Virtú Atelier Legal

Managing and Founding Partner: Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak

Partners: Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak, Marcia Arosemena de Paz Rodríguez, Melissa Esther Cortizo Brown and Marelissa Quintero de Stanziola

Number of associates: 3

KEY SERVICES AND CONTACTS

• Corporate: Mergers & Acquisitions; Corporate Governance Structure for Commercial Companies; Organization and Reorganization of Corporate Structures, Foundations and Trusts. | Contact: Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak ([email protected]); Marcia Arosemena ([email protected]); Melissa Cortizo ([email protected])
• Banking & Capital Markets: Structuring both national and international complex financing transactions, such as loans or credit lines, syndicated structures, project finance, interim construction financing, public and private issuances of bonds and/or stocks, among other financial endeavors; Licenses, registrations, and authorizations from financial regulators, as well as the registration of securities and investment companies;Securitizations, public finance, regulatory advice, and the auditing and consultation of compliance, prevention, and corporate governance for regulated companies; regulatory processes within the punitive administrative regime and handle administrative procedures with financial regulators.| Contact: Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak ([email protected]); Melissa Cortizo ([email protected]) | Marelissa Quintero de Stanziola ([email protected])
• Projects & Infrastructure: Legal advice oninfrastructure issues covers the entire project cycle, starting from the structuring of service specifications and contracts, management of the contractor selection process, proposal presentation, contract management, execution, acquisition, financing, to the liquidation of the state or private contract, concessions, public-private partnerships, among others. | Contact: Marcia Arosemena ([email protected]); Lourdes Martínez ([email protected])
• Real Estate and Tourism: Legal advice covers the initial planning strategy, land acquisition, project finance, construction, selling, leasing, permits, construction and development (through horizontal property or other regimes), including tourism-related projects.| Contact: Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak ([email protected]); Marcia Arosemena ([email protected]); Melissa Cortizo ([email protected]); Lourdes Martínez ([email protected])

FIRM OVERVIEW

Virtù Atelier Legal emerged as a Panama’s premier boutique law firm in 2019, headed by leading professionals within the corporate, financial and infrastructure sector, assisting the most dynamic sectors of the local economy, as well as international companies investing in local real estate and tourism projects, and family-owned businesses.

Virtù Atelier Legal team has outstanding deal management and broad expertise setting up a wide range of structures, including syndicated and bilateral, secured and unsecured, and domestic and cross-border financing. Also some of them have served for The Superintendency of Banks of Panama and The Superintendence of the Securities Market of Panama, and are members of several boards of directors of the most renowned banking institutions, broker houses, real estate investment funds, among others. All that experience allows the firm to provide superior legal advice to some of the main financial players, in the largest and most complex transactions.Up to date, the firm has structured over 1 billion in public securities issuances; also multimillionaire representation to multiple banking and financial institutions in the structuring of complex corporate securities revolving programs.

Also, the firm is a permanent institutional legal advisor for well recognized banks and family offices in Panama on their daily operations, and financial transactions, corporate governance, compliance, and regulatory matters.Also, represented some of the most important family holdings in Panama in financial transactions for US$350million; and managed a portfolio of commercial and corporate banking loans of more than US$300million.

The Project and Infrastructure Department represents private companies, public entities, international organizations, governments, and multilateral banks on institutional reform, project development and infrastructure, banking and finance, among others, on infrastructure matters, covering the entire project cycle from the structuring of bidding documents and contracts, management of the contractor selection process, proposal submission, contract management, execution, procurement, financing, to the liquidation of the state or private contract, concessions, public-private partnerships, among others.

Virtù Atelier Legal advice to private entities in loan agreements for more $150MM through the IPT mechanism, as well as local and International financial entities, investment funds on banking and markets regulations, their scope and application to the entire banking and securities sector and ensure their compliance.Among other transactions, the firm advice for contractual renegotiation due to the modification of the design and inclusion of financing to the Fourth Bridge Project, likewise participated in the stage of structuring the project, bidding and development of the tender document.

Also, advice to government entities such as Metro de Panamá, in the construction and operation of Metro Lines, as well as different project managers that provide services to government entities in sanitation and transportation projects, under different regulations, including Law 22 of 2006, processes under BID regulations, and processes under CABEI regulations.

Representative clients: Banco General (and subsidiaries), BG Valores, Prival Bank, Prival Securities, Invertis Securities, Global Bank, Euroclear, Unibank,Grupo Verde Azul, Metro de Panama, Latinex, Nippon Koei, Corporacion Andina de Fomento (CAF), Transeq, AYESA Panama, Secretaria Nacional de Asociaciones Público-Privadas.

Languages: English and Spanish.

Website: https://www.virtuatelier.legal/