Marval O’Farrell Mairal stands out as one of Argentina’s leading corporate and M&A practices, known for steering high-stakes, intricate transactions both locally and across Latin America and international markets. The team handles a broad spectrum of work, from major M&A and joint ventures to corporate restructurings, with particular expertise in banking, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and telecoms-related matters. Pablo Artagaveytia, who oversees the firm’s Brazil practice group, leads the M&A practice alongside Pablo Viñals Blake, who excels in M&A, private equity and venture capital deals. Santiago Carregal, the firm's chairman, has a strong track record in headline corporate transactions. Other key individuals include Diego Krischcautzky, a contact for domestic alnd international clients, including high-net-worth individuals; Hernán Slemenson, who is particularly active advising private equity funds, investors and founders on transactions involving the technology sector; María Laura Bolatti Cristofaro, who handles buy and sell-side mandates and joint ventures; Diego Chighizola, who is skilled in agribusiness, real estate, and energy-related matters; and María Macarena García Mirri, who plays a prominent role in major transactions in the energy, mining, automotive, and insurance sectors. The team is further complemented by a group of up-and-coming associates, notably María Virginia Canzonieri, Lucia Trillo, and Maria Agustina Giordano. Since publiction, the firm has hired Juan Martín Allende as an of counsel in the corporate practice; formerly a partner at Allende & Brea (until 2020), his experience takes in corporate financing as well as M&A, particularly in relation to real estate and the energy sector - effective as of December 2025.
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Profile
Work Department
Banking & Finance - Corporate/ M&A
Position
Santiago Carregal is the Head of the Banking and Finance Department and Chairman of the firm. He specializes in corporate finance and has represented companies and investment banks in public offerings, private placements and tender and exchange offers, structured and project financings and mortgage securitization involving a variety of equity, debt and hybrid instruments.
Career
Santiago is very active in M&As handling a number of notable transactions, including the sale of GE Money Argentina to Banco Supervielle, the sale of GE Money’s branches to Banco Columbia, and GE’s acquisition of 25% of YPF Luz. He also handled the acquisition by Dufry of the leading airport retailer in Argentina Interbaires, as well as airport retail operations in Uruguay, Ecuador and Armenia, and the sale of the controlling stake in chemical company Indupa by Belgian giant Solvay.
In addition, Santiago has extensive experience in restructuring and workouts, which includes representing the Telecom Argentina group in its USD 4 billion debt restructuring, the largest cross-border insolvency case in Argentina’s history (2002/2006).
From 2012 to 2014 Mr. Carregal led the team of lawyers that represented Repsol in all matters relating to the expropriation of Repsol’s participation in YPF, including representation in arbitral and judicial proceedings, and in the expropriation agreement signed with the Argentine Government, which constitutes Argentina’s first-ever expropriation deal.
Chambers Latin America describes Santiago as “a brilliant lawyer and among the best in the country.” He is also recognized as a leading specialist in banking and finance, corporate/M&A and project finance in several other legal publications including Who’s Who Legal, The Legal 500, Which Lawyer and IFLR 1000.
He worked as a foreign attorney for Shearman & Sterling in New York, is a former Vice-President and Assistant General Counsel of JP Morgan’s Buenos Aires Branch, and was a partner of law firm Carregal & Funes de Rioja.
Languages
English & Spanish.
Memberships
He is currently a member of the Board of the Argentine Bank’s Lawyers Committee (Comité de Abogados de la República Argentina).
Education
Carregal graduated as a lawyer at the University of Buenos Aires in 1984 and went on to earn a Master’s in Law from the University of Illinois in 1987.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
'They have a commitment and proximity to the client according to their individual needs, and have a lot of experience and participate in the most important transactions in the country.'
'Apart from the solid technical knowledge, they have a sharp commercial sense to give the best advice and interaction to the clients.'
'In M&A, María Laura Bolatti has an unmatched capacity for resolution and pragmatism.'
'The team is a Swiss watch - everything functions with perfection and accuracy. With them, everything is foreseeable and happens as they project.'
'They are absolutely dedicated to making things happen and are at the forefront of using new and interesting tools to deliver the best service.'
'Pablo Artagaveytia is exceptional and thinks outside the box; he works very closely with the clients and involves himself personally in the business.'
'Hernán Slemenson is very technical and brings a big commercial vision.'
Key clients
- Allianz Total Austral Eternal BYD BHP Marcopolo Golar ENAP Lamb Weston International Banco de Valores
Work highlights
Advising Golar LNG on the first LNG project in Argentina, a $6bn project consisting of a 20-year deployment of a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas vessel in Argentina.
Assisting BHP in its due diligence of the Josemaria and Filo del Sol copper projects in the Province of San Juan and in the implementation of the acquisition of 100% of Filo Corp, valued at $3bn.
Advising Eternal Tsingshan Group Co., Ltd. on the sale of its stake in Eramine Sudamerica S.A.