D'Empaire

(The following information was supplied by the firm)

Firm Overview:

D’Empaire is one of the top tier Venezuelan law firms. It enjoys a reputation as the leading M&A, securities, finance, tax and competition law firm in Venezuela. In addition, D’Empaire has strong energy, litigation, arbitration, environmental and labour practices. It is the law firm of choice for complex matters in all sectors of the economy and fields of law.

Managing Partner: Fulvio Italiani
Number of partners: 17
Number of lawyers: 38
Languages: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

Expertise:

  • Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Finance
  • Competition
  • Labour & Human Resources
  • Taxation
  • Criminal
  • Intellectual Property
  • Litigation & Arbitration
  • Oil & Gas, Energy
  • Environmental

Mergers & Acquisitions:
■ D’Empaire assisted Liberty Mutual in the sale of its Venezuelan subsidiary Seguros Caracas de Liberty Mutual, the largest Venezuelan insurance company, to a Chilean investor (2019)
■ Zurich in the sale of its Venezuelan subsidiary to a Venezuelan investor (2019)
■ Maurel & Prom in the acquisition of Shell’s stake in a Venezuelan oil joint venture (2018)
■ D’Empaire participated in the sale of the Venezuelan subsidiary of Pirelli
■ Fairfax in the acquisition of the Venezuelan subsidiary of AIG
■ Corimon Group in the acquisition of Bridgestone Firestone Venezolana C.A. (BFVZ) in the scope of the divestiture of the Venezuelan business by Bridgestone Americas (2016)
■ General Mills in the sale of its Venezuelan subsidiary to a Venezuelan investor (2016)
■ GE, as Venezuelan counsel, on their acquisition of the Power and Grid divisions of Alstom (2016)
■ Rosneft, largest Russian oil and gas company, as Venezuelan counsel in its acquisition of the drilling and well-servicing assets of oil and gas servicing company Weatherford International in Russia and Venezuela
■ BTG Pactual, Latin America’s largest investment bank, in its acquisition of the Venezuelan subsidiary of GlobeNet from Oi
■ Swissport in the acquisition of the Venezuelan subsidiaries of one of its competitors Servisair
■ Veolia in the acquisition of the remaining stake in Proactiva Medio Ambiente from FCC
■ Toshiba Tec in its acquisition of a division of IBM in Venezuela
■ Carlyle in the acquisition of Dupont Coatings de Venezuela
■ Cemex in the agreement with the Venezuelan government for the compensation of the nationalisation of Cemex Venezuela
■ AEI and Williams in the sale of Accroven to PDVSA (US$214 million)
■ Groupe Casino in its agreement with the Venezuelan government for the nationalisation of Exito
■ Banco Santander in the sale of Banco de Venezuela to the Venezuelan government (US$1.05 billion)
■ Ternium in its compensation agreement with the Venezuelan government for the nationalisation of Sidor (US$1.97 billion)
■ Cemex in the nationalisation of its Venezuelan subsidiary by the Venezuelan government
■ DaimlerChrysler as Venezuelan counsel in the transfer of its majority interest in the Chrysler Group to Cerberus
■ Global Crossing as Venezuelan counsel in its merger with Impsat
■ The Carlyle Group as Venezuelan counsel in the purchase of the Engineered Products Division of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (US$1.475 billion)

Finance:
■ Maurel & Prom on the financing of the redevelopment plan for increase of oil production in connection with its acquisition of Shell’s stake in Petroregional del Lago, an oil joint venture developing the Urdaneta West field in Venezuela (2018)
■ Haitong Bank S.A., Sucursal en España as dealer manager in connection with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s offer and sale of US$5 billion aggregate principal amount of 6.5% Bonds due 2036
■ BNP Paribas (as Coface agent and structuring bank) and other banks (as arrangers), in the credit agreement for the financing of Metro de los Teques, Línea 2, El Tambor San Antonio de los Altos’ equipment and an insurance premium in the amount of EUR 64.5 million to the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela
■ Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Evrofinance Mosnarbank on the offer and sale of PDVSA of US$5 billion 6% Senior Notes due 2024 and of US$4.5 billion 6% Senior Notes due 2026
■ Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in connection with a US$1.5 billion Pre-Paid Export Finance Facility to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA)
■ Credit Suisse Securities and Deutsche Bank as dealer managers in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela’s US$3 billion aggregate principal amount of 12.75% amortising bonds due 2022

Oil & Gas, Energy:
■ Represented Maurel & Prom in its purchase of Venezuelan and Colombian oil assets from Knightsbridge Petroleum for US$460 million
■ Pampa Energía, as Venezuelan counsel in the due diligence for the potential acquisition of assets of Petrobras in Venezuela
■ Weatherford International, as counsel for its Venezuelan reorganisation and capitalisation plan
■ Borets, Russian company leader in artificial lift systems engineering, manufacturing, sales and servicing, in connection with corporate law issues in Venezuela
■ The firm has assisted Rosneft in the acquisition of the oil and gas Venezuelan subsidiaries and joint venture participations of TNK-BP and in its acquisition of Precision Drilling Venezuela, a drilling and well-servicing assets of oil and gas service company owned by Weatherford International
■ Other important clients to the practice are BGP, ONGC Videsh Limited, Hotwell, Odebrecht Oil & Gas, Repsol, Tecnicas Reunidas, OPIC, PetroSA and ENI

Labour & Human Resources:
■ D’Empaire assists clients in human resources related matters, restructurings and other labour issues relating to mergers and acquisitions. Its members also advise in bargaining negotiations with labour unions, as well as in the prevention and solution of labour conflicts
■ One of the firm’s partners was appointed as a party-appointed arbitrator in the resolution of a collective bargaining conflict involving one of the most important companies in Venezuela (Cervecería Polar, CA) and one of its unions (SintraterricentroPolar)
■ Negotiations of collective bargaining agreements of two companies of the Masisa group (Andinus and Fibranova)
■ The firm has assisted, among other clients, Pepsi Cola, Plumrose and Ferroatlántica de Venezuela (Ferroven) in collective bargaining agreements negotiations; Siemens, S.A on executive compensation; United Airlines in labour litigation in connection with business restructuring in Venezuela; Praxair (Invegas), in compensation plans, including executive pay; Pentech (Consortium PPE Proplanta)in the legal planning of the hiring of their workforce in Venezuela ■D’Empaire also represents or has represented in connection with labour and employment matters: Bristol Myers, Visa, McDonald’s Venezuela (Arcos dorados), Inelectra, Makro and others

Taxation:
■ D’Empaire provides a wide range of tax planning for corporate and private clients, and advises on the tax implications of local and cross-border transactions
■ D’Empaire has participated in most of the relevant tax litigations of recent years, including transfer pricing disputes. Its members were part of the Venezuelan team that negotiated the US-Venezuela Tax Treaty

Criminal:
■D’Empaire advises corporations and their employees on white collar criminal investigations and proceedings

Intellectual Property:
■ Sanofi-Aventis in the defence of the patent of Plavix® before the Venezuelan authorities
■ Digitel in the defence of its trademark Llámame® against Movistar (Telefónica)
■ Pfizer in the defence of the patent of Lipitor® before the Andean Supreme Tribunal and Venezuelan authorities

Litigation & Arbitration:
■ D’Empaire conducts general and specialised local litigation and also provides assistance in litigation conducted abroad. The team also represents clients in arbitration proceedings under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce and local rules. It has also assisted US law firms in arbitration proceedings conducted in the United States

Competition:
■ AT&T in the acquisition of DirecTV Venezuela
■ Cable & Wireless Communications, PLC in the acquisition of Columbus International
■ BTG Pactual in que acquisition of Brasil Telecom Venezuela
■ Kaplan International in an investigation initiated by EF Environmental & Management:
■ D’Empaire offers strategic and practical advice to a broad range of clients, including leaders in food and agribusiness, construction, manufacturing, energy and mining

Key Contacts

Managing Partner:

Fulvio Italiani
[email protected]

Firm Rankings

Administrative & Public Law
Band 1

Arbitration
Band 1

Banking & Finance
Band 1

Competition/Antitrust
Band 1

Corporate Investigations
Band 1

Corporate/M&A
Band 1

Dispute Resolution
Band 2

8.7

Energy
Band 1

Energy & Natural Resources
Band 2

8.5

Environment
Band 1

IP
Band 3

6.0

Labour & Employment
Band 1

Litigation
Band 1

Private Wealth Law
Band 1

Projects
Band 1

Real Estate
Band 3

7.0

Real Estate & Tourism
Band 1

Regulatory
Band 1

Tax
Band 1

9.8

Articles

Press Releases

Fulvio Italiani is the winner of the “Law Firm Leader of the Year” award

Latin Lawyer announced the winner of this year’s Law Firm Leader of the Year Award: Fulvio Italiani of Venezuela’s D’Empaire. According to Latin Lawyer, Italiani is “a formidable law firm leader” with “an outstanding reputation among his clients, colleagues and competitors, who all consider him to be one of Venezuela’s leading corporate lawyers. Beyond his […]

07 Feb 2024
Assisted Brown-Forman Corporation in its US$725 million acquisition of the Diplomatico Rum brand

The transaction closed on 6 October for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition gives Brown-Forman the Venezuelan company’s production line, including sugar cane and distillation assets as well as three ranges of rum. It also hands the buyer Diplomático’s distillery in Panama. Distillers United Group will continue to oversee the operations of Diplomático’s distillery in Venezuela. […]

08 Aug 2023

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