Portugal > Insolvency and restructuring > Law firm and leading lawyer rankings

Cuatrecasas’ seven-strong group, which is a popular choice for insolvency and restructuring matters, is headed by Oporto-based José de Freitas and Lisbon-based Miguel Esperança Pina. The team assisted industrial steel construction group Amal with declaring insolvency and transitioning from a special revitalisation process to an insolvency proceeding. Mafalda Ferreira Santos joined Sérvulo & Associados in September 2018.

With strong expertise in bank insolvencies, Linklaters is advising Novo Banco on the resolution of the bank. Another area of focus is distressed M&A. The group includes Nuno Ferreira Lousa and counsel Gonçalo Veiga de Macedo. Pedro Siza Vieira left the firm in 2017 to take up a position as a government minister.

Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados advises banks such as Barclays and Bankinter on credit recovery from insolvent lenders. Other work includes assisting five Grupo Tractores de Portugal companies with their insolvencies. Filipe Lowndes Marques is the key name. Helena Soares de Moura left in April 2017 to head Ageas Portugal’s litigation department.

PLMJ’ ‘hardworking team’ is particularly well regarded for handling cross-border insolvencies. In 2017, it assisted Rio Forte Investments, which holds over €3bn debt, with its insolvency proceeding. Filipa Cotta is ‘a pleasure to deal with’ and Nuno Líbano Monteiro is ‘very proficient’.

VdA Vieira de Almeida provides ‘excellent guidance through the restructuring process’. Highlights included advising real estate investment fund manager Fundger on filing Fundo Promovest’s insolvency. Frederico Gonçalves Pereira is recommended along with managing associate Joana Domingues, who is ‘a true expert and up to date with the most recent restructuring updates’.

With strong expertise advising insolvent banks, Serra Lopes, Cortes Martins & Associados advised the Portuguese state on the winding-up proceedings of Banco Privado Português. Other clients include Banco Comercial Português, ECS Capital and Tranquilidade. Maria Raquel Moreira and Luís Miguel Cortes Martins are the names to note.

Uría Menéndez - Proença de Carvalho’s department regularly co-operates with the firm’s banking, labour and tax teams, and frequently advises funds on the acquisition of debt. Though it has plenty of expertise in advising creditors, the team is increasingly active on the debtor side. Nuno Salazar Casanova is recommended along with David Sequeira Dinis, who made partner in January 2017 and is ‘easy to work with, intelligent and always available’.

The ‘service-oriented’ team at Abreu Advogados is particularly experienced in advising real estate investment funds on restructurings; it acted for Imo-Real in insolvency proceedings and recovery plans. In other work, the group is advising Iberdrola Generación on the insolvency of one of its service providers. Francisco Patrício ‘anticipates the moves of other players’.

At CMS, Joaquim Shearman de Macedo is ‘ruthless in defending a client’s position and is totally immune to outside pressures’. Nuno Pena led representation of Caixa Económica Montepio Geral as creditor during the recovery proceedings of Vintém & Martins.

With expertise in reclaiming debts from insolvent debtors, SRS Advogados represented motorsport group GP2 in claiming debt from insolvent racetrack manager Parkalgar. The group combines litigation expertise and banking and finance expertise, provided by José Carlos Soares Machado and Alexandra Valente respectively.

Sérvulo & Associados specialises in advising banks and financial institutions, such as asset manager NAMA, on credit recovery from insolvent creditors. João Saúde and Manuel Magalhães, who is ‘as much a commercial as a legal adviser’, are recommended. Mafalda Ferreira Santos was a new arrival from Cuatrecasas in September 2018.

APTS - Alves Pereira & Teixeira de Sousa, S.P., R.L. offers ‘the highest service standard at reasonable costs’. João Marques de Almeida advises several bondholders of the collapsed Banco Espírito Santo, and João Pedro Alves Pereira, who displays the ‘highest levels of integrity’, assisted Amway with restructuring its Portuguese operations.

With particular expertise in credit recovery, Caiado Guerreiro & Associados assisted Iseki, current creditor of agricultural machines manufacturer TP Dois, on the latter’s insolvency proceedings. Tânia Pinheiro and Sandra Ferreira Dias are recommended.

Raposo Bernardo’s group assisted glass and packaging distributor Vidrembal on its corporate restructuring. Senior associate Ana Cláudia Rangel leads the five-strong team.

Andrade de Matos - Advogados is ‘very suited to international matters’. Domestic work included assisting real estate developer Gerium with its restructuring. António Andrade de Matos is ‘a sharp and skillful litigator’ and Jorge Bastos Leitão has ‘a robust approach to negotiations’.

Garrigues Portugal assisted Castlelake with acquiring a secured and unsecured distressed assets portfolio from Banco Santander Totta and advised an international company on restructuring its Portuguese subsidiary. Diogo Leónidas Rocha and João Duarte de Sousa are the names to note.

Macedo Vitorino & Associados has expertise advising banks on resolution matters, and recently assisted a foreign company with restructuring a Portuguese subsidiary. António de Macedo Vitorino is ‘responsive and attentive’.

PRA-Raposo, Sá Miranda & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados RL recently advised Construtora do Tâmega on its insolvency proceedings. ‘Excellent lawyer’ Susana Santos Valente is ‘very smart’.