Pérez-Llorca boosts its Finance and Corporate teams in Spain

Pérez-Llorca boosts its Finance and Corporate teams in Spain

The new hires are from Allen & Overy, KPMG España and Clifford Chance which coincides with two internal partner promotions

Madrid-based international law firm Pérez-Llorca has strengthened its corporate and finance teams at its Madrid and Barcelona offices by going for lateral hires from rival firms.

The Spanish firm has hired a partner each from Allen & Overy and KPMG España, and a counsel from Clifford Chance in addition to two internal partner promotions.

Among the two corporate partners, while Teresa Méndez has joined the firm from Allen & Overy, Javier Bau has moved on from KPMG's Spanish arm. Both will be based in Madrid.

Gabriel Salarich, a debt capital markets specialist, has come to the firm's finance team in Madrid as counsel from Clifford Chance.

The two in-house promotes are corporate lawyers Florence Legeay and Pablo Hontoria.

Hontoria has the distinction of launching the firm's New York office in the past and has now been given charge to open its Singapore office, Pérez-Llorca's maiden foray into the Asian law market.

Méndez brings along extensive experience in M&A transactions for both listed and unlisted companies to the firm. She had a four-year stint as a counsel with Allen & Overy in Madrid. Prior to that, she was associated with Cuatrecasas for most of her career.

Méndez has worked on several important takeover bids in Spain, as well as IPOs, capital increases, and debt restructurings.

In private M&A, she has advised on transactions across various sectors, representing industrial clients as well as private equity and sovereign wealth funds.

Bau, on the other hand, specialises in private equity and financial sector transactions. Before moving over to Pérez-Llorca, he was working as a partner in the commercial practice with KPMG since 2018. He also had a stint with Allen & Overy as a senior associate.

He carries with him 17 years of experience advising domestic and foreign clients on transactional matters, particularly in M&A, joint ventures, and carve-outs.

Among the two internal promotions is Hontoria, who has been with Pérez-Llorca since the beginning of his legal career in 2011. His time at the firm includes a period in New York that saw him open its office there with Iván Delgado.

Madrid-based Hontoria is all set to relocate to Singapore shortly. He has been handpicked by Pérez-Llorca to launch its Singapore office. The firm says that it will use its Singapore office as a hub to develop its strategy across the Asia-Pacific region.

The second internal promotion to partner is Legeay who has been in the firm's Barcelona office. She joined Pérez-Llorca in 2015 after moving over from Uría Menéndez. She is qualified in France and Spain and sometimes in-house at Hermés International in Paris.

Legeay is experienced in transactions with a noted foreign component, both in corporate law and real estate and financing.