Professional notice
Mexico
Fernando Carreño, who won GCR Lawyer of the Year under 40 in 2018, helms the competition practice at Von Wobeser & Sierra. The two-partner, nine-associate team now includes Gerardo Rodríguez, a former COFECE official who recently joined as an associate.
The firm is acting on behalf of Scotiabank in an investigation for alleged abuse of dominance. Carreño and his team also counselled Mexican airline Volaris in COFECE’s investigation into essential inputs and barriers to competition in the allocation of slots at the Mexico City airport. This case marked the first time the enforcer ever conducted a market investigation. The firm also advised Anheuser-Busch InBev in an investigation of the Mexican barley market, which COFECE ultimately closed for lack of evidence indicating anticompetitive conditions in the sector.
Turning to mergers, Von Wobeser was involved in the ChemChina/Syngenta deal, providing antitrust counsel to Adama, ChemChina’s Israeli subsidiary, which is a player in the market for generic agrochemical products. The firm also counsels Blackstone in its acquisition of casino company Cirsa and in Melrose Industries’ $11 billion hostile takeover of engineering company GKN.
Paseo de los Tamarindos 60,
4th Floor,
Bosques de las Lomas,
Cuajimalpa, 05120,
Mexico City
P: +52 (55) 5258 1000
Offering excellence and integrity, Von Wobeser y Sierra SC was founded in 1986 and is one of the foremost Mexican law firms to offer full-service legal solutions. The firm is composed of more than 35 different practice areas, including specialised desks with a strong roster of international and national clients. The firm’s lawyers are renowned for their expertise in advising and fortifying leading companies in establishing and conducting day-to-day business dealings related to entering and expanding their operations in Mexico and internationally. Von Wobeser has been recognised on an international level by various pubications, including Chambers Global, Chambers Latin America, Latin Lawyer 250, The Legal 500 and IFLR1000, among others.
Advising our clients so that they surpass their business objectives
Our dynamic firm is growing considerably, and is well known for its strong, pragmatic business focus and approach, as well as for the strategic and preventive legal solutions that it offers clients. The legal team focuses on understanding each client’s core business and its unique situation, and offers well-tailored, thorough and effective solutions that optimise resources and aid in the consolidation of each client’s business objectives. The firm operates as a strategic legal partner that handles each client’s most significant transactions and prominent cases and is involved in assisting them with their most transcendental and consequential business decisions. Many of the firm’s clients are significant investors in Mexico and Latin America and are listed in prestigious forums, such as the Fortune 50 and the Fortune 500, the Dow Jones, Standard & Poor’s 500, DAX, Nikkei and the Mexican Stock Exchange. They include national and multinational companies, banks, government entities, financial institutions and organisations from the United States, Canada, Germany, the European Union, Asia and Mexico.
Our team
Our team is made up of 15 partners and more than 80 lawyers with comprehensive, up-to-date knowledge of legal reforms, as well as current national and international events that affect the global business economy.
Strong international network
Our firm’s lawyers are leaders and active participants in various leading professional organisations, including the American Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the Mexican Bar Association, the American Arbitration Association, the International Chamber of Commerce, the International Fiscal Association, the International Trademark Association, the German Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce, among others.
We have established close international networks with law firms in top cities in the United States, Canada, Germany and many other European countries, as well as Latin America and Asia.
Our competition and antitrust practice
- Our antitrust practice is involved in more than 60% of the cartel cases being conducted by the Mexican Antitrust Commission.
- The depth and breadth of our litigation and corporate teams have given us the resources to be one of the most effective teams in handling complex investigations and premerger filings with the Mexican Antitrust Commission which very often are resolved in litigation before the courts.
- Von Wobeser y Sierra’s competition and antitrust practice advises clients on clearance processes before the Mexican Antitrust Commission regarding sophisticated transactions in the Mexican market.
- The competition & antitrust team at Von Wobeser y Sierra provides advice regarding the design and execution of compliance programmes for its clients, both domestic and international.
- Fernando Carreño, competition and antitrust practice head partner, was named GCR’s Lawyer of the Year Under 40 in 2018, and was selected for inclusion in GCR’s “40 Under 40” list in 2015.
Pro bono
We are firmly committed to defending human rights and making sure that our actions have a positive impact on social and environmental levels. We dedicate more than 1,500 hours in pro bono work annually and actively promote that our lawyers participate, helping with different associations that need assistance including cultural, environmental, social, sport and charities.
Languages
Spanish, English, German, French and Dutch.