Ganado Advocates

Firm Details: 

Managing Partner: Andre Zerafa

Number of partners: 22

Number of fee-earners: 100+ (including partners)

Total number of staff: 200+

Firm Overview:  

Ganado Advocates is a leading commercial law firm with a particular focus on the corporate, financial services and maritime/aviation sectors, predominantly servicing international clients doing business through Malta. The firm also promotes other areas such as tax, pensions, intellectual property, employment and litigation.

The firm traces its roots back to the early 1900s, and is today one of Malta’s foremost law practices, consistently ranking as a leading firm in all its core sectors. Ganado Advocates has over the past decades contributed directly towards creating and enhancing Malta’s hard won reputation as a reliable and effective international centre for financial and maritime services. Today, the firm continues to provide high standards of legal advisory services to support and enhance Malta’s offering.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Competition/European  

Construction  

Corporate Finance & Tax  

Corporate, M&A & Capital Markets  

Environment, Energy & Renewable Energy  

Financial Services  

FinTech & Blockchain  

Intellectual Property, Media, Entertainment & Technology  

Labour & Employment  

Litigation & Dispute Resolution  

Private Client, Trusts & Foundations  

Shipping, Yachting & Aviation 

Ganado Advocates consistently provides its clients, coming from various industry sectors, with specialist advice and practice. The firm’s practice areas dealing with High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) are highlighted below.

Trusts & Foundations: 

The trusts and foundations practice regularly assists with the setting up of various types of trusts and foundations governed by Maltese law, including employee benefit trusts, purpose foundations in the context of securitisation transactions, employee share option schemes, and various private trusts and foundations for estate planning and other private purposes. The team assists the majority of international players in the fiduciary sector with obtaining authorisations from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) — the local regulator — for the provision of fiduciary services in Malta. The team has also successfully assisted HNWIs in setting up the first Private Trust Companies (PTCs) in Malta and has, since then, been assisting other clients with setting up family-office style PTCs. More recently, the firm's team has also been assisting clients with the use of foundations in the innovative blockchain field.

Key Contact: Anthony Cremona

Email: [email protected]

Private Client: 

The private client practice provides legal advice and ongoing assistance to HNWIs and their families, foundations, trustees, family offices and other wealth management service providers in connection with the planning and structuring of their own or their clients’ private wealth and assets and the regulatory aspects of their fiduciary activities. Transactions in this space range from the creation of structures for both domestic as well as international HNWIs and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), consisting both of trusts and foundations, as well as assistance with contentious matters in this sector. This includes, where required, the acquisition of Maltese citizenship by naturalisation for exceptional services by direct investment, as a second citizenship. The practice also advises on the regulatory aspects of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML-CFT) legislation and regulations, having assisted various regulated entities with respect to their regulatory and other AML-CFT responsibilities in terms of the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive as well as in respect of relevant Maltese laws, regulations, procedures and guidelines.

Key Contact: Anthony Cremona

Email: [email protected]

Yachting: 

Ganado Advocates has a long-standing practice advising clients on the most tax efficient structures for the ownership and leasing of their yachts as well as the registration of the yachts under the Malta flag. The firm also advises and assists yacht financiers on the Maltese security aspects. The firm has been strongly involved in the drafting of much of the relevant shipping legislation over the years, and the Malta regulatory and tax authorities have regularly sought advice from the firm in respect of technical aspects of Malta’s legislation relating to yachts. The yachting practice is renowned for its level of expertise and detail when assisting yacht owners who lease their yachts through Maltese companies, import yachts into the EU through Malta, and acquire or transfer yachts owned by Maltese companies and/or Malta-flagged vessels.

Key Contacts: Christine Cassar Naudi, Matthew Attard

Emails: [email protected], [email protected]

Private Aviation: 

The aviation practice at Ganado Advocates is well renowned for its expertise and experience. The team works regularly in sale and purchase transactions, setting up ownership structures, aviation finance transactions, leasing structures and in providing assistance to HNW aircraft owners with various legal aspects related to aircraft registration, management and leasing. The firm is also considered as a market leader in all matters relating to security interests over aircraft registered in Malta as well as in structuring air-finance deals through various methods, including syndicated loans and securitisation.

Key Contacts: Daniel Aquilina, Matthew Xerri

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

For a full list of the firm’s sectors and practices please visit: ganado.com/expertise