Mergers and Acquisitions boost the demand for legal services

Four key factors - growing confidence on the part of international investors, more competitively priced assets, the recovery of the Portuguese economy and easier access to credit from Portuguese and foreign banks - are responsible for the new-found dynamism of the M&A sector, which has in turn pushed up the demand for legal services. We heard the same story from several of Portugal's leading legal practitioners.

After the period in which the country was forced to seek economic assistance, causing law firms and M&A departments to focus on the basic needs of the economy, this year has seen a slight upturn in the economy and in investment. Investors - some local, but mostly foreign - have been eager to seize investment opportunities in the Portuguese market.

These opportunities have presented themselves in several sectors, as a result of the reorganisation of business groups, privatisations and investors disposing of companies and assets in their portfolios.

Up to September this year, a total of 169 transactions were announced or concluded in the mergers & acquisitions market in Portugal, causing approximately 12.6 billion euros to change hands, according to the TTR Iberian Quarterly Report.