Ms Macarena Laso > Morales & Besa > Santiago, Chile > Lawyer Profile

With a client base evidencing a particularly strong orientation towards infrastructure, energy, mining and construction companies, the 15-strong corporate and M&A practice at Morales & Besa routinely advises on both buy-side and sell-side private and public M&A transactions for large, medium-sized and SME clients, including strategic buyers, investment banks and private equity funds. Founding partners Guillermo Morales (whose broad practice covers private acquisition and sale transactions, public tender offers, mergers and restructurings) and Eugenio Besa (a commercial, finance, foreign investment and M&A specialist), are both pillars of the Chilean corporate market. Corporate and commercial expert Michel Diban; Macarena Laso, whose experience includes publicly-listed company mergers; and Álvaro Barriga, who is active in M&A transactions as part of a wider corporate practice, are all also highly-regarded advisors. At associate level, Vicente Valdés is the key figure, advising on M&A, divestitures and restructuring.

Morales & Besa‘s team has longstanding infrastructure and energy sector experience, its practice scope ranging from project development, acquisition and financing matters, to contractual, regulatory and litigation issues. In addition to acting for major energy and construction industry players, the multidisciplinary group routinely assists clients from the public works and sewage water sectors with obtaining project-related authorisations and permits. The practice is led by infrastructure and energy projects specialist Carlos Silva, while Macarena Laso heads the firm’s real estate and construction team. Partner-level growth in 2022 includes the return of Aldo Cardinali (project developments) as partner from Infante Valenzuela Molina Abogados, and the elevation of energy expert Juan Carlos Valdivieso. At senior associate level, Macarena López was recruited from Molina Ríos Abogados in July 2021, and focuses on projects, construction and engineering matters; and Katannya Jablonski is an energy and natural resources, regulated markets and concessions specialist. Senior James Channing left for Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP in the US in August 2021.

The real estate and construction practice at Morales & Besa is able to leverage expertise from the firm’s regulatory, banking and finance, tax, M&A, and energy practices. Typical real estate work includes purchases, sales, leases, financing, development, construction, zoning regulations and title review; moreover, the team is particularly experienced in infrastructure sector developments, including the real estate aspects of toll road, airport, hospital, power plant and transmission line projects. The practice of team leader Macarena Laso   covers both real estate transactions, and the structuring, acquisition and financing of public infrastructure projects. At associate level, senior Macarena López Jünemann  (a May-2021 arrival from Molina Riós Abogados), and Carolina Stalder  (formerly in-house at Inmobiliaria Los Olivos) are both noted.