lucas&asociados is proud to provide a full range of legal and business services to address its corporate and private clients’ needs. lucas&asociados’ team of experts has a clear view of current trends and developments and a strong understanding of what its clients need today and what they will require tomorrow.
Investment in Spanish Distressed Assets”
lucas&asociados provides first-class specialist advice to local and foreign corporations and high-net worth individuals on the acquisition of distressed assets and rights in Spain as part of their respective investment strategies.
Recent development of events is confirming that a dramatic change has been taking place during the second half of 2013 and that Spain shall become one of the world’s top investment destinations in 2014. However, according to analysts, this window of opportunity shall not be open past 2014, due to rising competition amongst PE buyers looking to buy cheap distressed property assets and portfolios of non-performing loans.
Over the last few years lucas&asociados’ team of insolvency and restructuring experts has been successfully assisting foreign investors in the complex task of spotting any potential deals and efficiently managing front-to-back the subsequent acquisition processon its clients’ behalf.
The firm’s team boasts extensive experience, technical knowledge and skill in insolvency proceedings and distressed asset administration and disposal under the Spanish Insolvency Act. So, should you be looking to invest in Spanish businesses, please do not hesitate to consult us, we will be more than happy to help.
There are also great opportunities away from distressed assets for long-term investors. The country has strong businesses and high-quality entrepreneurs that have been suffering a shortage in funding during the last few years due to the recession and its resulting trust and confidence crisis, whoare now starting to recover and are looking for alternative sources of financing to support their growth.
lucas&asociados’ corporate law practice, led by the talented founding partner D. Emilio Lucas, works closely with the firm’s own team of economists, business and tax consultants, offering a comprehensive suite of first-class transactional services that range from basic legal due diligence, mergers and acquisitions through to risk, tax and employment aspects of M&A. So, should you be looking to invest in Spanish businesses, please do not hesitate to consult us, we will be more than happy to help.
Investment of High-net Worth Individuals in Spain
The long awaited law granting one of the most affordable and flexible visas in Europe, which comes with the extra advantage of unrestricted movement within the Schengen area, was finally passed in September of last year.
Spain is currently granting a residence visa -often referred to as the ”Spanish Golden Visa” or “Spanish Entrepreneur Visa”- to non-EU international investors spending a minimum of 500,000 Euros on residential property in Spain.
lucas&asociados’ private client & wealth management teams work closely to provide international investors with a comprehensive suite of bespoke services, specifically designed to cover all legal and tax aspects of issues -including the use of tax-efficient off-shore vehicles- and to cater for the unique needs of every one of its clients in their own mother tongue. So, should you be looking to invest in Spanish property or any alternative assets or rights, please do not hesitate to consult us, we will be more than happy to help.[
Consumer Protection: off-plan Purchase and Bank Guarantees
Delays or even no delivery at all can make buying off-plan from a developer a risky business. Buyers are meant to be protected in the event they hand over considerable sums of money for a property that has not been built yet. Spanish legislation on consumer protection clearly sets forth that property developers have to insure all the stage payments they receive from off-plan buyers. So, should the developer go into administration, the buyer would be refunded through the insurance and even get paid interests on their money.
As securing stage payments with either a bank guarantee or an insurance policy has a financial cost, many developers have chosen in the past to ignore the law. This malpractice has become as a result a crucial issue in times where the market turns down and developers start filing for administration.
lucas&asociados’s ad hoc team of real estate and insolvency experts is helping on a daily basis many foreign off-plan buyers experiencing such unpleasant situations. The firm has been and currently is assisting consumers, individually and in group legal actions, to withdraw from failed transactions due to delays, to execute bank guarantees and to recover any amounts paid in deposit in case of promoters going into administration.
Compliance and Corruption. High-profile Expert Litigation
In recent years, the Spanish society has lived with perplexity the uncovering, one after another, of hundreds of cases of corruption, tax fraud, money laundering and other white-collar crimes that have affected the country´s elite, i.e. bankers, football players and clubs, businesses, wealthy entrepreneurs and families and especially their politicians at all levels of local, regional and central government. Even Spain´s government and monarchy have seen themselves implicated in such scandals.
This year 2014, once again, shall be a year of intense activity in the courts due to the numerous scandals and corruption cases under investigation across Spain. Andalusia, with more than five hundred, is according to official data, the country´s region with more open cases.
lucas&asociados is professionally very proud to be among the select club of legal firms to be chosen to represent individuals and organizations involved in and/or affected by these scandals or corruption cases, some of them still currently “subiudice”.
Our firm would be extremely pleased to consider the instruction of further high-profile cases of the highest complexity and to have the opportunity to make its expertise and experience available to a new select clientele.