Santander's Uruguayan ABN Amro buyout closes

January 21, 2009 5:05 AM

Banco Santander's US$300 million acquisition of ABN Amro's Montevideo branch has closed, creating the largest-ever private bank in Uruguay. Lawyers from Jiménez de Aréchaga, Viana & Brause - who act as both banks' regular counsel - steered the deal to a conclusion on 29 December.

The firm's Gabriela Jourdan says, "Being counsel for the two parties required a special effort to act in a business like manner for the best interests of both banks, which, until the acquisition was finally implemented, had to act as two completely independent banks."

"The preparations for the acquisition had to be made under strict confidentiality agreements, using a ‘Chinese wall,' with two separate teams of lawyers, one working for ABN and the other for Santander," she explains.

Jourdan says the legal team faced challenges at almost every stage of the eight-month negotiations, including, "drafting agreements which were agreeable to both parties, developing policies under which the parties could work during the acquisition process, and negotiating with the Bank Employees Trade Union (AEBU) to settle the new Santander working policies."

After the merger's approval by Uruguay's executive and Central Bank, the resulting bank will have a twenty per cent share of Uruguay's private banking market.

Counsel to Banco Santander and ABN Amro

Jiménez de Aréchaga, Viana & Brause

Partners Fernando Jiménez de Aréchaga, Virginia Brause, Nicolás Herrera Alonso, Verónica Pott and associates Gabriela Jourdan, Fernando Jiménez de Aréchaga (h), Mariela Ruanova, Carolina Damonte and Evangelina Torres

(Source: magazine LatinLawyer)

14 January, 2009