to the new firm includes Uría’s 530-strong lawyer team and offices in Latin America, the US, Europe and Asia.
Philippi has five top-tier recommendations in The Legal 500 and a further six recommendations. It is considered one of the dominant law firms in Chile, as is Prietocarrizosa in its domestic market of Colombia where it forms a quarter of what has been dubbed the Colombian Magic Circle.
Having been involved in Latin America for 17 years, Uría said the initiative is a ‘major milestone’ in its international strategy to ‘consolidate its commitment’ to the region and is the first phase of a project responding to the ‘interest of European, Asian and North American companies in the Pacific Alliance’s member states.’ The alliance is a trade bloc in Latin America including Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
The combined firm has confirmed it will seek to expand outside of its domestic markets, including Peru and Mexico, and further work towards full integration with Uría Menéndez.
Meanwhile, Dentons made good on its own expansion plans for Latin America, and appointed Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) general counsel (GC) Jorge Alers as chief executive officer for the region, in a move that coincides with potential merger plans.
Having long expressed its interest for growth in the region, the firm said the ‘strong upward momentum of Latin American economies presents public and private companies with tremendous opportunities’ and the hire will help Dentons meet its plans for whole-firm combinations in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk