Olivera Abogados

Firm Details:
Managing Partner: Ricardo Olivera García
Number of partners: 5
Number of other lawyers: 16

Firm Contacts:
Primary Contact: Ricardo Olivera García
Banking & Finance: Federico Rocca
Corporate & M&A: Juan Martín Olivera
Dispute Resolution: Nicolás Paseyro
Restructuring & Insolvency: Ricardo Olivera García
Tax: Andrés Hessdörfer
Labour: Isabel Abarno
Real Estate: Atalívar Cal

Firm Overview:
Olivera Abogados is a law firm providing comprehensive legal advice to Uruguayan and foreign individuals and companies. The firm was founded by Ricardo Olivera Garcia in 1993 and maintains a strong commitment to quality and excellence to render the best service to its clients, through a corporate and interdisciplinary team formed by a new generation of young and outstanding professionals, which combines the benefits of complementary specialisations and skills and a personalised attention. The firm is a member of TerraLex, the renowned international network of law firms characterised for their quality service. This has positioned Olivera Abogados among the top law firms in Uruguay.

Main Areas of Practice:

Banking & Finance:
The firm assists numerous domestic and foreign banking and financial entities, and provides advice on the area, from loans and on-going advice to banks on regulatory matters, to debt issuances and sophisticated financial mandates; it is particularly well known for its work on cutting-edge financial matters. Olivera Abogados renders ongoing advice to the Electronic Stock Exchange of Uruguay and leads the work to set up the first futures exchange in Uruguay. Its participation in the vast majority of the public offerings that have taken place in Uruguay in the last 20 years – providing assistance to issuers, trustees, representatives, risk rating agencies and institutional investors alike – illustrates Olivera Abogados’ sophisticated expertise in this area.

Corporate & M&A:
The firm covers the full range of work in this area, from general corporate advice to complex M&A and transactional work, shareholder agreements and advice on antitrust matters. Olivera Abogados regularly advises foreign clients on business and investment opportunities, enabling them to understand local legislation and the business environment to establish in Uruguay, implement investment projects, acquire companies, and participate in bidding procedures and public calls. The team has a strong track record in M&A transactions such as the local assistance to Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana with the acquisition of the ING Groep’s assets over Latin America.

Dispute Resolution:
Olivera Abogados has a solid reputation for major trials involving complex commercial litigation and arbitration, which involve sophistication in analysis and strategy, such as shareholder and corporate conflicts, disputes related to antitrust matters, unfair competition, IP rights and distribution and agency agreements. The firm has significant experience in arbitration proceedings, both local and international, processed under domestic or foreign and institutional rules.

Restructuring & Insolvency:
The firm is an undisputed leader in this area, with extensive experience and a team that has successfully handled the most complex bankruptcy proceedings in the country, including medical institution Casmu, wood processing factory Urupanel and Uruguay flag-carrier airline Pluna. Managing partner, Ricardo Olivera García was entrusted with the drafting of the restructuring and bankruptcy law currently in force in Uruguay.

Tax:
The firm’s services in this area include advice on nation-wide taxation in Uruguay, including direct and indirect taxes and customs duties, as well as assistance in tax-planning matters, international taxation and transfer pricing. The team has experience in representing local and foreign clients before the authorities at the administrative and court levels and before collection agencies in tax-related disputes, and in filing individual and collective actions seeking annulment of decisions and challenging the constitutionality of legal rules.

Labour:
In a country with a challenging labour environment, the firm provides on-going advice and counselling regarding individual and collective labour relations, and provides comprehensive labour auditing of companies. The firm has successfully handled tough collective negotiations as part of company restructuring procedures. Olivera Abogados is strongly focused on prevention and assists clients in the resolution of conflicts in administrative proceedings and before the courts.

Real Estate:
The firm provides legal and notarial advice for the structuring and development of real estate projects in urban and rural areas, from the design of legal structure, the investment plan, and financing and security agreements, to property transfer. Olivera Abogados regularly advises investors, developers, construction companies, funders and purchasers, in industrial, residential and commercial projects, such as Punta Carretas Shopping development for office space, high-end retail outlets, hotel and parking lots.

International Work:
Olivera Abogados is a member of TerraLex and has close bonds and long-standing relations with toptier law firms and the best practitioners all over the world, providing international support with high professional standards for clients.

Languages:
English, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish.

Clients:
The firm has a solid reputation and a stable clientele, including a significant number of first-class international corporations such as Avis, Alitalia, Associated Press, Brother, CRBC, Ernst&Young, Getty Images, Sabre, Volt, as well as key national corporations such as Punta Carretas Shopping, CASMU, CCEAU, Ventus and BEVSA. It has likewise counseled the Uruguayan national and local governments, and government-owned corporations.