Chiomenti Studio Legale

Chiomenti Studio Legale is an Italian law firm founded in 1948 by Pasquale Chiomenti. It is widely considered one of the strongest Italian law firms, and one of the few with a clear international outlook. Chiomenti does not attempt to provide day-to-day advice to Italian companies outside of major cities of Milan, Rome and Turin; however, it seeks to counsel companies on big-ticket transactions. Today, the firm counts 300 attorneys and tax advisers working out of offices in Rome, Milan, Turin, Brussels, London, New York City, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Chiomenti represented the Italian government in numerous privatizations in the 1980s and 1990s, including that of Enel. It has since built up a strong reputation for premier banking, project finance, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets advice.

Press reports indicated that Chiomenti engaged in merger discussions with a number of US and UK suitors, including Shearman & Sterling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. In 2001, Chiomenti signed an exclusive referral agreement and alliance with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The two then collaborated on a number of high-profile deals including representing Biosearch Italia in its acquisition by California-based biotech company Versicor for total considation of $260.7 million (£169.8 million). The two also advised Ansaldo, a railway-signalling manufacturer, on its €468 million (£327.8 million) IPO in 2006. The alliance was discontinued in 2008. That same year, Chiomenti merged with Birindelli & Associati, an Italian firm that operated offices in six Asian cities. It is unclear whether Chiomenti will continue to operate all of those offices.