Mr Enrique Bruchou > 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 advises local and international clients on large, complex domestic and cross-border transactions across a wide range of sectors, including energy, industrials, financial services and agribusiness. The team’s deep bench of talent is also regularly called on for day-to-day support on corporate matters. Veteran transactional lawyer Mariano Luchetti, who also has a notable energy practice, co-leads the department alongside respected oil-and-gas specialist Javier Galli and María Winschel, who focuses on corporate law and governance matters. Firm founder and chairman Enrique Bruchou continues to support the leadership team, drawing on more than three-decades’ worth of high level experience. ‘Sharp and creative’ M&A lawyer Estanislao Olmos and real estate expert Exequiel Buenaventura bring further senior level expertise to the table, with an ambitious cohort of younger partners, including Santiago Balbi and Florencia Angélico (who was raised to the partnership in 2022) also prominent. While Pablo Falabella  left the firm to move in house at YPF, a high quality cadre of senior associates provide ample back-up, with Nicolás Dulce and Hernán Alal among the key names. Since publication, Dulce has been raised to the partnership – effective as of March 2024.