Voyage of discovery

Since Portuguese sailors began exploring the West Coast of Africa almost 600 years ago, the country has forged a reputation for venturing into new, overseas territories. Today, the countries of lusophone Africa and Brazil provide manifold investment opportunities for Portugal’s major corporates and their advisers.

With financing scarce and investors wary of volatility in the domestic market, many Portuguese lawyers fear the prospect of an empty transactional pipeline. ‘The international banks and funds have retreated to their home markets,’ says Pedro Siza Vieira, managing partner of Linklaters’ Lisbon office, ‘and are putting more effort into managing their portfolios than in expanding their business.’ Such challenging conditions are likely to continue, with Portugal’s economy impacted by the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. ‘Because of the openness of Portugal’s economy,’ comments Manuel Santos Vítor,
co-managing partner at PLMJ, ‘it was inevitably going to be affected by the global downturn.’

In response to the tough economic conditions, Portugal’s government has postponed the building of a new international airport in Lisbon, a third bridge over the River Tagus estuary and several motorway projects. Overseas markets are, therefore, even more important for Portuguese companies, which believe that they need to look abroad for investment opportunities in Latin America and Africa. Their lawyers have increasingly followed, prompting a significant change in the dynamic of the local market.

Traditionally, Portuguese law firms have predominantly sustained their growth on the back of the local economy. In recent years, many firms have grown through expansion abroad, looking to other markets for what the domestic market has failed to deliver. But now the sense of urgency in seeking out overseas deals is more pronounced.

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