Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega owns the Latin Lawyer 2007 Deal of the Year Award in the mergers and acquisitions category, for its participation in the US700 million Arcos Dorados’ acquisition of the McDonald's operations in Latin America.

The firm acted as counsel to Arcos Dorados in Panama, and through its office in the British Virgin Islands set up acquisition vehicles.

Partner Eduardo de Alba acted as lead lawyer. Other members of the team included partners Julio J. Fábrega III, Maria C. Arroyo and Mario L. Fábrega, and associate Ileana Martinelli.

With this transaction, the Buenos Aires-based consortium, Arcos Dorados, won a 20-year franchise agreement to operate 1,600 McDonald's restaurants in Latin America and the Caribbean.

About Latin Lawyer 2007 Deal of the Year Awards
With this award Latin Lawyer, the most authoritative guide to Latin America's leading business law firms, recognized Latin America's most significant deals of 2007. Submissions for Deal of the Year were accepted from law firms or companies. Latin Lawyer's editorial team compiled shortlists of up to six transactions per category, which were then presented to expert panels. The categories were Corporate Finance, M&A, Dispute Resolution and Project Finance. Each category had its own expert panel made up of leading lawyers in that field. Panel members were selected from law firms not working on any of the six short listed transactions in the category.