Spanish firm Pérez-Llorca is set to enter Colombia after agreeing to merge with Gómez-Pinzón in a landmark deal that marks the first merger between a leading Colombian and an Ibero-American firm.

Gómez-Pinzón will bring across a 120-lawyer team based in its Bogotá and Medellín offices, with all Gómez-Pinzón partners due to become partners at Pérez-Llorca. The transaction will enable the Spanish firm to have an on-the-ground presence in the Colombian market and provide legal advice on investment flows into the country from the US, Europe, Mexico, Asia and other South American markets, as well as other financing, transactional and transnational litigation matters.

The merger is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks subject to approval from the two firms’ governing bodies.

Pedro Pérez-Llorca, the Spanish firm’s senior partner, said: “This merger will enable us to compete for leadership in Colombia and consolidate Pérez-Llorca’s position in Latin America, advancing our international growth strategy. Alongside Gómez-Pinzón, we aspire to build a firm that is the natural choice for major clients, both nationally and internationally, in their most complex transactions, litigation and regulatory matters.”

He added that the combined firm intends to make “a positive contribution to the development” of the Colombian legal market. 

Mauricio Piñeros, senior partner at Gómez-Pinzón, said: “Combining Pérez-Llorca’s experience and capabilities with our in-depth knowledge of the local market and our team will enable us to support our clients with increasingly complex cross-border matters. It will also allow us to offer our professionals an international career. We are convinced that this merger will be a significant milestone in the evolution of legal practice in the region.”

The deal is the latest step in the Spanish firm’s international expansion strategy, following the firm’s merger last year with Mexican firm González Calvillo that added roughly 100 lawyers across offices in Mexico City and Monterrey.

The firm also opened an office in Lisbon at the end of 2023 and has strengthened its coverage in London, New York, Brussels and Singapore, helping increase global turnover by a third in 2024 to €165.4m.

Iván Delgado, Pérez-Llorca’s international executive partner, said: “The merger with Gómez-Pinzón bolsters our goal of consolidating a solid regional firm model, with the capacity to offer a unique value proposition in the Iberian and Latin American markets and a special focus on South America. We share Gómez-Pinzón’s values, ambition and a common vision for the advice we want to offer our clients, and together we aspire to become the local law firm of choice for international investors in the region.”

Other firms expanding into Latin America recently include Womble Bond Dickinson, which entered into an alliance with Brazilian firm Schmidt Valois Miranda Ferreira & Agel in March. And in July last year, Pérez-Llorca’s Spanish rival Garrigues merged with Mexican firm Sánchez Devanny.