Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega

Chairman: Ricardo M. Arango, Fernando A. Arias, and Rodrigo Cardoze
Contact Partner: Ricardo M. Arango
Number of partners: 24
Number of lawyers: 45
Languages: English, French, Spanish

Firm Overview:
ARIFA, in the forefront of Panama’s legal industry since 1914, offers full-service advice to international financial institutions, multinationals and some of Panama’s largest domestic companies. Its practice spans 29 areas of law in 12 practice groups. Long recognised for structuring innovative solutions in M&A, capital market and financing transactions, ARIFA also has a strong offshore practice. The firm’s lawyers, many educated in top law schools in the US and Europe or trained at New York law firms, are the backbone of the firm’s success.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Corporate / Commercial:
13 partners, 14 fee-earners
ARIFA has the pre-eminent capital markets and banking practices in Panama. It is the market leader for innovative financial structures, particularly in crossborder transactions, and has unmatched expertise in securitisations and in domestic IPOs. The firm is one of Panama’s M&A leaders in terms of volume and number of deals. Clients trust the firm to solve complex and difficult cross-border acquisitions.
Recent transactional highlights:
■ IMC Alimentação's sale toInflite Holdings of four food court concessions at Tocumen International Airport
■ Aleph, first partnership with Google through the acquisition of Mediam Group
■ Royal Group’ acquisition of a majority stake in Grupo Nutresa
■ U$2.7 billion Stonepeak's acquisition of Lumen Latin American Business
■ Advising Simon Property in the sale of Forever 21’s Panamanian and Latin American operations to AR Holdings
■ Advising Grupo Rey in connection with the proposed acquisition by Corporación Favorita of a controlling interest in Rey Holdings, Corp.
■ Advising United Airlines in a complex loan and alliance structure between United Airlines, Avianca Holdings, and the two main Avianca shareholders
■ Advising Cable Onda, the leader in Panama’s cable and fixed telecommunications services, in the sale of 80% of Cable Onda to Millicom
■ Advising Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. in an asset sale agreement with respect to its Panamanian operations to ASSA Compañía de Seguros, S.A. for US$172 million
■ Financing of Line 3 of the Panama Metro, the largest public infrastructure project in Panama
■ US$182 million CDNO sale and purchase agreement to finance the extension of Line 1 of Panama's metro system
■ US$1.76 billion EnfraGen’s renewables financing
■ Successful extension of the maturity date of US$315 million in CDNOs relating to Line 2 of Panama City metro system
■ Banco Nacional de Panama Covid-19 relief loans repackaging
■ US$500 million senior secured first lien notes to refinance Weatherford's senior secured asset-based lending agreement
■ US$1.38 billion senior secured notes by AES Panama
■ McDermott International's restructuring of US$4.6 billion of funded debt under the protection of United States Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and exit financing
■ US$675 million revolving credit line by Norwegian Cruise Line
■ US$6 billion convertible note and common stock offering by Carnival Corporation
Key Clients: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley & Co, Citibank, Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior (Bladex), Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), UBS, Bank of Nova Scotia, Banco General (the largest Panamanian bank), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), United Airlines, Inc., McDermott International (NYSE: MDR).
Contact: Ricardo M. Arango
Tel: +507 205 7000
Email: [email protected]

Dispute Resolution:
7 partners, 3 fee-earners
The firm has built a specialised practice on complex cross-border dispute resolution, representing foreign companies facing complex arbitration or litigation proceedings in Panama, or involved in multijurisdictional disputes.
Key Clients: ING Bank, Samsung C&T Corporation, BNP Paribas, American Express, VISA, and Chevron Chemical Company.
Contact: Fernando A. Arias
Tel: +507 205 7012
Email: [email protected]
Contact: Claudio De Castro
Tel: +507 205 7000
Email: [email protected]

Offshore Services:
6 partners, 5 fee-earners
ARIFA represents domestic and offshore clients in organising and managing companies, foundations and trusts in various jurisdictions, estate planning, international tax planning, and asset protection structures.
Contact: Fernando A. Arias
Tel: +507 205 7012
Email: [email protected]

Intellectual Property:
2 partners, 2 fee-earners
ARIFA offers its clients a full range of IP legal services. The firm also uses a well-established network of IP corresponding firms to coordinate trademark and other intellectual property rights registrations around the world, particularly in Latin America.
Key Clients: AUDI AG, Compañía de Bebidas Das Americas-AMBEV, Church & Dwight, Colgate Palmolive, Facebook, Grupo Televisa, Liomont, Major League Baseball Properties Inc, Millennium Copthorne, Nikon Corporation, Société des Produits Nestlé, Toyota Motor Corporation, Cargill, Gap, L’Oréal, Valera Hermanos.
Contact: Melissa Del Busto
Tel: +507 205 7000
Email: [email protected]

Additional Areas of Practice:
■ Antitrust, Trade & Competition
■ Equipment and Aircraft Financing
■ Banking & Finance
■ Capital Markets
■ Commercial Transactions & Contracts
■ Doing Business & Multinationals in Panama
■ Corporations
■ Environmental Matters
■ Government Contracts, Concessions & Privatisations
■ Government Permits & Administrative Matters
■ Immigration
■ International Business Transactions
■ Labour & Employment
■ Media & Communications
■ Mergers, Acquisitions & Joint Ventures
■ Mining, Oil & Gas
■ Public Utilities
■ Real Estate & Property
■ Shipping & Ports
■ Taxation