Given the current economic climate we have seen an increase in the concerns of shareholders, in particular parent companies or majority shareholders, to limit their liability for the debts of their subsidiaries and to ensure they are not exposed unnecessarily particularly in insolvency situations.
Iberia has clearly not proved immune to the global downturn in M&A, say lawyers, with transactional and private equity both significantly down. But while companies may not be expanding, many are restructuring and refinancing
The current economic and financial crisis is raising issues that many companies may have never before experienced, says Pedro Rueda, partner at Araoz & Rueda in Madrid. While legal advisers need of course to understand their
Companies contemplating a sale or acquisition in the current business market need to understand that deal valuations and strategies that may have worked only a year ago are now totally outdated, says Fernando Torrente, cohead
Even in the midst of the current economic crisis, and fragility of many business sectors, with the right motivation deals can still be done, say Vanda Cascão and Sofia Barata of Vieira de Almeida (
Despite the collapse of highly leveraged private equity activity, start-up and venture capital investment remains active says Isabel Dutilh, managing partner of Dutilh Abogados in Madrid. But while investments rely much less on bank financing
The past few months may have seen Portuguese and Spanish investors freeze their international expansion, in line with uncertainty over company and asset values and finance availability, but the latter half of 2009 will likely see
Lessons from the past can help consortia prepare for future Portuguese projects, says Maria Castelos, partner in the PLMJ project team.
The Iberian deal market has seen a definite slow down in the scale of transactions, say lawyers, nonetheless opportunities remain for those that can adapt to the new environment.
The credit crunch has prompted not only a change in the relative power of vendors, purchasers and banks in transactions, but also the emphasis each is placing on the terms of deals, say partners Fernando
