Roberto E. Silva (h.)

Roberto E. Silva (Jr.) has been a partner at Marval O’Farrell Mairal since 1996 and is a member of its Banking and Capital Markets Department. He has more than 30 years of legal experience.

Roberto is a leading market figure in trusts. He has advised TMF Trust, Equity Trust, ABN AMRO, Banco Comafi, Banco Supervielle, ICBC, BST, MBA, Banco Valores, Advanced Capital and Banco Itaú, among others, on hundreds of financial trusts.

He is also a leading figure in capital markets and has participated in numerous bond issuances, both domestic and international, as well as IPOs, advising Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, among others. He has also worked on public debt matters, including the implementation of Argentina’s Brady Plan in the 1990s. Latin Lawyer has described him as a “key figure” (key name) in the field.

Roberto has participated in the sale of numerous banks (Banco de Crédito Argentino, Banco Del Buen Ayre, Banco Bansud and Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe). He has also worked on the restructuring of Scotiabank, BGN and Banco Velox, advising the trusts established under Article 35 Bis of the Financial Institutions Law, with ABN AMRO serving as trustee.

He has participated in various restructurings (Banco Galicia, Banco Hipotecario, Atanor, Provincia Leasing and Massuh, among others) and in non-bank M&A transactions.

He has actively advised AIG, Morgan Stanley, La Caixa, Banco Galicia, ICBC, Banco Ciudad and other banks on domestic and international loans and financings. The list includes multilateral institutions such as IFC, IIC, FMO and DEG. Latin Lawyer has described him as a “dealmaker star” (star dealmaker).

Since 2001, he has established himself as a specialist in foreign exchange controls and has successfully handled dozens of foreign exchange enforcement proceedings. He also specialises in proceedings before the BCRA, the CNV and the UIF.

More recently, in 2017, he participated in the project financing for Stoneway / Araucaria, which was described as a “landmark transaction”.

He has served as co-chair of the Banking Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) and as secretary of the Chamber of Trusts and Productive Activities (CAFIDAP).

Education

• He holds a law degree from the University of Buenos Aires and an LL.M. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before joining Marval, he was a foreign associate at Shearman & Sterling in New York (1991–1992). He has written numerous articles on topics related to his practice. He has taught at the University of Buenos Aires and the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. He has also delivered various lectures in Argentina and abroad, as well as postgraduate courses.

Memberships

• He is a member of the Bank Lawyers Committee.

Awards and Recognition

• Roberto has consistently been ranked in Band 1 for Banking & Finance by Chambers. He has also received similar recognition in his practice areas from other specialist publications (Latin Lawyer, International Who’s Who Legal of Banking Lawyers, Apertura, PLC Which Lawyers, Best Lawyers, etc.).