BARBOSA MÜSSNICH & ARAGÃO
Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão was founded in 1995 but quickly established a significant and prominent reputation in the Brazilian legal market, primarily for its M&A and corporate governance expertise. This is strongly reflected in our findings this year as the firm enjoys its largest number of inclusions in those chapters. It has 15 listings in seven chapters.
M&A and corporate governance are strong suits for the firm, earning it seven inclusions in total. The two founding partners, Francisco Antunes Maciel Müssnich and Paulo Cezar Aragão are both ambassadours for the firm, having over 40 years legal experience between them. These “strong leaders” head the transactional M&A practice, fronting deals such as Cosan’s US$12 billion joint venture with Shell and Agre’s US$1.4 billion share swap with PDG Realty. They are also praised for their governance expertise in compliance, crisis management and due diligence. They are joined in the governance chapter by Luiz Antonio de Sampaio Campos, a former director of the Brazilian Securities Commission.
The M&A practice spans a range of industries including real estate, natural resources and insurance and combines its corporate skills with dispute resolution services to provide clients with a comprehensive package. The “very impressive” Plinio Simões Barbosa is known for his arbitration expertise in merger deals and has advised companies such as Interpublic and Cosan. Amir Achcar Bocayuva Cunha is notable for his high profile clients: he has advised and represented Brazilian sports stars such as Ronaldo in developing a sports marketing company. He comes highly recommended.
Unsurprisingly, the firm enjoys a broad financing practice. As well as their corporate governance and M&A expertise, Aragão, Müssnich and de Sampaio Campos also feature in the capital markets chapter. The chemicals and natural resources industries have created a lot of work for the firm in recent years, including acting in multimillion dollar deals for domestic companies and assisting foreign entities in IPOs on the Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange.
The firm also has an “Impressive” IP department. Trademarks experts Antonella Carminatti and Claudia Christina Schulz are noteworthy for their management of international and national portfolios for a range of corporate clients. They are both “well known and respected”. Carminatti enjoys an additional listing in the franchise chapter for her wide ranging experience in industrial property.
The firm earns a mention in the business crime section in the form of Antenor Madruga, who heads the corporate ethics practice group. As former national Secretary of Justice and a former federal attorney for the Department of Justice in Brazil he brings a wealth of public service experience to his private practice. Barbara Rosenberg is “top of my list, a big competitor one of the most competent”, according to one client. She is renowned as an international competition practitioner and features in the competition chapter.
