Spanish heavyweight Pérez-Llorca has bolstered its corporate and finance teams in Madrid and Barcelona with the hire of partners from Allen & Overy and KPMG España, a counsel from Clifford Chance and two internal partner promotions. 

Corporate partners Teresa Méndez and Javier Bau have joined the firm in Madrid from Allen & Overy (A&O) and KPMG’s Spanish arm respectively, while debt capital markets specialist Gabriel Salarich has moved over to the the finance team in Madrid as counsel from Clifford Chance. 

The firm has also promoted to partner corporate lawyers Florence Legeay and Pablo Hontoria, the latter of whom helped to launch the firm’s New York office several years ago and has been tasked with opening the firm’s first location in Asia, in Singapore, early this year. 

The news follows a strong financial performance by the firm in 2021, when according to Legal Dealmaker, revenue shot up almost 33% to just north of €91m, an increase that saw it move from being Spain’s tenth largest law firm by revenue to its eighth. Though still some way behind the top three firms Garrigues, Cuatrecasas and Uría Menéndez, all of which have revenue in excess of €200m, Pérez-Llorca’s turnover increase was far larger in terms of percentage than any of its rivals in the top ten and was particularly notable considering it had made its debut on that list only the year before. 

Méndez brings extensive experience in M&A transactions for both listed and unlisted companies to her new firm, which she has joined after four years as counsel in A&O’s Madrid office, having spent most of her career at Cuatrecasas. She has worked on significant takeover bids in Spain, as well as IPOs, capital increases and debt restructurings. In private M&A, she has advised on transactions across various sectors, representing industrial clients as well as private equity and sovereign wealth funds.

Meantime Bau specialises in private equity and financial sector transactions. He was a senior associate at A&O before joining KPMG in 2018, where he was a partner in the commercial practice, and has 17 years of experience advising domestic and foreign clients on transactional matters, particularly in M&A, joint ventures and carve-outs. 

Legeay has made partner in Barcelona office having moved over to the firm in 2015, prior to which she was at Uría Menéndez and in-house at Hermés International in Paris. Qualified in France and Spain, she is experienced in transactions with a noted foreign component, both in corporate law and in real estate and financing.

Hontoria has been promoted to partner having joined Pérez-Llorca in 2011 at the start of his professional career. His time at the firm has included a period in New York that saw him open its office there with Iván Delgado and work for two years as an international associate at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. 

Hontoria is currently based in Madrid but is set to relocate to Singapore shortly, with the firm saying it will use the new office as a hub to develop its strategy across the Asia-Pacific region. The launch will also see the firm make good on its plan have a physical presence in the global financial capitals of New York, London and Singapore as well as in Europe’s regulatory capital of Brussels, where it opened last year.