LAWFUEL – Law News, Law Jobs Network – According to Portugal’s Jornal de Negócios, which carried an article on Portugal’s largest mergers and acquisitions deals in May 2006, Linklaters has acted on eight of Portugal’s top 10 M&A transactions of the past 12 months. The return of Jorge Bleck to full-time head of the corporate practice can only be good news for the team – Bleck is considered the best M&A lawyer at Linklaters, and now he has handed over managing partner duties to colleague Pedro Siza Vieira, he will be able to focus all his attention to continuing to build the firm’s Portuguese M&A reputation.
Bleck is supported by a nine-associate team that has been extremely busy over the past year, often being found playing a key role in the country’s top M&A matters. For example, in one of Portugal’s largest M&A deals of 2005, the firm advised Amorim Energia on the negotiation of a shareholders’ agreement relating to its acquisition (together with ENI and REN) of Galp Energia. And Semapa-Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão turned to the firm for advice when its wholly-owned subsidiary, CMP Investments, sold 89.92% of the share capital of Enersis II to Babcock & Brown through a Portuguese special purpose vehicle.
Among the year’s other highlights, the firm acted for Scottish & Newcastle on Caixa Geral de Depósitos’ €509.4 million bid for Compal & Nutricafes, advised Banco Santander on Sonae’s €345 million takeover of Modelo Continete, and guided Espírito Santo Saúde through its acquisition (together with Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento) of 90% of Hospitais Portugueses, a healthcare services provider that owns two hospitals and several other healthcare facilities in Portugal.
Leading lawyers
Jorge Bleck
António Soares
