Vicente Grau > Santamarina y Steta > Mexico City, Mexico > Lawyer Profile

As one of the oldest full-service firms in the Mexican market, Santamarina y Steta has a longstanding practice in competition and antitrust, and assists a disparate range of clients with both contentious and advisory matters in the area. It regularly handles merger control and pre-merger filings, and is also well-equipped for investigations work, including those addressing cartels and monopolistic practices. Practice head Vicente Grau is an experienced transactional lawyer in various sectors and therefor familiar with navigating companies’ interactions with COFECE, as well as sector specific regulators. Senior associate Ivan Szymanski assists across the full range of competition matters. Since publication, Szymanski has left the firm to open the new competitoin department at Vázquez Tercero & Zepeda – effective as of December 2023

Praised by one client as a ‘firm that inspires confidence from the first moment’, Santamarina y Steta’s real estate group is routinely instructed by international corporations working in the retail, food, luxury goods, energy and logistics sectors. The ‘highly professional and experienced’ team is well-equipped to handle agrarian and urban development matters, land acquisitions, leases and sales, financings and real estate-related due diligence for industrial, residential, tourist, mixed-use and ejidal properties. At the helm of the practice, Vicente Grau regularly advises clients on the acquisition, leasing, development, construction and sale of real estate properties, and is lauded as a ‘specialist’ who offers ‘efficient and comprehensive solutions’. Partner Claudia Rodríguez assists local and international clients with the structuring, planning and implementation of operations for the acquisition, financing, development, leasing and sale of real estate, with a particular focus on the commercial and industrial sectors. Senior associate Ivan Szymanski is active on compliance and real estate matters, while associate Yakov Kobets majors on the structuring and execution of projects related to the acquisition or sale of assets, as well as related due diligence work. Since the conclusion of research, Szymanski has sleft the firm – effective as of September 2023.