Garrigues has agreed to merge with Mexican firm Sánchez Devanny, in a landmark deal that will give the Spanish heavyweight the second-largest presence of any international law firm in the jurisdiction.

The tie-up with 86-lawyer Sánchez Devanny will more than quintuple Garrigues’ Mexico lawyer headcount, which currently stands at 20 according to its website. It will put the firm behind Baker McKenzie (145) and just ahead of Spanish rival Pérez-Llorca, which has 100 lawyers there following the completion of its merger with González Calvillo earlier this week.  

The tie-up will also see Garrigues add a second base in Mexico City and expand outside the capital with new offices in Monterrey and Querétaro. 

Garrigues said the merger would combine its international strength with Sánchez Devanny’s nearly 30 years of experience in the Mexican market. Garrigues currently has a network of 10 offices outside Spain, including four in Latin America in Chile, Colombia and Peru as well as Mexico. 

Last year those offices generated nearly €60m of the firm’s €454.3m revenue, with the merger set to make Mexico the firm’s second largest market behind Spain at a time when the country has sizable capital inflows and outflows with the US and Europe. 

Garrigues’ decision to grow in Mexico through a merger of this size will be regarded as a bold move given the challenges associated with bedding down such a large team.

Fernando Vives, Garrigues’ executive chairman, said the two firms were a “good fit” and shared the same goals for the Mexican market. 

“The clients of the two firms will be the main beneficiaries because, besides continuing to receive the same service, they will also have access to more practice areas and more robust teams,” he said. “I am sure we will do great things together.”

Sánchez Devanny is highly rated by the legal directories across areas including international trade and customs, labour and employment, tax, wealth management, compliance and corporate and M&A, and is also well regarded for its work in the life sciences sector. It counts a number of household names among its client base including IBM, British American Tobacco and Airbnb.  

Sánchez Devanny is expected to be integrated into Garrigues by the end of the year, with Garrigues to own 100% of the resulting entity and Sánchez Devanny’s 22 general partners to become Garrigues partners.

The deal is subject to a confirmatory due diligence process, the signing of the final contractual agreements and the approval of the relevant bodies of both firms.

Relatively few international firms have a large presence in Mexico given the size of its economy, which with GDP of more than $1.4trn is the second biggest in Latin America. Including Baker McKenzie, Garrigues and Pérez-Llorca only nine firms have more than 30 lawyers there according to publicly-available data tracked by Pirical, among them Hogan Lovells, White & Case and Greenberg Traurig, as well as Baker McKenzie. Some 24 of the top 200 global firms have a base there. 

The launch follows Garrigues marking its 10th consecutive year of growth in 2023, when the firm upped revenue 2.5% to €454.3m, becoming what it claimed was the first EU law firm to break the €450m revenue barrier. Following the merger the firm will have just north of 1,000 lawyers globally.