About

Specialised in areas including corporate law, public law, antitrust law, M&A, merger control proceedings, complex litigation and IP, Matías Giaccardi is praised by one nominator as having ‘great focus on material issues, excellent negotiation skills as well as deep legal knowledge.’ He became the lead counsel for the South Cone region, encompassing Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay for Shire in 2017. The global specialty biopharmaceutical company was acquired by Takeda in January 2019. The £46bn acquisition, the largest by a Japanese company, propels Takeda into the world’s top 10 list of biggest pharmaceutical companies. Giaccardi notes the acquisition of Shire as one of the most notable transactions he has been involved in the last three years. When he joined Shire in 2017 he created the South Cone legal department and several different standard processes to enhance work quality and efficiency. He has been working very closely with the business, defining the legal department as a key stakeholder in the adoption of strategic decisions. As lead counsel, ‘he has been concentrating daily activities on strategic matters and delegating day-today regular legal work’, he says. Giaccardi particularly highlights his contribution in leading the strategic integration of Shire and Baxalta’s businesses in Argentina and Chile, the divestiture of Shire’s oncology business in Argentina and Chile, and the integration of Abbott and CFR’s businesses in Argentina. Prior to his role at Shire, Giaccardi worked as senior counsel at Abbott Laboratories, where he led the start-up of a new legal entity in Uruguay within a tax-free territory. Previously he spent more than four years at Nestlé Argentina as corporate and IP counsel, and nine years at Marval, O’Farrell & Mairal, offering legal and corporate advice for pharmaceutical, consumer goods and financial companies.