The Legal 500

Within Tax, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

One of the largest in the market, Garrigues’ tax team is able to provide a broad range of specialist advice, from day-to-day tax advice, to high-end tax planning on sophisticated transactions. ‘The Garrigues brand in itself signifies top-drawer tax advice across the whole of the Iberian Peninsula’. Fielding many of Spain’s most admired experts, Ricardo Gómez and Abelardo Delgado stand out the most for their ‘incredible knowledge of the law’. The practice represents an array of major corporates from a several industry sectors, including banking and financial services, distribution, food market, infrastructures and telecommunications, and is a regular advisor of many IBEX 35 companies. Highlights include advising UBS in issuing a €3.2bn mandatory exchangeable bond, which was exchangeable into fully paid ordinary shares in BBVA.

Within Banking and finance, Garrigues is a second tier firm,

Also highly admired for its banking and finance capability, Garrigues spans restructuring, acquisition finance; real estate finance, and corporate lending. The department is spearheaded by the ‘technically flawless’ Rafael González-Gallarza. A bank syndicate led by La Caixa instructed the team in connection with the restructuring of a Facility Agreeement granted to Promotiones Habitat for the €1.58bn purchase of Ferrovial Inmobiliaria. Other highlights include advising on the restructuring of Detinsa by way of a syndicated credit facility and the novation of bilateral credit agreements. Finance expert partner José Guardo has been regarded as ‘one of the masters in finance in Spain, an undisputed leader’. Pablo San Gil and Lluis Esquerra are also highly recommended.

Within Capital markets, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues ‘has managed to establish itself as one of Spain’s strongest capital markets fims, particularly in equity capital markets’. With a phenomenal track record in IPOs, the team most notably advised Codere on its €249m IPO and listing on the Spanish stock exchange, the first gaming company to be listed in Spain; it also represented the underwriters on Iberdrola Renovables’ €4.4bn IPO, Spain’s largest ever IPO; as well as the underwriters on Fluidra’s €317m IPO. Garrigues was also advising Itínere Infraestructuras on its €1.1bn IPO, the only one expected to take place in 2008, however, this was ultimately revoked due to market conditions. ‘They are a great firm, not only able to assist on minor day-to-day issues, they can also be involved in highly demanding complex matters’. In a phenomenal team of corporate experts, clients are especially praiseworthy of ‘heavyweight’ Fernando Vives, the ‘extremely well respected’ Javier Ybáñez and of Álvaro López-Jorrín, ‘one of the market’s best lawyers’.

Within Corporate and M&A, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

‘If you are looking for a top-drawer adviser in Spain for any sort of corporate matters, Garrigues is the firm you want’. Boasting top-notch expertise in this area, the team advises on all types and sizes of corporate deals across its international network of 34 offices. Major highlights at the high end of the market include advising Altadis, the target company, on Imperial Tobacco’s €12.6bn takeover bid. Fernando Vives, the firm’s head of corporate has been regarded as ‘the country’s number one M&A expert, he seems to be in every major transaction in Spain’. The team also acted for Grupo Petersen in connection with the purchase of a 25% stake in YPF, including two option agreements with Repsol in which Grupo Petersen was granted the right to acquire up to an additional 10.1% of YPF’s capital. Monica Martín de Vidales is also highly recommended. Other major clients include Telefónica, Endesa and Unión Fenosa. Javier Urbano and Barcelona-based Ramón Girbau are also recommended.

Within Dispute resolution, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues’ first-class dispute resolution department is one of the largest in the market, covering all areas of dispute resolution in both civil and criminal cases. With Miguel Moscardó at the helm, the firm houses several of Spain’s most experienced litigators, including the ‘leading light’ José Maria Alonso and the ‘absolut talent’ Fernando Pantaleón. In a recent intruction, it was involved in a €450m dispute between the majority shareholders of an important company in the touristic, hotel, construction and services sector. Arbitration is another great strength, particularly in handling matters for Latin American companies, which undertake arbitrations through the Madrid courts. Other clients of the practice include Endesa, Amadeus and Iberdrola.

Within EU and competition, Garrigues is a second tier firm,

Garrigues fields one of the largest EU and competition teams in the market, with some 30 specialised lawyers, and is frequently involved in multi-jurisdictional issues. ‘A first-class team’, according to clients. With Marcos Araujo Boyd at the helm, the team recently advised Zurich and Sabadell in a notification before the European Commission, regarding the €750m acquisition of BanSabadell Vida, BanSabadell Generales and BanSabadell Pensiones, by Zurich and Banco Sabadell. Confebask, the Basque federation of businessmen, also instructed the practice in connection with a preliminary ruling before the European Court of Justice regarding an alleged State aid grant, by the Basque government.

Within Employment, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues’ best known employment specialists are Federico Durán, the firm’s employment national coordinator, viewed as ‘a brilliant lawyer with great commercial acumen’, Juan Jose Yago, head of the firm’s Madrid team and regarded as ‘exceptional’, and Rafael Ortiz, who spearheads the employment team in Barcelona, ‘a superb specialist’. With an outstanding track record in restructurings and collective dismissals, the practice has represented many major international clients such as Mercedes, Tyco Electronics and Japan Tobacco International. The team has also been heavily involved in restructurings connected with insolvencies, as well as financial restructurings. Contentious highlights include representing El Corte Ingles in in a number of claims connected with the application of the law for equal treatment.

Within Environment, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

One of the largest and most admired specialised teams in the market, Garrigues’ environment group boasts two partners and 23 lawyers, with Santiago Garrido at the helm. According to clients, ‘their knowledge of the sector is unparalleled’. The practice is highly experienced in drawing up of Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements (ERPAs), as well as supervising and providing legal advice in connection with Kyoto Protocol project-based mechanisms. It also assists public authorities, as well as private companies and associations, affected by EU climate change provisions. Clients include the Inter-American Development Bank, the Spanish Ministry of Environment, Iberdrola and the World Petroleum Congress.

Within Insurance, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues’ powerful insurance practice is best known for its outstanding track record in corporate insurance transactions. The department is spearheaded by M&A heavyweight Fernando Vives, who leads a team of four partners and 13 associates. The practice is able to advise on the full spectrum of insurance issues, boasting particular expertise in negotiation and implementation of alliance projects between insurance and banking groups (bank-assurance joint ventures). Recent highlights include acting for Zurich in its €750m acquisition of a 50% stake in Bansabadell Vida, Bansabadell Seguros Generales, and Bansabadell Pensiones, Entidad Gestora De Fondos De Pensiones. Other clients include Fortis and Skandia.

Within Intellectual property, Garrigues is a second tier firm,

Garrigues secured a high profile hire in 2008, with the arrival of João Miranda de Sousa, formerly OHIM’s director of general affairs and external relations. Miranda de Sousa is now the firm’s director of IP. This was ‘a major hiring, which is expected to bring huge rewards for the firm’. The IP department works closely with the corporate and commercial, the telecommunications and also the employment department, a combination that is particularly favoured by clients in due diligence reviews within the context of corporate and M&A transactions. A recent example of this was the team’s advice to Mercapital in its acquisition of Arsys, one of the largest internet hosting services providers in Spain. Calantia Biotech also instructed the team in connection with the drafting of a patent license agreement with BASF Plant Biosciences. Other clients include Christian Dior, Colgate-Palmolive and Chanel

Within Legal market ,

Over the past 10 years, the Spanish legal market has witnessed one of its largest growth periods ever, with several large transactions allowing most firms to consistently record double-digit growth rates on their annual billings and number of lawyers. During that period, the high-end transactional market in Spain (mostly revolving around big ticket acquisition finance, large IPOs and high-value private and public M&A) gradually became dominated by six major law firms, which managed to scoop a majority of those highly coveted instructions. While Iberian giants Uría Menéndez, Garrigues and Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira succeeded in consolidating their stronghold as the market’s largest full-service firms (dominating at all levels of the market, not only in Spain, but across the whole of the Iberian Peninsula), Magic Circle firms Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters SL also proved to be highly effective in securing their position as high-end market leaders.

Within Legal market ,

Latham & Watkins LLP, the most recent international firm to arrive in Spain, opened up shop in January 2007. Even though the firm fields a small team, mostly focused on corporate and capital markets, it is ‘the one to watch’. Latham & Watkins LLP got off to a flying start, advising on a few big-ticket deals, and has recently hired tax expert Jordi Domínguez to head up its newly created tax team. Domínguez was previously a tax partner at Garrigues, where he co-led the firm’s US desk.

Within Legal market ,

Bird & Bird (Spain) LLP made two major hires in 2008, with the arrival of EU and competition partner Antonio Creus from DLA Piper and Miguel Rodríguez, previously CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo’ head of IP; DLA Piper saw the arrival of corporate expert Maria Segimon, who had previously been at Spanish engineering and construction company Ferrovial, as the company’s in-house head of corporate; Lovells LLP also hired corporate partner Lucas Osorio from leading developers of transport infrastructure Cintra, where he had been the company’s general counsel; another highly publicised move was Garrigues’ hiring of João Paulo Miranda de Sousa, formerly the Director of General Affairs and External Relations at the European Trademarks Office (OHIM – the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market); Baker & McKenzie saw the departure of two of its partners, with tax expert José Luis Prada having left the firm to set up his own practice, Fornesa, Prada y Fernández Abogados, and real estate specialist Isidro del Moral having joined the Madrid office of up-and-coming Valencian firm Broseta Abogados; Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados also saw the departure of IP partner Luis Fernández-Novoa and his team, who have joined Howrey Martínez Lage, S.L.; finally, Elzaburu also saw IP partner Laura Alonso leave to join Howrey Martínez Lage, S.L..

Within Project finance, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues’ outstanding projects team is led by finance specialist José Guardo, ‘a creative and extremely responsive’ practitioner. The practice represented Banco Santander, Caja Madrid, Calyon, Natixis and Société Générale in the financing of the Solnova I and III Project, consisting of two thermosolar plants of 50 MW. Another major project finance that the team was involved in was the 47.6 MW photovoltaic farm in Puertollano advising the banks (Banesto, Banco Sabadell, Banco Popular, Caja Madrid and The Royal Bank Of Scotland).

Within Real estate, Garrigues is a first tier firm,

Garrigues’ head of real estate Felipe Yannone is one of Spain’s foremost professionals, earning high praise as ‘pro-active, very professional and always producing pragmatic solutions’. The practice provides high-level advice on all aspects of commercial property transactions including planning, development, construction, financing, investment and letting of all kind of real estate properties. Some of the team’s most recent transactional highlights include: acting for Propinvest and Derek Quinlan on the €1.9bn acquisition and subsequent lease of Banco Santander’s HQ “Ciudad Financiera” in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid; advising the bank syndicate led by Calyon on the €296m refinancing of the long-term loan granted to Compañía Urbanizadora del Coto, a subsidiary of Acciona.

Within Shipping, Garrigues is a second tier firm,

Garrigues’ top-notch shipping practice is mainly based in Bilbao, where leading practitioner Manuel González is based. According to clients, the firm boasts ‘a very high-quality team with good commercial sense’. The practice has represented an impressive range of clients in the maritime field, from first line ship owners, to freight forwarders, tug and salvage companies, as well as insurance companies and P&I Clubs.

Within TMT, Garrigues is a third tier firm,

Garrigues continues to advise Mediapro in its conflict against Audiovisual Sport and Sogecable (Prisa), regarding the acquisition of national and international TV broadcasting rights of football clubs from the Spanish First Division. Javier Marzo is considered ‘extremely knowledgeable’. Other work includes acting for Colt on contractual and regulatory issues regarding the provision of electronic communications services, in a joint venture with Indra.