Allen & Overy strengthens Spanish offering with Barcelona launch and corporate lateral hire

Allen & Overy announces the launch of an office in Barcelona with the addition of leading Spanish lawyer Antoni (Toni) Valverde. The opening of this second Spanish hub will strengthen A&O’s corporate offering both in Spain and its broader global network. It is expected that the office will start operating within a few months.

Toni joins from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and his practice focuses on private M&A. He has acted for some of the key Spanish players on outbound M&A, advising on the acquisition of OHL Brazil and has strong links with the major banks and corporates headquartered in Barcelona. Toni also specialises in private equity and had lead roles in some of Spain’s most significant PE deals such as the sale of Avanza. The news comes a month after the announcement of the hire of private equity partner Stephen Lloyd from Ashurst, demonstrating A&O’s commitment to this sector globally.

A&O has noticeably strengthened its corporate-related offering in Spain in the past six years, opening a litigation department with the appointment of Antonio Vázquez-Guillén in 2008; hiring Antonio Martinez as a partner and head of the antitrust practice in 2009; and appointing Pablo Mayor to the corporate group in 2010 to further expand A&O’s public law offering.

Toni’s hire is part of a growth plan for A&O Spain, which has performed particularly strongly across all practice areas in the past year.

A&O’s Spanish office recently advised on high profile corporate deals such as:

· Iberdrola’s sale of its 50% stake in British nuclear consortium NuGen to Japan's Toshiba and on the EUR2 billion equity investment made by Qatar Holding;

· Bridgepoint Capital, S.A. on the acquisition of a portfolio of wind energy assets from listed Spanish construction company ACS;

· An investor consortium on the acquisition of a portfolio of real estate assets from SAREB, the Spanish ‘bad bank’.

Allen & Overy’s global managing partner Wim Dejonghe commented: “Spain’s economy grew at its fastest pace in almost six years in the final quarter of 2013 and this is reflected in the success and profitability of our Madrid office. Today’s news underlines the belief that there is a significant opportunity for us to further expand in Spain.”

Iñigo Gómez-Jordana, senior partner of Allen & Overy Spain, added: “Spain’s latest M&A figures point towards recovery and new opportunities lie ahead for both our Madrid and Barcelona offices for all our practice areas. We look forward to Toni’s contribution, which will further strengthen our Spanish and international corporate offering, a strategic priority for the firm.”