K&L Gates > Milan, Italy > Firm Profile
K&L Gates Offices
Via San Protaso, 5
20121 Milan
Italy
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K&L Gates > The Legal 500 Rankings
Italy > Real estate and construction Tier 2
K&L Gates is experienced in handling real estate matters involving tax, finance, dispute resolution and regulatory issues. The firm also utilises its international network to assist clients on matters with a cross-border element. It has assisted clients in a range of industries, including logistics, hospitality and retail. Head of the real estate department Francesco Sanna advises on real estate investment, development, structuring and negotiation of project contracts, and Anna Amprimo regularly acts for local and international investors and developers.Practice head(s):
Francesco Sanna
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Francesco Sanna is competent and dedicated in managing the issues at 360 degrees.’
‘A well-structured firm to address the many issues relating to the real estate sphere, providing high-level service.’
Key clients
Unipol
DeA Capital
Barings Real Estate Advisors Europe LLC
Savills Investment Management SGR S.p.A.
Invesco Real Estate Management S. Ã r. l.
Stonehill Group
Kryalos SGR
CBRE
Crea.Re Group
LaSalle Italia
AEW Europe S.A.
IPI
PIMCO Real Estate
Generali Real Estate
DWS (Deutsche Bank)
Covivio Development
Panattoni
Coima SGR S.p.A.
Vetropack
Pilkington
UBS
Work highlights
- Assisted Stonehill in the negotiation process and subsequent signing of a loan agreement to obtain funds to acquire lands in Padua and in Milan for the object of student housing development projects.
- Assisting Crea.Re Group in the purchase of a prestigious real estate complex (Palazzo Rivetti) located in the heart of Turin.
- Assisted Allianz Real Estate in the negotiation and execution of a preliminary framework agreement for the acquisition of a portfolio of 10 assets previously leased to SDA Express Courier.
Italy > Banking and finance: lender or arranger side Tier 4
Fully integrated within K&L Gates‘ asset and corporate finance practice, the firm’s Milan team comprises specialists in complex cross-border transactions. Jointly heading the group, Fabrizio Dotti focuses on acquisition, LBO and real estate financings, while Paolo Rusconi‘s practice encompasses debt restructuring deals, in addition to banking and finance matters. Chiara Anceschi was a new arrival in April 2024.Practice head(s):
Fabrizio Dotti; Paolo Rusconi
Other key lawyers:
Francesco Seri; Mattia Maggioni; Chiara Anceschi
Key clients
Finanziaria Internazionale Investments SGR S.p.A.
UniCredit
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro S.p.A.
US Bank
Italy > Restructuring and insolvency Tier 4
K&L Gates is experienced in advising clients on a wide range of restructuring and insolvency matters, including pre-insolvency situations, in- and out-of-court restructuring plans, debt restructuring agreements and the new crisis negotiated composition instrument. The firm is led by Paolo Rusconi, who specialises in debt restructuring deals and distressed M&A, and Fabrizio Dotti, who has expertise in the banking and financial services sector. Chiara Anceschi was a new arrival in April 2024.Practice head(s):
Paolo Rusconi; Fabrizio Dotti
Other key lawyers:
Key clients
Aquileia Capital Services
Banca Monte Dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A.
UniCredit
KERMA SPV S.r.l. – Prelios Credit Servicing S.p.A.
Banco BPM
Asset Managament Company – AMCO S.p.A.
Finalto S.p.A.
Kryalos SGR S.p.A.
RM1 GmbH (Alegria Capital)
Slim Fusina Rolling S.r.l.
Finanziaria Internazionale Investments SGR S.p.A.
Work highlights
- Assisting a pool of banks in negotiating and signing a financial agreement aimed at restructuring the debt exposure of Inseme.
- Assisting a client in a multifaceted matter against a logistics company passing through composition with creditors proceedings and ending up in bankruptcy for the enforcement of bank guarantees.
Italy > Banking and finance: Borrower side Tier 5
Part of the firm’s asset and corporate finance practice, K&L Gates‘ Milan team routinely advises on significant finance deals. The group is jointly headed by Fabrizio Dotti, who advises on acquisition and real estate finance, and on debt and loan portfolio trades; and banking, finance and debt restructuring specialist Paolo Rusconi. Chiara Anceschi was a new arrival in April 2024.Practice head(s):
Fabrizio Dotti; Paolo Rusconi
Other key lawyers:
Francesco Seri; Mattia Maggioni; Chiara Anceschi
Testimonials
‘Well-balanced and diversified team.’
‘Commitment, availability and competence.’
‘Real team collaboration and excellent follow-up.’
Key clients
Savills Investment Management SGR S.p.A.
DeA Capital Real Estate SGR S.p.A.
Italy > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 5
K&L Gates’ corporate and M&A practice in Milan acts for major corporate clients and private equity firms on acquisitions, divestitures and corporate restructurings. Giampaolo Salsi routinely advises clients from the manufacturing, service and financial sectors, while Arturo Meglio advises on corporate matters. Pasquale Marini departed the firm in December 2023.Practice head(s):
Giampaolo Salsi
Other key lawyers:
Arturo Meglio; Paolo Rusconi; Bruno Vascellari
Testimonials
‘The team shows the ability to understand clients’ needs end objectives.’
‘Always keeps deadlines, quickly responding to emergencies.’
‘Giampaolo Salsi generates great value during M&A deals, both in Italy and abroad.’
‘Giampaolo Salsi’s knowledge, coupled with his ability to understand clients’ objectives, allows clients to align their interests in different situations.’
‘Clients greatly appreciate Giampaolo Salsi’s manner and attention to human factors when dealing with different parties involved. His way of managing his team is particularly modern and positive when compared with other firms.’
‘A great international network that is available.’
‘The people are open minded and very helpful, with the ability to extend the analysis to aspects outside of legal issues.’
‘Target-oriented and particularly efficient people.’
Key clients
Fiocchi Munizioni S.p.A.
Vitesco Technologies Group AG
Slim Fusina Rolling S.r.l.
Securitas AB
Sinch AB
Pedrollo
Lisari S.r.l. (Karaoke One)
Zero Impack
Motor K
Crea.re Group
Arnold & Richter Cine Technik GmbH & Co. Betriebs KG
VINCI Energies Italia S.r.l.
Work highlights
- Advised Vitesco Technologies on the sale of the entire quota capital of the Italian branch to Punch Torino S.p.A.
- Advised Quantum Capital Partners GmbH on the sale of Slim Aluminium S.p.A. to Dingsheng Group.
Italy > Dispute resolution Tier 5
K&L Gates is frequently called on to handle corporate, commercial, real estate, construction and bankruptcy disputes. The team is experienced in international arbitration proceedings before the main arbitration chambers, including CAM, ICC, LCIA and SIAC. The department is led by Stefano Bardella and Andrea Campana.Practice head(s):
Stefano Bardella; Andrea Campana
Testimonials
‘The team works very efficiently with highly specialised lawyers for different fields.’
‘Stefano Bardella and Andrea Campana have an ability to define the problem issues and make those issues clear to clients. Their approach to the relationship with clients is open, consistently supportive and clear.’
‘The firm has a multidisciplinary team and approaches proactively in resolving complex problems, providing pragmatic solutions while respecting the constraints of all the actors involved.’
‘Stefano Bardella is an excellent lawyer, extremely reliable and capable. To work with Stefano is to work with a true professional partner, capable of providing clients with all-round strategic support.’
‘Practical and spot-on legal advice, excellent knowledge of commercial law and dispute resolution.’
‘Stefano Bardella and Valeria Giorgetti provide outstanding client service and are experienced professionals in the dispute resolution practice in Italy.’
Key clients
Alitalia Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A.
Augusta Ratio Group
Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA
BayWa r.e. Group
Christie’s Italia
Contec S.p.A.
DeA Capital Real Estate SGR S.p.A.
Edison S.p.A.
Finanziaria Internazionale Investments SGR S.p.A.
Kryalos SGR S.p.A.
Lojacono Commerciale S.p.A.
Quantum Capital Partners GmbH
Sonder Group
Stamperia Carcano Giuseppe S.p.A.
UPS Italia S.r.l. & UPS Healthcare Italia S.r.l.
Voith Group
The Ridge Wallet LLC
Work highlights
- Assisted the client in a long and multifaceted matter against a logistic company passing through composition with creditors proceedings and ending up in bankruptcy for the enforcement of bank guarantees, a pre-litigation about two commercial lease agreements, the registration with the list of creditors as super-senior creditors and a potential claw back action, for an overall value of more than € 5 million.
- Assisting the client in various disputes (ad hoc arbitration and domestic litigation regarding the construction of the new ENI headquarters).
Italy > Employment Tier 5
K&L Gates regularly advises employers on matters relating to personnel management, both on a day-to-day and a situation-specific basis. The firm is well-versed in employment and labour issues across industries, including technology, tourism, digital media, pharmaceuticals, logistics and transportation. Roberto Podda is the head of the labour, employment and workplace safety department - he routinely advises multinational corporations and national industrial groups on all aspects of employment law matters.Practice head(s):
Roberto Podda
Testimonials
‘Good advice on Italian labour law & complex procedures by people who know their business and are responsive when needed.’
‘Roberto Podda and his team’s quality of service and response time is consistent. He is a lawyer who listens to the client and adapts to circumstances.’
‘The K&L Gates employment team in Italy is very knowledgeable in their subject matter. They are reactive and do a good job of helping international companies navigate the complexities of Italian law in this area.’
‘Roberto Podda has great skill as an attorney and an advisor.’
Key clients
Mangiarotti
Sanda Vadò S.r.l.
StatPro Italy
Voss Fluid
Quickparts Srl
Red Hat Italia
TraceLink Inc.
Flir Systems Srl
Stilo Srl
Lamaro SpA
LabCorp., Inc
Baschieri & Pellagri SpA
Fiocchi Munizioni SpA
Dematic GmbH
New Crazy Colors Srl
Bertone Design Group
AVM Gestioni Sgr SpA
Augusta Ratio Group
Industrie Saleri Italo SpA
Work highlights
- Assisted Cestaro Rossi in a legal opinion on secondment according to French labor law and Italian labor law.
Italy > Tax Tier 5
K&L Gates’ principal areas include advising alternative investment and real estate funds on tax issues. The Milan team also provides tax structuring advice on private equity and M&A transactions, along with assisting financial institutions with the taxation of financial instruments. Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff ‘always finds the best tax solutions’.Practice head(s):
Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff
Testimonials
‘Great ability to understand the client’s needs and propose practical solutions.’
‘KL Gates is a law firm with some excellent professionals, especially in tax matters.‘
‘A modern team capable of meeting a variety of needs.’
‘Willingness to go into detail scrupulously and study the topic.’
‘Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff is always available and always finds the best tax solutions.’
‘Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff is always accurate and available to provide in-depth solutions to the issues posed to him.’
‘Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff is a serious and reliable professional.’
‘Vittorio Salvadori di Wiesenhoff is always available to help and provides clear answers and feedback.’
Key clients
DeA Capital Real Estate SGR
Barings Real Estate Advisors Europe LLC
Indotek Financing Kft
Bank of America
Anima Alternative SGR S.p.A.
Crea.Re Group
Green Arrow Capital SGR S.p.A.
The Techshop SGR S.p.A.
Savills Investment Management SGR S.p.A.
Prana Ventures SICAF EuVECA S.p.A.
Banco BPM SpA
United Ventures SGR S.p.A.
Azimut Investments SA
DoveVivo – Altido
Cromwell Property Group
Kairos Partners SGR S.p.A.
Work highlights
- Advised a luxury boutique hotel owner on the structuring of a preferred equity investment by hedge funds.
- Advised Anima Alternative SGR S.p.A. on the structuring of its second Italian private debt alternative investment fund (Anima Alternative 2).
- Advised Vitesco Technologies AG on the sale to Punch Torino S.p.A. of the entire quota capital of Vitesco Technologies Italy S.r.l.
Italy > Industry focus: Energy Tier 6
K&L Gates‘ team concentrates on the conventional energy sector, with an emphasis on oil and gas, where it represents clients in administrative disputes and claims. The practice includes Andrea Campana, who is recognised for his expertise in energy and construction litigation. Paolo Zamberletti left the firm.Other key lawyers:
Andrea Campana; Chiara Toccagni
Testimonials
‘Outstanding team – easily accessible, responsive, entrepreneurial, and exceptional understanding of the market and developments.’
Key clients
Edison S.p.A.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Utilità S.p.A.
Energy.com S.r.l.
Levigas S.p.A.
Augusta Ratio S.p.A.
BayWa r.e. Italia S.r.l.
Gasway S.p.A.
Mangiarotti S.p.A. (Westinghouse group)
Voith Hydro S.r.l.
Energy System Services S.r.l.
Work highlights
- Advised Augusta Ratio in connection with the reorganisation process of the Augusta Ratio Group and the preparation of a revised five-year industrial plan.
K&L Gates > Firm Profile
The Firm: Located in Milan, close to the famous Duomo, the Italian K&L Gates office opened in 2012 and is one of the eight offices in continental Europe. With a highly reputable and recognized multi-disciplinary team, K&L Gates covers all the main subjects of business law and is often involved in complex cross-border M&A and joint venture transactions, corporate reorganizations, turnarounds, and carve-out deals. With a solid background in transactional real estate, investment funds, banking, restructuring, and litigation matters, K&L Gates’ Milan office serves clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, technology, real estate, consumer, energy, financial services, healthcare, and transportation. The client roster includes leading Italian multinationals and corporations, private equity firms, SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups, investment banks, funds, and financial investors in a wide and diverse range of transactions.
 Main Areas of Practice:
Corporate M&A and Private Equity
The Corporate M&A team assists important local and multinational industrial groups, private equity and venture capital funds, entrepreneurs, and medium-sized enterprises in all stages of operation from structuring, due diligence, drafting, and negotiation of contractual documents and drafting of management remuneration and incentive schemes, all the way to the implementation of exit strategies through public or private sales transactions. Our team also assists listed and nonlisted companies and their respective members and directors on a wide range of corporate governance issues, including all issues related to capital transactions and corporate and commercial law matters.
Real Estate
Our Real Estate practice provides assistance in a broad spectrum of core, value added, and real estate development transactions to investors, both Italian and foreign, through the use of regulated parties, such as real estate funds and SICAF (Italian investment funds with a fixed capital) and for all asset classes. The Italian team has over 15 years of experience and offers assistance in all phases of investment and development, both in Italy and in cross-border operations, including acquisitions (asset and share deal) and portfolio transactions, development projects, real estate finance, leasing, town planning and environmental requirements, and tax aspects.
Asset Management and Investment Funds
Our lawyers work closely with clients throughout the entire lifecycle of relevant alternative investment funds, from the structuring and establishment phase, to the investment and divestment of assets, all the way up to the final liquidation, and covering regulatory and compliance requirements. We assist both domestic and international providers in the structuring and operation of private equity funds; private debt and loan origination; venture capital and real estate, in contractual and corporate form; and funds and parallel funds. We also assist with sponsor and institutional investor relationships, helping with the negotiation of financial and governance terms.
Corporate and Acquisition Finance
Our Milan office assists a wide variety of clients, including banks, asset managers and investment funds, corporate entities, advisors, agents and trustees, directors, and statutory auditors, both on the lender and borrower side. We help our clients during all structuring, negotiating, and closing phases of financing transactions– whether secured or unsecured; bilateral or syndicated; carried out with traditional instruments or by issuing securities; aimed at extraordinary initiatives or for general corporate purposes; with particular focus on acquisition finance, real estate finance and asset-based finance, corporate lending, refinancing, and turnaround financing. In addition, our team assists banks and investors with the sale of receivables, whether related to portfolios or single-name securities.
Energy
Our team consists of professionals with broad and proven experience, having assisted companies operating in the energy sector since the early 2000s, both in traditional sectors – oil and gas, natural gas, and power – and renewable energy sectors, including generation of electricity through photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric, and biomass plants. Our principal clients are banks and investment funds, both domestic and foreign, gas and electricity producers, wholesalers, traders, retail companies, and contractors. We provide assistance through an integrated and cross-sector approach in relation to extraordinary transactions, financing for the construction of new plants and infrastructures, commercial contracts (supply, trading, and tolling), project contracts, regulatory aspects, civil and administrative litigation, and arbitration.
Restructuring and Insolvency
Our team’s experience in the financing field, combined with our knowledge in corporate and litigation matters, allows us to assist clients in all aspects of restructuring and insolvency processes, whether at the negotiation or crisis stage, or from the creditor or debtor side, including corporate restructuring, debt agreements concluded in or out of court, insolvency, evaluation of the risk of liability of directors and shareholders, and acquisition of assets from insolvency proceedings.
Litigation and Dispute Resolution
Litigation is one of the main practices in our Milan office. We have extensive experience assisting domestic and international clients in commercial, corporate, bankruptcy, and procurement disputes. We operate with a strategic approach aimed at supporting our clients in the management of any conflict situation, always taking into account their objectives and interests. We represent companies of all sizes in the manufacturing, energy, finance, real estate, logistics, and transport sectors, among others. Our team also has significant experience in both national and international arbitration proceedings, including those administered by the main arbitration boards (ICC, LCIA, VIAC, SIAC, and CAM).
Administrative Law
Our Italian team has acquired significant experience in the development of complex, multidisciplinary projects. The team assists its clients—Italian and foreign private companies, various funds, public authorities, and joint enterprises—in diverse transactions related to administrative, town planning, environmental, and procurement law. We represent our clients, both at the pre-litigation and litigation stage, in disputes before administrative and arbitration courts. We also assist our clients in all administrative aspects of regulated sectors, such as the energy industry
Labor, Employment, and Workplace Safety
Our Milan lawyers have deep experience in employment law and trade union relationships. We mainly assist the employer, whether in the interest of Italian subsidiaries of multinational groups or Italian companies belonging to industrial groups. In particular, the labor team is active in corporate restructuring and reorganization, trade union relationships, and litigation. We are highly skilled with due diligence activities, including incentive plans and management by objectives, health and safety in the workplace, individual and collective dismissals, collective agreements at the company level, employment and self-employment contracts, noncompete and stability agreements,
agency agreements, expatriates, privacy and data protection, codes of conduct and company policies, and M&A related activities.
Tax Law
Our Tax Law team offers a wide range of tax-related services, with a particular focus on financial institutions and structured finance, real estate, structuring of private equity, and M&As. Our professionals assist domestic and foreign operators and investors with all tax aspects of real estate transactions, from acquisition to disposal. Our Milan team is also very active in the structuring of complex M&As, both domestic and cross-border, for strategic investors and private equity funds. We also provide assistance in the areas of securitization, nonperforming loans transactions, financing, debt restructuring, and project finance. Other areas of experience include taxation of stocks, bonds, and complex financial instruments. Our professionals regularly assist clients in tax audits and assessments. Therefore, we have extensive experience in out-of-court settlements of tax disputes and tax litigation.
Intellectual Property
Our Intellectual Property team provides legal assistance to local and international clients on industrial law and copyright matters, as well as matters related to information technology. In particular, we have gained experience assisting with the protection and transfer of intellectual property rights, including trademarks, domain names, designs, patents, trade secrets, know-how, publicity rights, and software. Our professionals also deal with issues of unfair competition, advertising law, e-commerce, consumer protection, and personal data protection. We assist clients by drafting and negotiating transfer, licensing, distribution, advertising, sponsorship, and technology transfer agreements.
Antitrust, Competition, and Trade Regulation
The Antitrust, Competition, and Trade Regulation practice is present in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. As a team of global lawyers, we handle complex antitrust and competition issues around the world. Our practice is fully integrated, and we work daily on various cross-border matters. We have successfully represented our clients in the context of complex global mergers, antitrust investigations for alleged abuse of dominant position and anti-competitive practices (cartels), sector-specific inquiries, and state aid matters. We have deep bench experience in the fields of luxury and fashion, e-commerce, and pharmaceuticals. We work with clients in regulated and fast-growing emerging sectors, such as energy, software, transport, and intellectual property protection. Our services include concentrations, third party interventions in the context of concentrations, antitrust compliance, cartels, abuse of dominant positions, sector-specific antitrust investigations, and state aid.
Defence, Security, and Cybersecurity
Due to its deep knowledge of this industry, K&L Gates professionals assist companies or other public entities dealing or involved in the industry of defence, national security, and cybersecurity. We provide support in the following main areas of practice: corporate and M&A activities, including support to authorizations and approvals required in the contest of extraordinary transactions (e.g., golden power regime, notifications of approvals for classified activities); commercial matters involving all traditional contractual arrangements of these entities active in this industry; and/or public procurement when dealing with Ministry of Defence or other critical infrastructures or other national security entities; and export control regimes and other regulatory matters associated to supply, commercialization or distribution of classified products or services. With regard to cybersecurity, our lawyers provide support in all the regulatory matters of prevention, responding and resilience associated to dealing with national critical infrastructures and networks; as well as in several unregulated and not qualified contests of private entities in strengthening their own level of security and cybersecurity.
Milan Managing Partner: Giampaolo Salsi
Offices
Europe: Berlin, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Paris. Middle East: Doha, Dubai. United States: Austin, Boston, Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Harrisburg, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Newark, Orange County, Palo Alto, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Wilmington. South America: Sao Paulo. Asia: Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo. Australia: Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney.
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