Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro Advogados

Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro was founded in 1995 in the wake of a series of important legal and regulatory developments in Brazil, in particular in the infrastructure and privatisation areas. All such developments have been closely followed by the firm, enabling its members to acquire appropriate expertise in the relevant legal areas.

The firm’s practice covers a wide variety of areas, including corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, project finance, infrastructure, trade finance, private equity and venture capital transactions, regulatory practice, commercial law, tax consulting, planning and litigation, antitrust, banking, labour consulting and litigation, oil, gas and biofuels law, environmental law, technology-related issues and civil litigation.

In recent years Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro has managed to establish significant credentials as the provider of advisory services to Brazilian and foreign companies, particularly with regard to mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and tax and labour consultancy and litigations.

The firm has acted in projects that include: purchase and sale of controlling stakes; preparing companies for IPOs and private placement; representing private equity funds in the acquisition of minority stakes; post-acquisition reorganisations; debt restructuring; civil and labour litigation; antitrust and administrative litigation; arbitration; and taxes, including both litigation and planning.

The firm’s participation in transactions in the relevant areas has allowed it to steadily expand its activities and to broaden the scope of its practice. With offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro has established profitable and close relationships with many of the most important international law firms and investment banks both in Brazil and abroad.

In confirmation of the solid growth of the firm’s practice, specialised business directories have ranked Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro repeatedly among the top Brazilian firms in terms of volume of transactions advised and quality of work delivered. The experience of the partners and most of the associates with foreign jurisdictions has enabled the firm to apply the standards of international practice, which are always directed to the specific interests of the clients in the Brazilian market. All members of the firm are fluent in Portuguese and English, and several speak additional languages, such as Spanish, French, German and other languages.

The quality of the services provided by Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro derives from, among other factors, the close relationship and trust built up between the firm’s team of dedicated lawyers and its clients, and from working methods and practices that encourage creative solutions to the novel problems arising in the wake of the rapid changes that have taken place in the Brazilian economic landscape over the past decade. The firm’s relationship with its clients is always seen as one of partnership and in light of this the firm takes an active interest in its clients’ activities, seeking to be fully informed of new developments in their business to anticipate their needs.

In 2004, the firm established an association with the Portuguese firm Teixeira de Freitas, Rodrigues e Associados, targeting the business links between the two countries. Together, the two law firms have developed partnerships with prominent firms in Angola and Mozambique, furthering their strategy to offer integrated services in other Portuguese-speaking countries.

More recently, the firm accomplished a long-time goal of starting an oil, gas and biofuels practice by merging with the boutique firm Ribeiro e Barreto Advogados, long considered a leader in that field, with the appointment of four new partners. In this respect, with the latest discoveries of huge deposits of oil in the ‘pre-salt’ layer, Vieira, Rezende, Barbosa e Guerreiro is a step ahead in providing a highly specialised service to all its clients.

Rio de Janeiro

Av. Presidente Wilson 231

18°andar

RJ 20030-021

Brazil

Tel: +55 21 2217 2888

Fax: +55 21 2217 2887

São Paulo

Av. Brigadeiro Faria Lima 3.355

24º andar

SP 04538-133

Brazil

Tel: +55 11 3704 3999

Fax: +55 11 3704 3960

www.vrbg.com.br