Ivo Waisberg

Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Advogados

São Paulo www.twk.com.br

ivo@twk.com.br Tel: +55 11 3552 5000

Biography

Ivo Waisberg has a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, a PhD and full professor degree in law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). He has a master’s degree in trade regulation from New York University. He is a professor in commercial law at PUC-SP and a partner at Thomaz Bastos, Waisberg, Kurzweil Advogados. Besides 25 years’ experience in restructuring, corporate, project finance, banking and arbitration issues, Ivo Waisberg acts frequently as arbitrator in arbitration disputes and has authored numerous books and papers on legal issues.

My first experience in law practice was in a small law firm that worked with civil law, mainly in court. I worked there for nine years as an intern and a junior lawyer. I dealt with all kinds of civil claims, such as real estate, consumer, corporate and banking claims. I also did some civil contract negotiation. It was a very good experience. After that I spent some years dedicating my career to teaching commercial law in private universities in São Paulo more than lawyering. I did my master’s degree in commercial law, focused on banking and I went to NYU to do my LLM in trade regulation. I have worked as an intern with the FTC in New York and with an antitrust boutique there.

When I came back to Brazil, I started working with a very traditional firm specialised in litigation and corporate issues. In the beginning, I worked mostly on M&A deals and commercial contract negotiations, but also on the litigation side of it. In 2005, the new bankruptcy law was approved and due to my knowledge of it, because of my teaching experience, I was in charge of some of the first big judicial reorganisation cases after the introduction of the new law.

In 2005 I did a PhD degree at PUC in international economic relations.

In 2009, after seven years with the firm I left and founded my first firm, CWTP, a medium size full-service firm which went very well. I was mainly dealing with distressed M&A, debt restructuring and corporate litigation (in court and arbitration).

During that time, I became an arbitrator in many commercial law cases.

In 2015, I left the firm to join Joel and Bruno and one year later we created TWK, a highly specialised boutique focused on debt restructuring and corporate litigation. Since then, we have mainly dealt with restructuring in Brazil and highly complex litigation cases.

What inspired you to specialise in restructuring and insolvency law?

I guess it was my background when the 2005 law came to place. I had strong experience in litigation, in M&A and banking transactions and in negotiation. And those were the skills the judicial reorganisation – at that time a new procedure – demanded from a counsel. Also, my practical approach to everything and business-oriented mind were good skills for the new era of debt restructuring in Brazil. So I was in the right place at the right time.

In what way does your firm distinguish itself from the competition in the market?

I guess we are highly specialised. And the sum of Joel’s and Bruno’s and my experience covers the main cases of the last 15 years of the law. We are focused on restructuring and insolvency and I believe we are the only high-end firm with three named partners specialised in this field. This is not a one-man show firm. It is really a boutique with a whole team specialised in debt restructuring in and out of court. We do a lot of work for debtors, creditors and investors in the high-end restructuring market, covering all aspects of it. From in and out of court negotiations, to structuring distressed M&A equity and debt deals.

What has recent insolvency law reform in Brazil meant for your practice and your clients?

It is too soon to be able to answer that. I believe the reform in general was good. The bankruptcy procedure will get much better now. From the investor perspective the law is also much more friendly. Let’s see how it goes in practice.

What are the main challenges currently facing lawyers working in restructuring and insolvency?

I think one aspect is adapting to the reform in the coming months. I could be very close to the legislative procedure of drafting the law and I think it will be very helpful to understand it. Another is that now the precedents will be settled after 15 years. We will have to wait some time to see the impact of the reform and the jurisprudence again.

What will be the long-term effects of covid-19 on the restructuring market?

My feeling is that covid-19 has had more of an impact on small and medium businesses. In the big corporate market, the one we work in, the effects of covid-19 were much more present in the second half of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, because the banks were flexible in postponing payments and there was some government help. But the fact is that many of the companies will have to use a restructuring mechanism soon and the new law provides some good new tools.

What has been the most memorable matter that you’ve worked on?

It is very hard to say. I am getting old so there are many cases I remember as memorable.

In the debt restructuring areas I believe VASP is one of them, because it was my first. The case of IMCOPA counseling to the banks was a unique one. Also, the case of DASLU counseling for investors. More recently the Libra case on the debtor side and the ATVOS one, still going on, counseling to creditors.

What is the best piece of career advice you’ve ever been given?

Someone once told me that to succeed you have to take risks. And it is true. If you are not a risk taker, you are going to be a follower and not a leader.