Álvaro Iván Cala > Brigard Urrutia > Bogota, Colombia > Lawyer Profile

Few firms in the market can equal Brigard Urrutia’s track record in transformative M&A deals, with the 23-lawyer team routinely involved in many of the most high-profile transactions to hit the Colombian market. The group’s ability to lean on a host of complementary practices from across the wider full-service firm equips its lawyers with a ‘comprehensive vision in consulting’ and ensures that it is sought after for complex mandates that require extensive cross-departmental collaboration. As a case in point, senior M&A expert Sergio Michelsen Jaramillo recently teamed up with next-generation partner Tomás Holguín, as well as the capital markets and competition practices, to advise Votorantim on the sale of its 82.42% stake in Acerías Paz del Rio. In a significant first-of-a-kind investment transaction, Michelsen also paired up with Jaime Robledo to advise Canada’s CPP investments on its $334m acquisition of a 19.3% stake in D1, which notably marked its first direct investment in Colombia. Darío Laguado Giraldo , chairman of the corporate and M&A practice, led on several infrastructure-related transactions over the past year, including advising Telefónica, and its subsidiary Colombia Telecomunicaciones, on the agreements by which Colombia Telecomunicaciones and KKR will establish the country’s first independent wholesale open access digital infrastructure company. Other senior names include corporate finance veteran Carlos Fradique-Méndez; aviation and real estate-focused specialist Álvaro Cala; senior partner Carlos Urrutia; and Fernando Alfredo Castillo. The sizeable department also fields a capable bench of corporate-dedicated non-partners, including director Ángela García Páez, prolific senior associates Paola Ordoñez  and Andrea Camila Cruz, and associate Laura Ricardo Ayerbe. Since publication, Ordóñez and Mónica Gutiérrez Velasco have both been promoted to practice directors (as of December 2023), but Laguado has left the firm – effective as of April 2024.