Author: dev_

On December 15, 2020, two shareholders of Cadena Farmacenter S.A. transferred part of their shares to Grupo Cartes, after which the latter acquired majority control of the company, owner of one of the leading drugstore chains in the Paraguayan market for almost 4 decades, with more than 100 branches throughout the country and more than 1100 employees. These figures allow us to state that this is one of the most relevant M&A transactions in recent years in Paraguay.

During the negotiation process, the Sellers were constantly advised by the Vouga Abogados team from the very beginning of the negotiations. The process covered all aspects of the transaction, including the due diligence, the preparation, review and negotiation of the different transactional contracts, all of this together with the Alpax Paraguay team, the Sellers' financial advisors.

In accordance with the agreements signed with Grupo Cartes, the Sellers continue to be linked to the Farmacenter S.A. chain, which will allow them to contribute their successful experience, which is key during the transition process. Both groups are confident that the change will strengthen the growth plans of the Farmacenter chain.

If you would like to learn more about our Mergers and Acquisitions practice, please feel free to contact Rodolfo G. Vouga Z. (rgvouga@vouga.com.py), Perla Alderete (palderete@vouga.com.py) or Rodrigo Fernandez (rfernandez@vouga.com.py).

Vouga Abogados acted as special legal counsel in Paraguay for J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Santander Investment Securities INC, as initial purchasers, in the issuance of senior bonds of Banco Continental S.A.E.C.A., in the international market, in the amount of US$300 million at a rate of 2.750% per annum maturing in 2025.

The issuance was made in the international market under Rule 144A and Regulation S of the U.S. securities laws. This issue is the first international issue of bonds classified as “sustainable” by a Paraguayan issuer.

The firm performed an extensive due diligence on the issuer's operations and reviewed the transaction documentation on matters related to local law.

For more information regarding this transaction or other issues related to Banking & Finance, please contact Carlos Vouga (cvouga@vouga.com.py), Cynthia Fatecha (cfatecha@vouga.com.py) or Georg Birbaumer (gbirbaumer@vouga.com.py) who participated in this transaction.

We are proud of being awarded Paraguayan Law Firm of The Year 2020 by Chambers and Partners. We thank our clients and friends for inspiring us to grow each year.

Rodrigo Fernandez, Partner of Vouga Abogados, participated as a guest speaker in the Virtual Forum: “Organizational Legal Aspects of the New Forms of Work - Revolution 4.0”, organized by the Inter-American Federation of Human Management Associations (FIDAGH) and the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), to present his opinion on Paraguayan labor law in the face of the rapid changes in the labor reality.

The virtual forum took place over three days. Along with Rodrigo, partners from ELA member law firms from other Latin American countries, including Mexico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Bolivia, were also invited.

The speakers presented their perspectives on the progress or stagnation of legislation and legal realities in their respective jurisdictions in terms of remote work modalities, cybersecurity, privacy resulting from remote monitoring schemes of employers, labor harassment under remote modality, application of the disciplinary regime, among others.

Below is the link to access the episode with Rodrigo's participation.

If you wish to know more about our practice in the area of labor law, please contact Perla Alderete (palderete@vouga.com.py), Walter David Vera (wvera@vouga.com.py)  and Rodrigo Fernandez (rfernandez@vouga.com.py).

https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/2692173/85FE899884B02BB1EBE1AAA9AA925568?partnerref=ODAttyShare

Perla Alderete, Partner of Vouga Abogados, participated as a guest speaker on telework in Paraguay in episode 12 “Revolution 4.0 New Ways of Working - Telework in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia”, of the podcast “Labor Issues,” organized by the prestigious Employment Law Alliance (ELA). The speakers provided their comments and perspectives on the impact that the 4.0 revolution is having on organizations, how it has influenced the new ways of working for both employers and employees, and outlined the existing regulations for telework in their respective countries.

In this sense, Perla Alderete referred about the details in the form of implementation of telework in Paraguay through the Law of Health Emergency enacted in the framework of the pandemic of COVID-19 and its regulations, and highlighted the challenges that arose in general to combine the right to privacy of the worker with the power of control of the employer and with respect to computer security in remote work. He also spoke about the modalities of online, offline and mixed teleworking and highlighted the existing flexibility in terms of the length of the working day as long as the maximum number of hours established in the Labor Code is respected.

Also participating in the same episode were professionals from important law firms in other countries who presented the current situation in their respective jurisdictions: Enrique Radmilovich (from Hughes & Hughes, Uruguay), Oscar Aitken (from Carey, Santiago, Chile), Enrique M. Stile (from Marval, O'Farrell & Mairal, Argentina) René Claure Veizaga (from Moreno Baldivieso, Bolivia) and Renato Canizares (from Demarest, Brazil). The moderator was Francisca Corti, also from Carey, Chile.

The “Employment Matters” podcast is an effort by the Employment Law Alliance to be a go-to source for anyone to stay up-to-date on employment issues from legal experts from around the world. Its episodes can be accessed free of charge from its web site https://www.ela.law/spanish-podcasts or on any music streaming platform.

If you wish to know more about our practice in the area of labor law, please contact Perla Alderete (palderete@vouga.com.py), Walter David Vera (wvera@vouga.com.py)  or Rodrigo Fernandez (rfernandez@vouga.com.py).

We are proud to have collaborated with the prestigious directory TheLegal500® for the publication of the “GC Latin America Survey 2020”. In this year's edition Vouga Abogados contributes with an article reviewing the most significant legal developments of the last twelve months, as well as with an analysis of the general outlook of Paraguay from a legal, economic and political point of view. It also analyzes the country's prospects for the coming years.

We would like to highlight that Vouga Abogados has been the only Paraguayan firm to have contributed to this renowned publication.

To access the publication, click on the following link: https://www.legal500.com/gc-magazine/interview/overview-paraguay/

As a Paraguayan member of the prestigious Employment Law Alliance (ELA), Vouga Abogados is pleased to invite all its clients and colleagues to participate free of charge in the series of three Webinars “The New Employer: Charting a Successful Course to the Future” that are part of the ELA 2020 Annual Conference.

The three Webinars are as follows:

• The Future of Work: Embracing Remote Workplaces - Tuesday, October 27, 2020, at 10:30 am.

This Webinar will discuss the challenges that Home Office (telework) presents to employers, including their responsibilities and other issues such as infrastructure conditions for telecommuting employees, training, cybersecurity, and how to maintain a corporate environment despite the distance.

• The Future of the Professions in the Age of COVID-19 - Thursday, October 29, 2020, at 10:30 am.

This session will discuss the link between the COVID-19 crisis and the challenge of automation, the five stages companies are expected to go through in order to recover from the pandemic's impact, and finally, advice on how to prepare for future working conditions.

• The Narcissistic Executive - Friday, October 30, 2020, at 10:30 am.

Here we will talk about the study that shows that the so-called “transformational leaders” (who challenge the status-quo and motivate and inspire their teams to innovate and improve the world) often suffer from a psychiatric pathology known as Narcissistic Personality, and will seek to teach us how not to confuse a narcissist with a transformational leader in the corporate environment, while warning us about the risks of having a narcissistic leader and how to mitigate the negative effects that this entails.

The speakers will be highly regarded lawyers and professionals from the best universities in the UK and the USA.

For more information and to register for the Webinars, please see the following link: https://register.ela.law/

El pasado 2 de septiembre el Ministerio de Salud conjuntamente con otros órganos del Poder Ejecutivo publicaron un protocolo para facilitar el ingreso al país por vía área de inversionistas, técnicos y otros profesionales especializados, durante el periodo de pandemia.

Gracias a este protocolo será posible ingresar al país sin necesidad de hacer cuarentena obligatoria. Bajo este régimen podrán entrar todo tipo de inversionistas y expertos técnicos, con independencia a su nacionalidad, lugar de residencia u origen del vuelo, siempre y cuando cumplan con los siguientes requisitos:

1. Cursar al Centro de Coordinación Institucional la solicitud de ingreso al país en virtud del presente protocolo con 72 horas de antelación con respecto a la fecha de arribo.
2. Incluir en la solicitud los datos personales del(los) solicitante(s)
3. Especificar el motivo del viaje
4. Presentar copia de la reserva del hotel
5. Indicar un domicilio y número de contacto local.
6. Informar acerca de los medios de transporte a ser utilizados durante la estadía.
7. Adjuntar copia del seguro médico internacional vigente y la cobertura del mismo; la cobertura deberá incluir atención en caso de detección de COVID-19.
8. Reportar enfermedades de base (cuando proceda)
9. Indicar el nombre de la/s empresa/s a las cuales se prestarán asistencia técnica o que guarden relación con el motivo del viaje.
10. Cronograma de trabajo y agenda de visitas (tentativo)

De ser autorizados los solicitantes podrán permanecer en el país por 7 días; este plazo es prorrogable a perdido de los interesados. Cada solicitud de prórroga será estudiada individualmente.

Una vez autorizado(s) y al momento de hacer su ingreso al país, el (los) solicitante(s) deberá(n) presentar – entre otros – los siguientes documentos:

• Acreditar un resultado negativo de test de detección de virus SARS CoV-2 por técnica PCR-RT, no mayor a 72hs. previas al ingreso al país, en un laboratorio acreditado y habilitado en el país de origen o tránsito. Quienes hayan contraído COVID-19 deberán presentar el resultado laboratorial para SARS CoV-2 positivo y otro resultado donde indique que haya negativizado.
• “Ficha de Salud del Viajero para prevenir el COVID -19” debidamente cumplimentada (en adjunto al Protocolo).
• Declaración jurada de responsabilidad en la aplicación de las medidas sanitarias recomendadas por el Ministerio de Salud durante su permanencia en el país.

Los viajeros deberán cumplir además con todas las medidas de mitigación dispuestas por el Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social.

Durante la permanencia en el país los autorizados deberán llevar un registro diario de las personas con las que estuvieron en contacto y, además, deberán llevar a cabo una autoevaluación diaria con el objetivo de detectar los principales síntomas y signos de COVID-19.

El incumplimiento de cualquiera de las exigencias del protocolo podría implicar la salida del país de los beneficiarios de la autorización.

Para mayor información y para consultas sobre el protocolo, por favor póngase en contacto con Manuel Acevedo (macevedo@vouga.com.py) 

The directory specialized in Financial and Corporate Law #IFLR1000 has published the 2021 rankings. In this edition Vouga Abogados has been one of the only two Paraguayan firms to be ranked in the highest category in the two areas researched; Tier 1 in “Financial and Corporate” and “Active” in the area of “Project Development”.

We would especially like to thank our clients for having placed their trust in us in these exceptional times and our team of professionals for their commitment and work ethic. Without you this success would not have been possible.

We are with you for the important challenges ahead.

The ranking can be accessed at the following link: Ranking IFLR1000 2021 

We are proud to share that Vouga Abogados and its professionals have once again been highly ranked by the prestigious Chambers and Partners Latin America 2021 guide in all areas researched in Paraguay.

We congratulate all our professionals for this important achievement and thank them for honoring together our values, our vision and our ideals of providing our services with the highest standards of quality and professional ethics.

To our clients, we reaffirm our commitment to be your partners in doing business in Paraguay, and we thank you for the trust you have placed in our team over so many years, and especially in the present moment. We are with you for the important challenges ahead.

 The ranking can be accessed at the following link: Chambers Latin America