Successful Mergers and Acquisitions in Latin America Conference in Miami  

Despite a last-minute change of venue, the annual conference organised by the Latin American Regional Forum (LARF) and the M&A committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) in Miami was a resounding success.
 

The IBA conference on Mergers and Acquisitions in Latin America took place last week in Miami, with the participation of more than 500 delegates. Once again, the event has been a resounding success, despite the last-minute location changes, originally set to take place in Quito, Ecuador. The organization of the IBA has been impeccable as always, and gave all of us the opportunity to keep up-to-date on all current legal and financial issues in the area.
The event began with an interesting session about Artificial Intelligence in the mergers and acquisitions process and the responsibility of lawyers who use it in their operations, moderated by Adriana Castro (BLP) and Juan Manuel Marchan (Perez Bustamante & Ponce). This session delved into the transformative role of artificial intelligence in the M&A space.

An interesting topic was the presentation on investment in China: different opportunities and challenges in North America and Latin America. It is well known that China is continuously acquiring foreign companies, and the panellists discussed whether Chinese investment is necessary and how to rebuild the bridge between China and the Americas.

An issue of great importance and one that was subject to intense debate was that of Antitrust Due Diligence, compliance and data privacy analysis. Without a doubt, compliance with competition regulations and data privacy are currently some of the main priorities in the legal and business field. This session was masterfully moderated by Andrea Von Chrismar (Prieto Abogados) and Juan Manuel Mercant (Guyer & Regules).

LARF co-chairs Benjamín Grebe (Prieto, Chile) and Juan Manuel Mercant (Guyer & Regules, Uruguay), M&A Committee co-chair Nicolás Piaggio (Guyer & Regules), IBA Vice President Jaime Carey (Carey, Chile) and LARF Membership Officer Sandra Reed (Pérez Bustamante & Ponce, Ecuador) gave an excellent review of the conference.

Benjamín highlighted that "the Miami conference was a great success thanks to the effort and work of the IBA, the officers and delegates. We finally managed to transfer the spirit of our Latin American LARF forum, and the organisation that had already been done for Quito allowed the final conference to be held in Miami in just a few days. The level of the panels was very high, with innovative speakers and with an Opening Ceremony in which we had the opportunity to listen and interview the General Counsel of the FIFA World Cup".

Mercant stated: "Excellent conference to keep abreast with relevant trends and challenges and to exchange with colleagues, clients and friends from other countries", while Nicolás Piaggio said: "The 2024 Miami Conference jointly organized by LARF and the Corporate and M&A committee was a wonderful opportunity to meet with the Latam and US legal elite and learn, exhange information about trends and deals and network. Meeting with so many friends and having fun together are a distinguishing feature of these conferences, which year after year turn out extremely successful and enjoyable".

IBA Vice-President Jaime Carey (Carey, Chile) also gave an exceptional assessment of the event, stating: "Great IBA M&A Regional Latin American Conference in Miami. Perfect organization in a short period of time and great turn-out with an atmosphere of camaraderie and friendship. It was a pity to miss Quito and a big thanks to the Ecuadorian host committee for all their efforts".

Finally, Sandra Reed commented that the Miami event was a success and that the IBA had demonstrated its strengths, managing to organise everything in a short time, and she highlighted the commitment of the firms to the organisation. As one of the organisers of the postponed Quito event, the Ecuadorian lawyer also stressed that "things in Quito are calm and provide the necessary conditions for an event in this city to be a success, and that is why we hope that the 2025 meeting will be held in our Franciscan city of Quito".
To date, the IBA has not commented on the matter, and is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.



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