Mr Fernando Zorzo > Pinheiro Neto Advogados > Sao Paulo, Brazil > Lawyer Profile

Praised by clients for its ‘deep legal knowledge, excellent negotiation skills and relevant deal flow’, Pinheiro Neto Advogados continues to advise buyers, sellers, private equity funds, venture capital firms and financial institutions on blockbuster M&A deals in a variety of industries. The team has reported a recent uptick in transactional mandates within the technology, education, energy, oil and gas, healthcare, agribusiness and infrastructure sectors, which are all undergoing a consolidation process in the country. In terms of technology and innovation, the firm has adopted new software solutions based on data analytics and machine learning to support decision-making in many of its core practice areas. Its D&I programme promotes internal and external actions, with an emphasis on gender equality, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, people with disabilities, religious freedom, and financial and geographic diversity. On this front, it supports Ismart – Instituto Social para Motivar, Apoiar e Reconhecer Talentos, a non-profit that assists young people from low-income backgrounds by offering them scholarships in prime schools and access to vocational programmes from elementary to higher education levels. As a result, many law students linked to this entity joined the firm as interns. Furthermore, the firm, which was the first in the market to offset its entire carbon footprint, has been offering advice on a pro-bono basis since its inception in 1942. Focused on private equity and M&A transactions, Carlos Alberto Moreira Lima Jr manages the group, which also features managing partners Alexandre Bertoldi and Fernando Alves Meira, the latter of whom excels in cross-border deals. Marcelo Viveiros de Moura is experienced in M&A in the oil and gas space, while Henry Sztutman and Miguel Tornovsky are trusted by several private equity firms. Other core members of the team include Joao Marcelo Pacheco, Fernando Zorzo, whose experience covers corporate reorganisations involving listed companies, Eduardo Paoliello Jr., Vânia Marques Ribeiro Moyano and Joamir Müller Romiti Alves, who is highlighted for his ‘excellent negotiation skills’. Camila Carvalho Gomes and Thiago José da Silva were promoted to partner in early 2022. Since publication, Tiago Eler Silva and Cauê Rezende Myanaki have been raised to the partnership – with effect from January 2023.

Pinheiro Neto Advogados has a multi-faceted capital markets practice, which stands out for the number and the quality of its transactions. 2021 saw the firm advise on almost 30 equity offerings, including its representation of Nu Holdings on the high-profile $2.8bn Nubank IPO, involving a dual listing on the NYSE and Brazil. Transactional debt work, including agribusiness and real estate instruments, was similarly busy for the practice, and advice to investment funds also features regularly in its workload. The team’s regulatory credentials were demonstrated through its work for Laqus Depositária de Valores Mobiliárias on the establishment of a new Central Securities Depository for agribusiness securities. The ‘highly specialised partners‘ include Ricardo Russo, Tiago A. D. Themudo Lessa and the recently promoted Rafael Gaspar for debt products. Henrique Lang, Guilherme Sampaio Monteiro, Jose Luiz Homem de Mello and Fernando Zorzo are among the lead partners on the equity side.