Chiomenti Studio Legale

Chiomenti Studio Legale is an Italian law firm founded in 1948 by Pasquale Chiomenti. It is widely considered one of the strongest Italian law firms, and one of the few with a clear international outlook.^[1] Chiomenti does not attempt to provide day-to-day advice to Italian companies outside of major cities of Milan and Rome; however, it seeks to counsel companies on big-ticket transactions.^[2] Today, the firm counts 280 attorneys and tax advisers working out of offices in Rome, Milan, Brussels, London, New York City, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai.

Chiomenti represented the Italian government in numerous privatizations in the 1980s and 1990s, including that of Enel. It has since built up a strong reputation for premier banking, project finance, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advice.^[3]

Press reports indicated that Chiomenti engaged in merger discussions with a number of US and UK suitors, including Shearman & Sterling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.^[4] In 2001, Chiomenti signed an exclusive referral agreement and alliance with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The two then collaborated on a number of high-profile deals including representing Biosearch Italia in its acquisition by California-based biotech company Versicor for total considation of $260.7 million (£169.8 million).^[5] The two also advised Ansaldo, a railway-signalling manufacturer, on its €468 million (£327.8 million) IPO in 2006.^[6] The alliance was discontinued in 2008. That same year, Chiomenti merged with Birindelli & Associati, an Italian firm that operated offices in six Asian cities. It is unclear whether Chiomenti will continue to operate all of those offices.

Notable Mandates

• Counseled the Borsa Italiana on Italian law issues in its €1.5bn (£1.1bn) purchase by the London Stock Exchange in 2007. Chiomenti acted alongside Shearman & Sterling which provided UK law advice to the Borsa Italiana.^[7]
• Represented Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, a subsidiary of Enel SpA, in its €12.1 billion sale via a in a leveraged buy-out by Weather Investments in 2005.
• Advised Unipol Assicurazioni SpA in its €1.465 billion purchase of Italian Winterthur Assicurazioni and Winterthur Vita operations, units of Winterthur Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse in 2003.
• Acted for Edipower in its €3.7 billion acquisition of Eurogen from Enel SpA in 2002.

External links

• Chiomenti Studio Legale

References

1. "Italy's Chiomenti makes NY move", Legal Week, 6 November 2003. http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/117105/Italy%E2%80%99s+Chiomenti+makes+NY+move.html.
2. 'Italy: State of the Nation,' Legal Week, 29 June 2006. http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/129610/Italy+State+Of+The+Nation.html.
3. 'Chiomenti Studio Legale,' Legal 500, http://www.legal500.com/firms/10124-chiomenti-studio-legale/offices/10131-rome.
4. "Freshfields in merger talks with Chiomenti". The Lawyer. 2 October 2000. Retrieved 2012-07-22.
5. "Skadden Italian tie-up proves its worth with the closure of two deals", The Lawyer, 12 August 2002. http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=105816
6. 'Skadden, Chiomenti instructed on Italy's largest IPO of the year,' The Lawyer, 10 April 2006. http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=119496
7. 'Freshfields, Shearman join Chiomenti on LSE's Italian job,' Legal Week, 25 June 2007. http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/1034393/Freshfields,+Shearman+join+Chiomenti+on+LSE's+Italian.html.