DLA Piper Argentina > Buenos Aires, Argentina > Firm Profile
DLA Piper Argentina Offices
Av. Eduardo Madero 900
16th Floor
Buenos Aires C1106ACV
Argentina
DLA Piper Argentina > The Legal 500 Rankings
Argentina > Banking and finance Tier 3
DLA Piper Argentina handles complex, cross-border banking and finance matters and has built up extensive experience in large, high-profile corporate, sovereign and sub-sovereign debt restructurings, working with debtors and creditors. The ‘flexible’ and ‘attentive’ team also handles capital markets work, where it leverages the network of its parent firm to support clients on exchange offers and new debt issuance domestically and abroad. The firm’s country manager Marcelo Etchebarne leads the practice and has extensive experience working with sovereign, sub-sovereign and corporate clients on debt and equity offerings. Additional senior level support comes from Guillermo Cabanellas, who has been counselling banks and corporations for more than 30 years; structured finance and financial trust expert Alejandro Noblia and capital markets-focused Justo Segura. Of counsel Nicolas Teijeiro provides high level advice on sovereign and sub-sovereign matters, with the firm’s second line fronted by associates Juan Rosatto, Daiana Suk, Federico Vieyra and Marcelo Rá.Practice head(s):
Marcelo Etchebarne
Testimonials
‘A team that performs well under pressure and makes good decisions in complicated negotiations.’
‘The people are engaging and attentive. A flexible team that is responsive to client needs.’
‘Marcelo Etchebarne, Justo Segura, Antonio Arias and Nicolas Teijeiro display confidence, knowledge and experience.’
‘The partners are personally involved in the deals. Justo Segura stands out for his commitment and knowledge.’
‘The uniqueness of the firm comes from its specialization in banking and finance and the experience in both local and international financing deals.’
Key clients
Edenor
Banco Voii
Province of Buenos Aires
Province of Chaco
Province of Chubut
Province of Salta
Empresa de Energía del Cono Sur
Nuevo Chaco Bursátil
Province of Jujuy
Work highlights
- Advised Edenor, Argentina’s largest electricity distribution company, on the various exchange offers and refinancings.
- Advised the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s largest and most populated Province, on the complex issuance of floating rate public debt securities.
- Represented Banco Voii on the issuance of short-term debt securities.
Argentina > Corporate and M&A Tier 3
DLA Piper Argentina specialises in complex, cross-border M&A deals, primarily advising international corporates and private equity investors on Argentine and Latin American transactions. Leveraging the global platform of its parent, the ‘agile’ practice is regularly called on to advise on the impact of local antitrust, corporate finance, intellectual property and tax law on international deals. The firm has been particularly active on private equity deals, with agribusiness, oil-and-gas, financial services, energy and technology among the sectors covered. The team is co-led by the ‘excellent’ Martin Mittelman, who has a strong energy and natural resources practice; and the ‘exceptional’ Antonio Arias, a standout M&A lawyer who also co-heads DLA Piper’s Latin America regional venture capital and technology group. The team can also call on the experience of capital markets lawyer and banking and finance head Marcelo Etchebarne, with private equity and venture capital senior Juan Pablo Reverendo the key contact at associate level.Practice head(s):
Antonio Arias; Martin Mittelman
Testimonials
‘They are very agile and practical. Martin Mittelman is excellent.’
‘DLA Piper has become a strong player in the M&A market in Argentina and Latin America and has grown exponentially in recent times.’
‘Antonio Arias has become one of the most prestigious transactional lawyers of his generation, and is undoubtedly a very relevant partner in the M&A market. He has had an exceptional year. Very active both in Argentina and in the region. He is a dealmaker with a clear commercial vision, who fully understands his client’s needs.’
‘Excellent communication skills; technical knowledge and customer orientation.’
Key clients
Proofpoint
IFF (International Flavors & Fragances)
NTT
Banco Itaú
Digital Agency/Rocket Insight
Banco Votorantim
Brasil Foods/Sadia
Vicentin
Edenor
Booking
3i Group
The Carlyle Group
Cornerstone
CIVC Partners
Amazon
Intellias
Salesforce
Royal Bank of Canada
Tyson Foods
Province of Mendoza
Work highlights
- Advised Avenga International, an IT service provider backed by Oaktree and Cornerstone, on the cross-border acquisition of US and Argentine entities of IncluIt Group, an Argentine-based startup.
- Advised Advent International, on the acquisition of a 25 percent stake in Brazilian construction materials manufacturer Tigre Group, which has important assets and presence in Argentina.
- Advised Advent International on the acquisition of a majority stake in Neoris, a technology consultancy and digital transformation service, headquartered in Argentina.
Argentina > Dispute resolution Tier 4
DLA Piper Argentina handles matters at all court levels in Argentina, undertaking civil, commercial, shareholder and administrative litigation, as well as in arbitration and international arbitration for local and international clients in a wide range of industries. Shareholder litigation is a particularly active area. Labour law, litigation and restructuring expert Alberto Rubio heads the practice, with associates Florencia Fabio (international private law, complex litigation and arbitration) and María Florencia Labarile (commercial litigation, labour law and bankruptcy) leading the second line.Practice head(s):
Alberto Rubio
Testimonials
‘The firm’s lawyers are highly trained, agile and practical.’
Key clients
Nucleoeléctrica Argentina
Lactalis International
Empresa Argentina de Navegación Aérea
Aires del Sur
Juan Pablo Guaita
Trust & Investment Administration
TIG Insurance Company
Startek Corporation
Edenor
Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania
Work highlights
- Advised nuclear power plant operator Nucleoeléctrica Argentina on an arbitration proceeding against Argentine construction company TGLT, regarding a highly sensitive dispute related to a complex construction project for burned fuel elements.
- Represented dairy company Lactalis in a dispute against Goodies, a distributor of Lactalis products, after a contract termination.
- Represented Edenor before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in a claim for damages derived from the death of an Argentine citizen in an accident.
Argentina > Tax Tier 4
DLA Piper Argentina provides tax advice covering federal, provincial and municipal taxes to both local and foreign clients. The practice also offers tax planning support and representation in administrative and judicial proceedings. The team is especially strong for transactional matters, providing tax due diligence and post-deal tax structuring expertise on complex, cross-border deals. The practice is led by Augusto Nicolas Mancinelli, who handles tax planning, litigation, federal and local taxation and criminal tax law.Practice head(s):
Augusto Mancinelli
Key clients
NBC Universal Media
Stanley Black & Decker – CRC Evans
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Sony Cloud Media Services
Rush Street Interactive
Danaher Corporation
Avenga
Combe Cosmetics
Kellogg
Tyson Foods
Work highlights
- Advised Avenga on the acquisition of IncluIT, providing tax due diligence of the target as well as tax planning and structuring and post-closing activities.
- Provided Tyson Foods with tax advice and tax planning for an investment in Granja Tres Arroyos Group.
- Advised Sony’s Argentine operations on digital economy taxation and on structures to minimise FX risks.
Argentina > Labour and employment
Latin America: International firms > Capital markets
DLA Piper LLP (US) has a well developed Latin America capital markets team spread across its offices in the region and in New York; moreover, many of its practitioners are dual-qualified lawyers in both the US and one-or-other Latin American jurisdiction. The firm has an established record in high-yield debt, medium-term notes, asset backed securities and project bonds, while structured finance and securitisation (including diversified payments rights securitisations) are also fortes for the team – which worked intensively on debt restructurings and liability management transactions during 2022. The group benefits from outstanding links to Latin American corporates and financial institutions. New York partner Christopher Paci is an immensely experienced capital markets specialist with a strong focus on Latin America. Managing partner of the Buenos Aires office Marcelo Etchebarne, who splits his time between Argentina and New York, and is also an experienced capital markers expert.Practice head(s):
Christopher Paci; Marcelo Etchebarne
Testimonials
‘In addition to its technical solvency, the DLA team stands out for its enormous willingness and openness to generate solutions in a scenario of permanent change. Its quick reaction and adaptation capacity has allowed us to carry out transactions dynamically and successfully.’
‘Permanent attention, flexibility, predisposition and knowledge of the company.’
Key clients
Innergex Renewable Energy
Grupo Bafar
Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte
Alsea
Banco do Brasil
Globant
YPF ad hoc bondholder committee
Crédito Real
Edenor
Transtelco Holdings and Transtelco Acquisition III
Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior
Banco do Brasil
Work highlights
- Advised Innergex Renewable Energy on a private placement with institutional investors of $710m million senior secured notes by its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Aela Generación.
- Advised Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte on its offer to exchange its $98m outstanding 9.75% senior notes (due 2022) for newly issued 9.75% senior notes (due 2025).
- Advised Crédito Real on the liability management exercise to refinance its Swiss Franc bonds.
DLA Piper Argentina > Firm Profile
DLA Piper Latin America offers full-service business legal counsel to domestic and multinational companies with interests in and operations throughout the region. Our integrated approach to serving clients combines local knowledge with the resources of the DLA Piper global platform. With over 300 lawyers practicing in DLA Piper Latin America, our teams frequently work with our professionals throughout the Iberian Peninsula and around the global firm to ensure our clients receive the depth of service they require to meet their legal and business objectives.
DLA Piper assists with business transactions and cross-border disputes throughout Latin America. We handle matters in every country in the region and across every industry sector in which our clients operate. As the level of sophisticated cross-border activity continues to grow throughout the entire region, DLA Piper continues to expand services to clients with a Latin America presence through our cooperation with Campos Mello Advogados in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil and with our DLA Piper multi-disciplinary practice with offices in:
- Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil (Campos Mello Advogados in cooperation with DLA Piper)
- Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Lima, Peru
- Mexico City, Mexico
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Santiago, Chile
Our experience in Latin America includes assisting companies from inside and outside the region with the full range of business, legal and commercial services that DLA Piper provides worldwide:
- Capital markets
- Compliance and investigations
- Energy, mining and natural resources
- Family groups
- Franchise and distribution
- Hospitality management agreements
- Inbound and outbound capital investments
- Insurance and reinsurance
- Intellectual property and technology transfer, registration
- International arbitration
- Labor and employment, immigration
- Litigation
- M&A
- Market entry
- Privacy and data security, e-commerce
- Private equity and debt financing
- Project finance and public-private partnerships
- Real estate investment
- Tax structuring, transfer pricing, imports and market access issues
- Telecommunications, media, and entertainment regulation and licensing
Our team is multilingual and never lets language or time zones present a barrier to efficient client service. Having practiced law in both the US and Latin America, the members of our team are intimately familiar with civil law systems and with the cultural and legal nuances required to successfully do business in the region.
Our strategic relationships in countries in which we do not maintain offices enhance our ability to deliver quality business legal services with a keen understanding of local statutes.
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
---|---|---|---|
Capital Markets | Marcelo Etchebarne, Managing Partner | m.etchebarne@dlapiper.com.ar | +54 11 4114 5526 |
Lawyer Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
---|---|---|---|
Mr Antonio Arias | Co-Chair, Emerging Growth and Venture Capital – DLA Piper Latin America Co-Head,… | View Profile | |
Guillermo Cabanellas | Senior Partner | View Profile | |
Marcelo Etchebarne | Managing Partner | View Profile | |
Florencia Fabio | Counsel – Partner Track | View Profile | |
María Florencia Labarile | Associate | View Profile | |
Mr Augusto Nicolás Mancinelli | Head of the Tax Practice at DLA Piper Argentina | View Profile | |
Mr Martin Mittelman | View Profile | ||
Alejandro Noblia | Partner | View Profile | |
Mr Marcelo Rá | Associate | View Profile | |
Mr Juan Pablo Reverendo | Counsel – Partner Track | View Profile | |
Alberto Rubio | Partner | View Profile | |
Justo Segura | Partner | View Profile | |
Ms Daiana Suk | Senior Associate | View Profile | |
Nicolas Teijeiro | Of Counsel | View Profile | |
Nicolas Teijeiro | Of Counsel | View Profile | |
Mr Federico Vieyra | Associate | View Profile |
Languages
English Spanish PortugueseInterviews
Marcelo Etchebarne, Country Managing Partner
1) What do you see as the main points that differentiate DLA Argentina from your competitors?
DLA Piper is the most prominent global law firm today with over 90 offices in more than 45 countries. It has been ranked the number 1 global M&A firm for the 11th consecutive year according to Megamarkets and number 2 in the US. The firm has the muscle to invest in the best available technology. We developed our own artificial intelligence named CoCounsel. Our experts on AI can not only tell clients how to comply with new rules and regulations but also make sure they comply with them. All of that percolates into our team that is better suited to advise clients in a rapidly changing legal environment. Our lawyers participate in practice groups with lawyers from Canada to Chile on regular update calls and training programs. They interact with their peers in Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific. They are updated with the cutting-edge legal technology that the firm applies globally. We operate under the protocols and standards of a leading international firm. Put it simply, our Buenos Aires office has a mix of lawyers admitted in Argentina and in New York with a global exposure. The training and experience they receive is unmatched by any other local firm.
2) Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?
Mergers and acquisitions in the food, agribusiness, energy, and mining sectors will continue to grow. Argentina was once the barn of the world and still is one of the largest food producers; it has the second largest gas basin in the world, some of the largest mineral deposits (silver, potash, lithium, uranium, copper, gold), it is still one of the largest producers of food. With adequate regulation and some stability, it could easily double or triple it exports on those sectors.
We are ready to help global and local clients in those areas. We have been incredibly active in M&A over the last few years. In 2022, our Buenos Aires office consummated 20 aquisitions, 14 of which were publicly reported and 6 remained confidential. That is twice as many as the number reported by the second most active firm. We were also one of the busiest Argentine firms in finance and capital markets in 2022.
3) What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?
We have top notch practitioners in all the areas that we cover. We have the ability to retain the best available talent and train them in a way that our peers cannot. We also have a highly sophisticated group of New York Law practitioners (to my knowledge the only one based in Buenos Aires) that work as part of the teams in New York with Christopher Paci, our US Chair of Capital Markets, Margarita Oliva, our Latin America Regional Practice Group Leader (Finance) and myself. They have done several cross border corporate finance deals under New York Law in Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay.
4) Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
AI and quantum computers will rapidly transform the world. At DLA Piper we have developed CoCounsel. As said by Bennett Borden, our Chief Data Scientist of our Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Practice, with CoCounsel, our attorneys will be able to enhance their services and create more agile and focused workflows by leveraging advanced purpose-built AI technologies.
5) Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?
DLA Piper Argentina has historically created novel legal solutions. In 2010 we proposed a reverse inquiry proposal from bondholders holding around USD12 billion of defaulted Argentine sovereign bonds. That idea was key to terminate the stalemate between the Republic and its investors. Our clients obtained the trade they thought was reasonable and the Republic saved US$36 billion, compared to the payments made under court settlements a few years ago. More recently, we advised on five deals of the year in Latin America, including YPF US$6.2 billion debt restructuring, the Province of Buenos Aires US$ 7 billion debt restructuring, LATAM Airlines US$1.3 billion debt restructuring, the Province of Buenos Aires peso-denominated notes offering of US$ 1.5 billion, and Stoneway Capital US$ 500 million offering of senior secured notes in connection with the construction of four combined cycle plants in Buenos Aires.
We are currently advising a large group of business leaders on a monetary reform program for Argentine that will be available for implementation for the next administration in 2024. We have a team of lawyers that have contributed over US$150,000 on pro bono legal advice from the U.S., Europe and Argentina, designing a highly complex legal structure to deal with the complexities that the Argentine Central Bank is currently facing. If implemented, this can be a game changer for companies, financial institutions and business leaders operating in Argentina, providing long term stability, growth, and low inflation.
6) Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?
We are a client oriented global law firm. Our clients are generally very sophisticated, demand attention and high-quality legal advice. Stability and strategic direction are key to them. Our Buenos Aires office was founded in 1998 and some of the founding partners are still around, such as Guillermo Cabanellas and me. Almost all of our partners were trained in-house. Over the past two and a half decades we have worked in some of the most challenging matters that took place in Argentina, from the largest transactions to the biggest arbitrations and complex cross border litigation engagements designing the strategic road map for our clients and taking them to the finish line. We believe that our team has the capabilities to continue leading the trend in the future.
Comparative Guides
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Denmark: Restructuring & Insolvency
Published: July 2023
Authors: Henrik SjørslevPer Astrup MadsenPeter Hedegaard KnudsenHenrik Lund-Koefoed
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Restructuring & Insolvency laws and regulations applicable in Denmark.
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The Netherlands: Tax
Published: October 2023
Authors: Jian-Cheng KuRhys Bane
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Tax laws and regulations applicable in The Netherlands.
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Denmark: Shipping
Published: December 2023
Authors: Christian Benedictsen-Nislev Henrik Frandsen Per Vestergaard Pedersen
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Shipping laws and regulations applicable in Denmark.
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Morocco: Project Finance
Published: January 2024
Authors: Fabrice Armand Gaëlle Bouriau
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Project Finance laws and regulations applicable in Morocco.
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United States: Project Finance
Published: February 2024
Authors: Robert da Silva Ashley, Esq.
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Project Finance laws and regulations applicable in United States.
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Spain: Securitisation
Published: March 2024
Authors: Andrés LorrioDiego Sánchez
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Securitisation laws and regulations applicable in Spain.
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Colombia: Mergers & Acquisitions
Published: March 2024
Authors: Juan Manuel de la RosaFelipe Quintero
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Mergers & Acquisitions laws and regulations applicable in Colombia.
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United Kingdom: Class Actions
Published: June 2024
Authors: Jeremy SherHui Ying Chee
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Class Actions laws and regulations applicable in United Kingdom.
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The Netherlands: Class Actions
Published: June 2024
Authors: Marnix Holtzer Tom Hautvast
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Class Actions laws and regulations applicable in The Netherlands.
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Scotland: Class Actions
Published: June 2024
Authors: Stuart Murdoch Paddy Fulton
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Class Actions laws and regulations applicable in Scotland.
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Morocco: Doing Business In
Published: June 2024
Authors: Léa Attias Adil Mouline
This country-specific Q&A provides an overview of Doing Business In laws and regulations applicable in Morocco.
- Banking and finance
- Corporate and M&A
Firm Rankings
- Latin America: International firms > Capital markets