Thursday, 2 June 2016 by Lulu Rumsey
Brazilian firm Azevedo Sette Advogados is absorbing firm Barretto Ferreira e Brancher (BKBG), a merger both firms’ founders say is a means to counter Brazil’s current economic malaise and take advantage of private investment in the country.
The firms announced their intention to combine their operations yesterday. The merged firm will keep Azevedo Sette’s name and will be headquartered at Azevedo Sette’s São Paulo offices. The merger becomes effective on 1 July.
Azevedo Sette’s managing partner, Luiz Sette, will remain at the helm of the firm, whose numbers now rise to 296 lawyers. BKBG’s two partners, Ricardo Barretto and Paulo Brancher ,will not play a management role in the combined firm.
“We have known both Ricardo and Paulo for several years and we have seen a major opportunity to add value for our clients and be well positioned,” says Sette. “We have been in discussions since the beginning of the year, but the recent and relevant change in the Brazilian government and the upcoming new economic scenario, with the attraction of significant investment from the foreign and domestic private sectors, has been the turning point of BKBG’s decision to look for the most suitable partnership in order to be prepared to this new cycle.” Brazil’s Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff last month, ushering in interim president Michel Temer, who has indicated his support for privatisation projects to get Brazil’s troubled economy back on track.
Azevedo Sette – which was founded in Minas Gerais 1967 – is a much older and larger firm than BKBG, which opened its doors 12 years ago and has diminished in size significantly in the last year. “It was a natural choice to maintain the name of Azevedo Sette, [which is] a larger, traditional, solid and respected law firm with almost 50 years of tradition,” says Sette. Azevedo Sette’s entire partnership is on board for the merger, reports Sette. “All partners are very excited for the opportunity to work with Paulo and Ricardo and their team and plan the continuing expansion of Azevedo Sette,” he says.
The merger broadens Azevedo Sette’s focus, giving it considerable clout in telecoms and media law, where Barretto and Brancher are leaders in the field. Barretto and Brancher will take the lead on TMT work for Azevedo Sette, while its other practice areas will be merged with existing areas operating within Azevedo Sette. BKBG was also known for its work in IP, litigation and tax law, which Azevedo also covers in its service offering.
Post-merger, the firm is eyeing further expansion in telecoms. Sette cites Azevedo Sette’s experience in corporate transactions within the sector – just months ago it was engaged in a cross-border software merger – as the foundations of this growth. “We believe that Azevedo Sette’s track record in IT transactions together with the expertise of both Paulo and Ricardo in regulatory aspects of the digital economy is a major asset for our clients and the market in general,” says Sette.
The two firms have followed different trajectories in recent years: Azevedo Sette’s partnership has swelled, while BKBG has seen some notable departures, decreasing its partner count from seven to two in the space of a year. In 2015, Azevedo Sette increased the partnership by 25 per cent through a bumper promotions round, and also hired antitrust, trade and compliance lawyer Luiz Eduardo Salles from BKBG, as well as Leonardo Pereira Lamego from Rolim, Viotti & Leite Campos Advogados earlier this year. Meanwhile, BKBG’s corporate department lost former practice head André Fernandes in 2016, who left along with Cristiane Borges da Costa to join recently established Mattos Engelberg Advogados. The trade department took a hit with the departure not just of Salles, but also Carla Junqueira, who joined Mattos Engelberg in 2015. White-collar crime and compliance head Ana Carolina Gazoni also quit in 2015.
http://latinlawyer.com/news/article/49744/azevedo-sette-absorbs-bkbg/