José María Eyzaguirre B.

Practice Areas

Mergers and Acquisitions, Banking and Finance, Litigation, Capital Markets, Business Organizations.

Career

José María Eyzaguirre B. leads the Mergers and Acquisitions practice at Claro & Cía. and in Chile, where he has been consistently recognized as “Star Individual” in the Corporate, Mergers and Acquisitions field by Chambers & Partners since 1999, and highlighted as a leading lawyer in complex transactions in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Banking and Finance sectors by specialized publications such as The Legal 500, LatinLawyer, IFLR and Best Lawyers, among others.

He began his career in the Litigation area and then focused on the business practice, specializing in corporate matters in general, with particular emphasis on Transnational Financing, including Project Financing (particularly, on infrastructure) and, most prominently, on Mergers & Acquisitions, wherein he has implemented and structured the major transactions carried out in Chile to date, among them:

The strategic alliance between LATAM Airlines Group and Delta for US$2.2 billion;

The structuring, design and execution of the divestment of Nutrien Ltd. from Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (“SQM”) for US$5.2 billion.

The acquisition by DP World of Puertos y Logística S.A. from the Matte Group and Angelini Group for US$700 million.

The merger between Scotiabank Chile and BBVA Chile (acting on behalf of the Said Group, a 25% (shareholder), after the acquisition by The Bank of Nova Scotia of 68.19% of the stake in BBVA Chile for US$2.2 billion.

The merger between Corpbanca and Banco Itaú for US$7 billion.

The merger of LATAM Airlines Group S.A. with the Brazilian airline TAM Airlines, (M&A Deal of the Year 2012/2013) for an added value of US$12 billion as well as the entry of Qatar Airlines in 2016.

The dispute for the control of the exploitation of Los Bronces copper mine between Anglo American plc with Codelco, the Chilean state-owned company, which concluded with a transaction giving rise to an association between the two companies and Mitsubishi Corporation.

The acquisition by Walmart Stores Inc. of the Chilean retail company D&S for US$4 billion

The French company Nexans in the acquisition of the wire and cable division from the Chilean publicly-held company Madeco, which does business in Brazil, Argentina and Colombia for US$800 million.

Hydro-Quebec in the sale of its stake in the Chilean electricity transmission company Transelec for US$1.7 billion to Broookfiled.

He has been a member of the board of directors of public companies such as LATAM Airlines Group S.A.,Soquimich S.A. and Walmart Chile (WMTCL – Santiago Stock Exchange). He is a member of the board of directors of Invercap.

He joined Claro & Cía. in 1982, worked between 1987 and 1988 at the New York office of Shearman & Sterling, and has been a partner of Claro & Cía. since 1993.

He was admitted as a member of the New York Bar Association in 1998.

Languages Spoken

English and Spanish.

Education