Mexico´s star still rising – Baker & McKenzie

Mexico´s profile among international investors continues to rise, particularly due to the country´s membership of the Pacific Alliance, explains Adolfo Durañona, partner at Baker & McKenzie in Argentina.

He adds that Mexico’s appeal is being enhanced due to “the improving economic conditions in the country, as well as the recent key legal reforms in the energy sector”.
Durañona continues: “Mexico is a member country of the Pacific Alliance trade accord, along with Chile, Colombia and Peru, which together make up close to 40 per cent of the gross domestic product of the region, and individually offer a host of growth opportunities for investors.”
Work in Mexico, along with other Latin American jurisdictions, has driven significant growth at Baker & McKenzie, according to Durañona. “Baker & McKenzie’s Latin America region has been growing by double digits over the past three years,” he says. However, Durañona adds that there are significant challenges for law firms in the region.
“The reality of Latin America is that each jurisdiction offers a highly competitive market driven by local firms with strong, and often historic, ties to the business community,” he says. “While firms have implemented many different strategies for entering the region’s markets, they quickly discover that building a reputation among competing firms is one of the biggest challenges they will continue to face.”
But the outlook for the region’s economies is good. Durañona highlights recent research showing that there was around $33 billion of announced mergers and acquisitions in the first half of 2015. “This demonstrates a steady stream of deal activity across Latin America,” he says. Durañona adds that a recent study published by his firm showed M&A activity “accelerating from 2017 to 2018 and reaching $147 billion by 2019”.

Garcia-Sicilia

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