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Joaquín Eppens Echagüe

Partner
About
Joaquin Eppens Echagüe is a transactional lawyer with almost 20 years’ experience helping funds, multinationals, and financial institutions with their most relevant M&A and financial transactions.
 
Joaquin has also had the chance to advise clients on broader general business law matters, which have honed and supplemented his transactional practice, giving him a broader vision and resources to deal with issues coming up on his transactional practice. Joaquin is also a leading practitioner in dealing with the peculiarities and complexities of Argentina’s foreign currency exchange markets and disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Argentina Central Bank. 

Aside from his main practice areas, Joaquin has also had extensive experience in private equity deals and real estate developments, having advised Argentina´s largest industrial developer and landlord for more than a decade in all aspects of the land procurement, financing, construction and placement of more than half a million square meters of triple A warehousing.
 

EXPERIENCE

  • Advised Industrial Acquisitions Fund LLC (IAF) in its acquisition of 100% of the Class C shares in IMPSA S.A. held by Argentina’s National Government and the Province of Mendoza. This transaction is the first privatization process to reach awarding to a private bidder and closing of the public asset divestment by the Government. DLA Piper Argentina provided end-to-end legal support to IAF, including strategic counsel on navigating the complex regulatory framework governing the public bidding process, which concluded with IAF as awardee. It also led all M&A aspects of the transaction structuring, negotiations, and closing. The firm is also acting as counsel to IAF in a debt restructuring process involving approximately US$580 million. 
  • Advised Veronica SACIAFEI, in a $60,000,000+ syndicated borrowing from a syndicate of 12 leading banks.
  • Counseled Perez Companc Family Group in a series of M&A transactions, both as sellers and buyers of targets in several industries. 
  • Advised Plaza Logistica in a $65M equity contribution from Point State and the ensuing changes in corporate governance resulting from the investment. 
  • Advised the Sponsors in a toll roads project under Argentina´s PPP legislation in connection with the development and finance of 300+kms of public highway.
  • Advised Plaza Logistica in a series of syndicated loans, bond issuances and multilateral and oficial agency lending transactions. 
  • Advised IDB in a series of loans to Argentine and regionally based borrowers. 
 
Languages
  • English
  • Spanish
Education
  • LLM International Business Law with a Specialization in Banking, Finance and Insurance Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2023-2024 (Summa Cum Laude)
  • Postgraduate Degree in Banking and Capital Markets Law (Cum Laude), Universidad Austral, Argentina – 2022
  • Postgraduate Degree in Oil and Gas Law (Cum Laude), Universidad Austral, Argentina – 2021

    Abogado (J.D. Equivalent), Universidad Catolica de Salta, Argentina

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Ranked as a leading Corporate/M&A lawyer in Latin America for 2024 by the Latin American Association of Corporate Counsel (LACCA)

Pro Bono

Counseled the incoming authorities of the Argentine Central Bank in legal matters relating to Central Bank debt restructuring and legal implications of changes to then existing monetary policy. 
Ongoing counseling to members of Argentina´s Presidential Council of Economic Advisers on the legal implications of policies advocated by the Council.  
 

Media Mentions

Mentioned, "Argentina divests IMPSA in first privatisation under Milei", Latin Lawyer, 2025

Mentioned, "DLA Piper expands M&A partnership in Argentina," Latin Lawyer, 2024

Prior Experience

For almost 20 years he has worked as an associate and later partner at top tier firms in Argentina, leading M&A transactions as well as a wide array of financial deals including syndicated loans, multilateral´s lending, project finance and corporate bond issues, and their restructurings. 

Additional Information

• Estudio sobre la aplicación de criterios redistributivos en el régimen de copaticipación 
- LA LEY 12/04/2022 (Co-Author). 
• Acertado fallo de la Corte Suprema que reivindica el federalismo de concertación –
Jurisprudencia Argentina 2023-I, 296 (March 2023) TR LALEY AR/DOC/460/2023 (Co-Author).
• Visiting professor on M&A at Universidad Austral postgraduate program on International Business Transactions (2020 – 2023). 
• Speaker at IERAL’s (Fundación Mediterranea) XXIV Congress on Fiscal Federalism.

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