With a century of experience under its belt, the skilled legal team at Pinheiro Guimarães provides top-tier advice on landmark and sophisticated finance transactions, pointing to the quality of the other services on offer. The firm’s transaction offering excels across the board and clients from far and wide enlist Pinheiro Guimarães for its business-orientated understanding of complex matters. The group’s competent handling of highly-relevant banking and finance work draws in some of Brazil’s financial entities.
In recent years, this Brazilian firm has featured in some of the most innovative financial, corporate and debt transactions in the past year. Its capital markets team is the jewel in this firm’s crown. It has been involved in sustainability-linked bonds, a form of debt transaction that is increasingly popular as companies look to support environmental and social projects with their investments. Names such as media group Globo and the B3 stock exchange recently relied on the firm for sustainability-linked note offerings. The latter enlisted Pinheiro Guimarães to raise US$700 million in a sustainability-linked bond issuance, a deal that won Latin Lawyer’s Deal of the Year Awards in 2021 in the corporate finance ESG category. At the same ceremony, Latin Lawyer announce that Francisco Pinheiro Guimarães Neto won the 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award. He is one of Brazil’s most prominent and respected banking and finance lawyers, with a career spanning six decades. He joined the firm as an intern in 1960, became partner 10 years later and was managing partner for some 25 years until the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, the firm’s corporate group has won a place on several big-ticket deals, representing important clients such as supermarket chain Assaí, formerly known as Sendas Distribuidora, local paper group Klabin and banking giant Itaú. Pinheiro Guimarães deserves a mention too for its work in the infrastructure sector, where its knowledge of structuring finance and capital markets has won it some important work.
While its transactional group brings in the majority of Pinheiro Guimarães’ work, practitioners in its non-transactional areas are busy too, with skilled tax and litigation teams.
Thanks to previous investment in technology, the firm was ready when the global health emergency caused covid-19 meant that working from home became the norm. The firm stores its data in the cloud, allowing its lawyers to work remotely. Nevertheless, the firm maintains a culture of collaboration and encourages its lawyers to return to its office. The group has a dedicated tech committee to ensure that its lawyers are equipped with the latest legal software.
Pinheiro Guimarães operates a horizontal management structure, encouraging members of staff from across the board to collaborate in the running of the firm. The firm’s managing partner Plinio Pinheiro Guimarães ensures the firm performs well by assigning partners to departments where they shine best. The firm has a compliance committee as well as a hiring committee, while several of its junior associates sit on its education committee, which is dedicated to providing training opportunities for its associates. This structure has helped facilitate a culture of employee engagement which has helped retain talent in recent years. Clients of the firm particularly appreciate the lawyers’ commitment, from the junior to most senior level.
According to a study into Who Represents Latin America's Biggest Banks, published by the Latin American Corporate Counsel Association (LACCA), which is affiliated to Latin Lawyer, Pinheiro Guimarães represents 10 of the region’s largest financial institutions. Prominent clients such as XP Investimentos, Itaú, Grupo Globo and the International Finance Corporation reflect the firm’s reputation for banking and finance law. Energy clients, such as Votorantim, demonstrate the firm’s strength beyond its core areas.
Offices
Founded in Rio de Janeiro, the firm also has a presence in São Paulo, ensuring a pure two-city operation.