Mr Matías López Figueroa > Bruchou & Funes de Rioja > Buenos Aires, Argentina > Lawyer Profile

Bruchou & Funes de Rioja provides gold-standard counsel to a premier banking and finance client base and is a consistent presence on the biggest, most complex and most innovative banking and capital markets transactions in Argentina. The ‘consistently excellent’ practice is known for the quality and breadth of its offering, providing distinctive expertise and deep market know-how across loans, debt and equity capital markets, structured finance, acquisition finance, project finance, securitisation and liability management. Acting for both debtors and creditors, the team boasts an impressive roster of local and international banking clients and is also a go-to adviser for companies in the energy, natural resources and agribusiness sectors, among others. Influential banking lawyer and firm chairman Hugo Bruzone leads the team, with a practice covering banking, finance, capital markets and regulation. Founding partners Enrique Bruchou and Carlos Lombardi bring additional senior level experience to the practice’s heavyweight top bench, with impressive support from an ambitious cohort of younger partners that includes the ‘outstanding’ José María Bazán, Alejandro Perelsztein, Matías López Figueroa and Analía Battaglia. Bazán, who also sits on the firm’s executive committee, advises banks, private equity funds and corporations in local and international banking and capital markets transactions and is particularly active on infrastructure and energy matters linked to the government PPP programmes. Battaglia centres her practice on debt restructuring, project finance and infrastructure matters, while Perelsztein is best known for handling local and international capital markets transactions and project finance (predominantly in infrastructure and energy). López Figueroa advises on banking and corporate financing transactions, including trade financing. At associate level, experienced seniors Lucrecia von Petery and Leandro Belusci (who have both spent time in Milbank’s New York office) fronting a talented group of upcoming younger lawyers; clients highlight Ramón Poliche as a name to note. However, the well-regarded Sofia Gallo moved in house at Inviu in March 2023.

Bruchou & Funes de Rioja‘s blue-ribbon banking practice and deep lender and financial services network see it regularly sought out by creditors for support in bankruptcy and restructuring matters. Debtor-side work is also taken on by the experienced team, which covers complex judicial restructurings, liquidation proceedings, bankruptcy litigation and testing legal structures for potential dispute scenarios. Experienced commercial litigation and bankruptcy lawyer Martín Beretervide leads the practice with close support from well-regarded banking and finance expert Matías López Figueroa. The team was strengthened in January 2023 with the arrival of specialist disputes and bankruptcy partner Francisco Camauer from Estudio Matta y Trejo. Senior associates Martín Freier and Victoria Nadal are noted.

Bruchou & Funes de Rioja’s fully-fledged dispute resolution practice covers contractual, bankruptcy and environmental insurance claims as well as criminal cases, company-law conflicts and torts. The team handles administrative and judicial court work, and is especially well-known for the depth of its arbitration practice, which clients call on for support in complex international arbitration proceedings under ICC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL rules, as well as the recognition and enforcement of international arbitration decisions before Argentine courts. Other work includes matters coming before the permanent tribunal sitting at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange and advice on designing legal structures and preventative scenarios in the face of potential conflicts. Heading the practice, Martín Beretervide is a former commercial court official and experienced bankruptcy, international arbitration and corporate litigation lawyer; sophisticated senior support comes from litigation and arbitration veteran Carlos Rotman, a former judge who has vast expertise and previously led the department. Commercial and investment treaty disputes lawyer Ignacio Minorini Lima; experienced banking and financial services practitioner Matías López Figueroa; and recent (January 2023) lateral partner recruit Francisco Camauer, a disputes and bankruptcy expert, are other key partner-level contacts. Senior associates Victoria Nadal and Martín Freier front the second line.