Year: 2020

Winner: Payet, Rey, Cauvi, Pérez Abogados

Partners at Payet, Rey, Cauvi, Pérez Abogados, a Peruvian law firm, say that flexibility is one of the characteristics that sets the practice apart from others.

That is true, but it is also true that if there is a complex case in this Andean country it is a good bet that the 114-lawyer firm will be involved. Established in 1996, the firm can be found in deals ranging from banking to university education, and everything in between, including the sovereign’s bond issuances.

“If there is a large project in Peru, we are usually there,” said José Antonio Payet, one of the founding partners.

The firm’s involvement in large projects and its capacity to sort through the country’s complex rules and regulations to close high-profile deals earned it our award for Andean law firm of the year.

Payet, Rey, Cauvi, Pérez is a leader in the financial sector, advising Peru’s four main banks. It is also a top player in mining, which is Peru’s economic motor. Minerals account for more than 50 percent of Peru’s exports, and mining is the principal source of investment.

“Peru is a mining country, so we are strong in mining. It is a sector with two legs, the financial and the regulatory, and we are leaders in both,” said Payet.

The firm also worked with the sovereign on its $3-billion bond, which was issued at the height of pandemic. It came in with the country’s lowest-ever interest rate and its highest-ever demand.

Payet said success of the bond was even more gratifying “because it came at a complicated moment with the pandemic and political crisis.”

Peru had one of the longest Covid-19 lockdowns, from mid-March to the end of June. The World Bank forecasts a 12-percent GDP contraction in 2020. The crisis was further complicated by political warfare, with three presidents, two sets of lawmakers, five congressional speakers and five prime ministers in 2020.

Payet said the while the blows have been strong, he is confident the country will bounce back.

“Peru should return to its growth path and you will have transactions going full steam,” he said. – LF