AREAS OF EXPERTISE
At AP&A we provide comprehensive counsel in various branches of law, including commercial, corporate, civil, constitutional, administrative and labor.
We actively intervene in foreign investments, mergers and acquisitions, public and private bidding, international transactions, corporate issues, financial and banking business, telecommunications, media, technology and Internet, reinsurance, labor issues, intellectual property, antitrust, privatization and transfer of technology. We also provide legal advice on unconstitutionality, litigation and collection, manufacturer liability, consumer rights, administrative matters and regulatory framework.
At AP&A we provide comprehensive assistance to clients who want to invest in the Argentine Republic. Our clients develop activities in various areas, such as the banking and financial sector, industrial projects, the IT area, media and entertainment, satellite and telecommunications services, natural resources, the production of auto parts for the automotive industry, reinsurance, distribution of electricity and gas, fishing and food and wine industry, among others.
We represent our clients in international commercial transactions, including merchandise sales and services, export and import operations, financing and leasing, international arbitration and anti-dumping operations.
Among the foreign companies we advise in their activities in the Argentine Republic are General Electric Co. (including its divisions and affiliates GE International Inc., Granite, GE Healthcare, Nuovo Pignone spa, GE Medical Systems of Argentina SA), SES Americom, Point International, Inc., Western Union, GKN Sinter Metals, Rockefeller & Co. and Carrefour.
It is one of the main practice areas of our law firm. We have extensive experience advising domestic and foreign clients in the purchase and sale of local companies and goodwill. We also have in-depth knowledge of the practices used by countries that apply the Common Law system, which allows us to use the most modern corporate mechanisms used in the United States and Europe to structure local and international mergers and acquisitions.
We actively participate in the negotiation and drafting of contracts such as the purchase and sale of shares, the transfer of assets and goodwill, shareholder agreements and joint ventures, including the performance of complex legal audits (due diligence).
The members of our law firm have represented buyers and sellers in more than forty operations in the last ten years (which are mentioned in chapter 4 of this). Such experience allows us to know the usual business practices according to the type of operation and the characteristics of the parties involved, which provides our customers with an important competitive advantage in the negotiation and drafting of the contracts used.
We provide our clients with general corporate advice on a permanent basis. Our practice includes the constitution, structuring and reorganization of local companies, as well as daily advice companies that perform a wide range of commercial activities, such as Nieves de Mendoza S.A., GKN Sinter Metals, Granite, Point Pay and others.
We advise on the drafting of corporate bylaws, shareholder agreements, structuring of corporate groups, mergers, divisions, liquidations and corporate dissolutions. Likewise, we advise them in the resolution of corporate conflicts, whether judicial or extrajudicial.
Partners of AP&A have advised in the negotiation and drafting of agency and distribution contracts, among others, to Seagram of Argentina S.A., GE Medical Services of Argentina S.A., Tropicana Products Inc., GE International Inc. and GE Plastics Argentina S.R.L.
We have extensive experience representing local and international commercial banks, reinsurers, investment banks, finance companies, equity investors and creditors in a diverse range of financial and credit transactions. We actively participate in the drafting and negotiation of secured and unsecured loan agreements, letters of credit, purchase of securities, financing of various types of projects (project financing), equity participations through investments in common and preferred shares, and the offer of convertible securities, warrants, corporate interests and capital options.
We provide advice to the Inter-American Development Bank and Banco Supervielle S.A. Prior to the formation of AP&A, members of our law firm have provided external legal advice to financial institutions such as the Royal Bank of Canada, GE Capital and Nortel.
Our law firm has also cooperated with the World Bank in the analysis of various aspects of Argentine law.
AP&A has extensive experience in legal advice related to reinsurance activity. We represent top-level reinsurers, in corporate contractual matters and in judicial matters through our litigation department. Among our clients are Employers Reinsurance Corporation and Swiss Re, Swiss Re and Frankona Ruckversicherungs Aktiengesselschaft.
In the past, we have advised GE Frankona Reasurance, GE Frankona Reinsurance Ltd and GE Insurance Solutions.
We advise local and foreign companies and, also, to governmental entities in relation to privatizations of national and provincial companies as well as in public and private tenders.
During the 1990s, AP&A partners actively participated in the process of privatization of some of the main state-owned companies of the Argentine Republic, providing advice to both the public and private sectors.
The partners of AP&A have provided legal advice to the National State in the transformation of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales S.E. (the largest Argentine company in terms of assets and net worth) and in the renegotiation of the contract between the National Government and Iberia for the award of Aerolíneas Argentinas. Also to companies such as British Gas for the privatization of Gas del Estado (former gas distributor in the city of Buenos Aires).
At AP&A we advise local and international clients on matters related to the media. One of our partners has been director of Radio Miter S.A., one of the most prestigious radio stations in the Argentine Republic. Another of its members has been general manager of the Association of Argentine Broadcasters, legal affairs manager of Argentine TV Productions (Proartel) and has also advised the main open television channels.
We provide legal advice on national and international transactions in the area of telecommunications and its regulation. Our practice includes legal advice on radio and television broadcasts, cable television, data transmission, audio and image via the Internet, electronic satellite communications, telecommunications services, systems and equipment.
At AP&A we have an active participation in the interpretation and development of the new regulatory framework, as well as in the definition of strategies to obtain an adequate legal structure applicable to this market in constant evolution. We assist our clients in obtaining licenses in the National Communications Commission and in the register of equipment manufacturers of the General Directorate of Industrial Development. AP & A clients in this area include SES Americom and Gilat to Home Latin America.
We provide advice to local and international companies in relation to the protection of personal data and the legal regime of databases, hardware contracts, software and services, digital signature and information systems outsourcing (ERP, CRM, EDI). In the field of Internet, we have experience in advising various e-commerce projects, e-business, electronic means of payment, electronic banking and provision of content and applications (ASP) on-line, providing regulatory solutions at scale local as regional. We have also provided advice to Internet startups, of varying size, in relation to the incorporation of companies, shareholders’ agreements, financing and permanent legal advice.
At AP&A we provide legal advice on issues related to the protection of intellectual property, patents and trademarks, copyrights, trade and industrial secrets, transfer of local and international technology and litigation related to these areas of law. Regarding software legal regime, we provide advice on the registration and protection of software works, electronic publications and databases, provide contractual solutions for licensing, distribution and development, we outline judicial and extrajudicial strategies against piracy and advise on the relationship to tax benefits established in the Law for the Promotion of Software. We advise on resolving disputes of domain names both local and international. We also carry out trademark registrations and studies at the National Institute of Industrial Property.
One of our partners has vast experience in the field of industrial and intellectual law. He has been an advisor to clients such as Laboratorios Bagó S.A., Química Montpellier S.A., Sidus S.A. Institute, Laboratorios Casasco S.A., Dupomar S.A. and Roux Ocefa S.A.
AP&A lawyers have given advice in matters related to defense of the competition, as well as in the fulfillment of the antitrust regulations in the Argentine Republic. Members of the law firm have made numerous presentations before the National “Commission for the Defense of Competition”, regarding the purchase and sale of companies, economic concentrations and approval of various transactions.
We have also represented clients in diverse and complex disputes related to the regulations on the subject, such as the antidumping investigation instituted against GE Lighting.
We represent clients in relation to insolvency proceedings and bankruptcies, and also to debtors, creditors, buyers and guarantors under the regime of Law No. 24.522.
Members of AP&A have significant experience in administrative law and state regulation, including the area of public tenders. We have developed excellent professional relationships with several government agencies, including the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, Ministries of Economy, Justice and Human Rights, National Securities Commission, Procurement of the Treasury of the Nation, General Inspection of Justice, National Communications Commission, as well as with various local entities in the different Argentine provinces.
One of our partners has been director of the School of State Lawyers and has exercised, among others, the positions of advisor to the Legal and Technical Secretariat of the Presidency of the Nation and national director of opinions of the Treasury of the Nation Procurement. Also, a member of AP&A was the legal representative of the Province of Jujuy in Buenos Aires.
We provide advice on issues of fisheries regulation. One of our clients is Pesquera Santa Elena S.A.I.C., a leading company in its field. One of our partners has also represented the American Seafood Company in the past.
At AP&A we advise local and international clients on labor matters. We participate in the drafting of employment contracts (including the drafting of special clauses on compensation matters such as golden parachutes, options, bonds, warrants, phantom rights, etc.) and we represent companies in labor lawsuits and in mediation proceedings before the Ministry of Labor.
One of our members has been delegated by the entrepreneurial sector in national joint ventures destined to negotiate Collective Labor Agreements with the following guilds: Sindicato Argentino de Televisión (SAT); Union of Press Workers of Buenos Aires (Utpba); Union of Workers of the Public Spectacle (Sutep); Argentine Musicians Union (SAM); Argentine Association of Actors (AAA); Argentine Society of Broadcasters (SAL).
Our advice in this matter includes or included companies such as The Seagram Company Ltd., General Electric Co. (including, GE International, GE Medical and other divisions and affiliates), Point Pay International, Satelital Service SA, Fric-Rot SAIC, Granite, Banco Banex SA and Banco Supervielle S.A., among others.
At AP&A we represent clients in a wide range of litigation before federal and ordinary courts, in the city of Buenos Aires and in the interior of the country, as well as in administrative instances.
Several of the members of AP&A have extensive experience in the realization of unconstitutionality claims in lawsuits that can reach the final decision of the Supreme Court of Justice, in the filing of extraordinary appeals so that it definitively resolves the litigation, as well as in the procedure of original jurisdiction before the Supreme Court. In this task we have advised both clients and other studios in the city of Buenos Aires and the interior of the country. One of our partners is a member of the board of the Argentine Association of Constitutional Law.
We have a collection department, which advises companies and financial entities in the judicial and extrajudicial recovery of their loans in arrears, including restructuring of liabilities and delinquent portfolios. Among them, Banco Supervielle S.A.
CONTACT US
Av. Leandro N. Alem 639, piso 5 “S” (C1001AAB)
Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
Phone: +54 11 50315071
Email: aprado@aprado.com.ar