Estudio Jurídico Gross Brown

Chairman: Jorge Gross Brown (Sr)
Managing Partner: Sigfrido Gross Brown
Number of partners: 5
Number of other lawyers: 40
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish

Firm Overview:
Gross Brown has been providing legal services in Paraguay as a top-tier full-service firm since 1944. The firm focuses on providing comprehensive legal advice with a simple approach and a global perspective to a diverse portfolio of clients, ranging from financial institutions and corporations to non-profit organisations, government entities and individuals.

Over several decades, Gross Brown has cultivated a team of highly trained lawyers with an advanced level of expertise in several practice areas and is recognised for the quality and high standards of its professionals. As a result, the firm has been at the forefront of Paraguay’s most complex transactions, both private and public.

In 2020, Gross Brown opened the doors of its new innovation-oriented unit named “Colab”. In addition to the traditional practice areas of Gross Brown, Colab aims to increase value for its clients by combining advanced methods to Gross Brown’s proven legal practice.

Practice Areas:
Banking & Finance; Corporate/M&A; Capital Markets; Project Finance & Infrastructure; Antitrust; Labour & Employment; Dispute Resolution; Real Estate; Intellectual Property; Estate Planning.

Offices: 

PARAGUAY 

Asunción: Benjamin Constant 624, Asunción

Tel: +595 21 444 426
Fax: +595 21 498 169

Email: [email protected]

Main Areas of Practice: 

Banking & Finance:
The firm provides advice on the full spectrum of financial products including bank lending, asset finance, investment financing, derivatives, restructuring, insolvency and structured finance. Recent experience involves advising:

• Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) as lender, CITIBANK N.A. as MIGA Facility Agent, Mandated Lead Arranger and MIGA Facility Lender and COMMERZBANK A.G. as Arranger and MIGA Facility Lender, on a USD 100 Million loan to Banco Nacional de Fomento,Sudameris Bank as arranger and lender in a syndicated loan of USD 100 Million to Cementos Concepcion SA for the construction of a concrete, cement, and lime factory.
• Advising Atria Logistica, as debtor, in a secured credit facility for the construction of its new 3 Fronteras Port in Paraguay. The loan was secured by a collateral package consisting of real estate, machinery, cash collateral, and offtake guarantees.
• Citibank NA and the US Development Financial Corporation (ex OPIC) in a US$ 125,000,000 loan to Sudameris Bank destined to support lending to small and medium women-owned and women-led businesses.

Key Clients: Citigroup; BBVA; Goldman Sachs & Co., UBS Group, Itaú BBA, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Association of Paraguayan Banks; Rabobank; Banco Itaú Paraguay S.A.; FIC S.A. de Finanzas, IDB Invest; ING Group; The World Bank; Morgan Stanley; Corporación Andina de Fomento; the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi; JP Morgan Chase & Co; Banco Santander.

Contact: Sigfrido Gross Brown
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]

Corporate/M&A: 

The firm advises a wide range of clients on mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures, leveraged and acquisition finance, private equity transactions, tax efficiency structuring, corporate governance, among other corporate matters from the negotiation process to the due diligence, structuring, and closing of transactions.

• Credicentro S.A.E.C.A. on its merger with Crediplus, Pasfin and LCR.
• BBVA S.A. on the sale of 100% of its share capital in BBVA Paraguay S.A. to Banco GNB Paraguay for about USD 270 million.
• Advising Torrecom Partners LP in the acquisition of Innovattel’s, Torresec Paraguay S.A. and Torredevel Paraguay S.A.

Key Clients: Torrecom Partner LP, Cofco International; ADM Paraguay S.R.L.; Shell Trading; Lukoil; President Energy PLC; Suez Group; UFINET Telecom Holdings; General Motors; Apple Inc.; CAT; EDESA; Millicom; Fujifilm; Sun Chemical, Grupo América; Ochsi Group.

Contact: Sigfrido Gross Brown
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]

Capital Markets: 

The firm’s capital market practice has advised the underwriters on all eleven of the Paraguay sovereign bond US Dollar denominated issuances under NY law (Reg. S and Rule 144A) between 2013 and 2021. Gross Brown remains a leader in capital markets and Reg S/R144A securities transactions in Paraguay, having represented major financial institutions on the issuance of over USD 5,856,350,000. The firm has also acted as legal counsel to BBVA and Millicom from the private sector as issuers in Reg. S/Rule 144 bond offerings.

Key Clients: Citibank N.A.; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Goldman Sachs & Co.; Morgan Stanley; UBS;Santander Investment Securities Inc., and Itaú BBA.

Contact: Sigfrido Gross Brown and Jorge Ignacio Gross Brown
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]

Project Finance & Infrastructure: 

Gross Brown advises international and local companies on both regulatory and financing aspects of some of the largest and most complex infrastructure projects in Paraguay. The firm’s infrastructure team puts together a combination of industry insight and public law knowledge, providing its clients creative solutions to successfully overcome their challenges.

• Advised Goldman Sachs & Co., Itaú BBA Securities, Banco Itaú Paraguay S.A. and IDB Invest, on the financing structure for the first Public-Private Partnership Project in Paraguay, for the construction, maintenance and operation of National Routes 2 and 7;
• Advised UBS Group Inc. on the financing of the Carmelo Peralta-Loma Plata Route (Corredor Bioceanico) for the sum of US$ 440,000,000.

Key Clients: UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; IDB Invest; Goldman Sachs & Co; Itaú BBA Securities.

Contact: Sigfrido Gross Brown
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]

Labour & Employment: 

The firm is distinguished for rendering legal advice in labour matters to prevent legal pitfalls attending the particular needs of its clients, by giving permanent assistance to clients prior to key decision making.

Key Clients: Petrobras Paraguay; Cofco Agri; Banco Do Brasil S.A.; MARDESA S.A.; Caja Mutual de Cooperativistas del Paraguay; Bancard S.A.

Contact: Pilar Callizo
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]

Dispute Resolution: 

The firm’s dispute resolution practice focuses on mediation, arbitration and mainly civil and commercial law litigation for all local and international clients.

• Represented Ericsson on a USD 8,203,089 breach of contract damages claim
• Represented Consorcio Agualogy (SUEZ GROUP) on a USD 9,000,000 arbitration against Empresa de Servicios Sanitarios del Paraguay (ESSAP) for breach of contract and compensatory damages.
• Represented Inversiones Hoteleras del Paraguay S.A. in a USD 2,500,000 arbitration for breach of contract and compensation for damages.

Key Clients: Cofco Group; Banco Itaú Paraguay S.A., Ericsson AB; Consorcio Aqualogy (SUEZ GROUP), Corporation of The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; ADM PARAGUAY S.R.L., Inversiones Hoteleras del Paraguay S.A. (IHP).

Contact: Raul Andrada
Tel: +595 21 444 426
Email: [email protected]