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Bonelli Erede Pappalardo Studio Legale has a great reputation in Brussels and is arguably one of the strongest of the 'national' firms, rivalled only by some of the German and Spanish firms.

"It is great firm; we really highly consider them with Massimo Merola and Maurizio Pappalardo in Brussels and also in Rome and Milan with Claudio Tesauro," says a peer. Others attest to its "very high quality".

According to one client, Tesauro "is one of the best lawyers in antitrust that I have ever met and Mr Pappalardo is also excellent for anti-trust. The more the case is complex and difficult the better it is for them to find the best solution and Tesauro gives the best of himself when the work is especially complex". Clients add that the firm "acted as though it were part of our company" and praise Tesauro for being "able every time to find a solution to different problems". Elsewhere, Monica Dal Prá, Bettina Volpi and senior associate Leonardo Armati "all work very well" add clients.

Deals
Massimo Merola worked with senior associate Tecla Ubaldi to assist Confindustria on competition and state aid issues related to an increase in capacity in the Italian energy market and teamed up with senior associate Omar Diaz on an instruction form Endesa, to advise in an appeal to annul a decision authorising an aid scheme in the Spanish wholesale electricity market; the case was ongoing but initial decisions had fallen in Endesa's favour.

Claudio Tesauro has been busy acting as counsel to Luxottica on matters relating to its European network while Maurizio Pappalardo, along with senior associates Monica dal Prá and Leonardo Armati, assisted BNP Paribas on merger control issues before the European Commission for its full takeover of life insurance company BNL Vita for €325 million.

Also on the merger side, Merola advised Ube Industries for anti-trust matters on its joint-venture with Dow Chemicals, to form a global US-Japanese joint-venture.

An interesting mandate on the state aid side saw Merola, with senior associate Maria Cristina Santacroce, assist the representative organisations of a consortium of fruit and vegetable cooperatives (Confederazione Cooperative Italiane, Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias, Fédération Française de la Coopération Fruitière, Légumière, Horticole, VOG Products, Consorzio Padano Ortofrutticolo, Consorzio Casalasco del Pomodoro, Agricoltori Riuniti Piacentini, Orogel Fresco and Conserve Italia) on financial aid matters before the EC. The case was before the EU General Court and will have implications on EU regulations in the agricultural sector.

One of the stronger tier two firms according to peers, Bonelli's banking practice has plenty of admirers with department head Emanuela Da Rin highlighted as its driving force. One of the largest domestic firms it has strong relationships with Italian banks and businesses which sees it represent borrowers and lenders.

Deals
The Eurozone crisis means only reliable borrowers are getting credit in Italy. An example of this was Unilever's €800 million facility, which Andrea De Tomas advised the consumer goods producer on.

Among the firm's recent acquisition finance transactions one notable deal saw Riccardo Sallustio take the lead role representing Vision Capital Partners a €260 million short-term financing through JPMorgan for the acquisition of Bormioli Rocco & Figlio. In a follow on deal the firm acted for the newly acquired company in securing a €15 million revolving facility from BNL.

Real estate finance is one of the firm's core competencies. In this area, practice head Emmanuela Da Rin advised Beni Stabili on refinancing through a €155 million credit facility from Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and Natixis.

In a challenging year for capital markets practices in Italy, Bonelli's team contented itself with a variety of debt transactions. This largely reflects the market and shouldn't be seen as failing of the firm. As, according to one peer, "one of the two leading Italian firms for capital markets," along with Chiomenti, Bonelli has strong partners who specialise in both equity and debt work. Finance head Emanuela Da Rin often leads on the firms debt transactions and is a well-regarded figure in the area of bonds, structured finance and securitisation. On the equity side, rivals rate Carlo Montagna.

Deals
In Italy, structured finance and securitisation has fared better than traditional debt and equity transactions. One of the firm's major deals in this area involved Banca Popolare di Vicenza. It assisted the client in securitising €1.3 billion in residential mortgage loans. A notable RMBS transaction for the firm saw Giuseppe Sacchi Lodispoto advise UBS and Banca Popolare di Vicenza on Quadrivio's €800 million issue.

Covered bonds are an instrument that has seen some success among Italian issuers. In 2011, Emanuela Da Rin acted for Banca delle Marche on its €600 million issue under its €5 billion programme.

Among the firm's bond deals, one which stands out was Da Rin's advice to Mercato Telematico delle Obbligazioni on its €1 billion issue. In 2011, it was the only bond sold exclusively to Italian retail investors, offering the option to choose between a fixed and a floating rate bond. As it was oversubscribed the company issued a further €350 million notes.

There hasn't been a great deal of equity transactions that have been executed in the country since summer 2011, but the firm is involved in an ongoing transaction – the potential IPO and private placement of aviation company Avio.

With a host of blue chip clients, M&A is understandably a core practice area for Bonelli. "It is one of the two biggest independent firms in Italy. In terms of M&A, they deserve to stay there [tier one]," says one partner from a rival firm. Similarly, clients are equally enamoured with the firm. "What I like is that they are dedicated to the transaction and they have a lot of experience – there isn't much they haven't seen."

Deals
As you would expect of one of the leading, domestic corporate firms on the market, Bonelli secured roles on the majority of the country's most sought after deals. Among the more complex transactions was the shareholding reorganisation of Edison and Edi power. Representing energy company Delmi, Sergio Erede and Mario Roli advised on the two-tier deal, which involved the sale of its 50% share in Transalpina di Energia to EdF and acquisition of 70% of Edipower from Edison and Swiss Fund Alpiq, which reached the threshold to trigger a mandatory tender offer. With a total value of €6 billion, the deal involved two distinct transactions which were nevertheless entwined as neither could be completed unless the other went through. Now finalised, Delmi has obtained Edison's main unit Edipower and EdF has control of Edison.

Another deal in the energy sector saw Alberto Saravalle and Roli advise GDF Suez on the sale of its Italian gas network G6 Rete Gas to a consortium comprising F2i and AXA for €770 million.

A further multi-billion Euro deal for the firm, which is still pending, is the €3 billion merger of Outokumpu and Inoxu, the stainless steel business of ThyssenKrupp where Umberto Nicodano is representing the former party.

Elsewhere, Erede and Paolo Daino represented BNP Paribas Personal Finance (in purchase of 25% of Findomestic Banca from Banca CR Firenze for €630 million.

Bonnelli performed a remarkable coup taking Catia Tomesetti and a 20 strong team from Allen & Overy in early 2011. Peers affirm that Tomasetti has experienced no setback in transferring her practice to a new platform and that she has picked up exactly where she left off, at the pinnacle of the market. "Catia is one the most active lawyers," says one project finance partner, explaining that what differentiates her is that "she has a lot of experience" and that technically she is "very good."

Deals
Bonelli's relatively new practice head, Tomasetti, has not rested on her laurels since joining and is at the helm on all of the firm's notable deals. The largest sees her representing the arrangers, a syndicate of Italian and international banks, which are financing the upgrades to the 210,574 km of Italian highway managed by Autovie Venete. The deal is the largest brownfield tolling project in Italy to be funded on a project finance basis.

Renewables is the other active area for project finance lawyers in Italy and where the bulk of the firm's transactions have come from. In 2011, Tomasetti advised on two photovoltaic deals. The largest was on behalf of a syndicate of lenders Deutsche Bank, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale and KfW IPEX-Bank, which were financing the construction of five plants for €180 million. In the other she represented the sponsor Fontesol which needed assistance with securing €67 million for four plants.

In the wind sector, Tomasseti acted for the lenders to Didfesa Wind which needed €23.8 million for a 16MW wind park in the Apulia region.

Universally applauded by the market for its restructuring and insolvency work, Bonelli's strength across all practice areas is considered an important factor to its success. One client says it chose the firm because "they have good corporate practice," and "they are also good on employment, tax and litigation". Peers also note it is not just quality but the firm's level of activity. "They ought to be there [tier one]. We meet them many times, at least 10 times in a year," remarks one practice head. "They are very well regarded".

In terms of contentious restructuring and insolvency work, there is "no better lawyer than Franco Bonelli," say partners. On the restructuring side, competitors name Paolo Oliviero as one of the firm's most important practitioners.

Deals
In the last 12 months Bonelli has represented an array of banks on restructuring transactions ranging from the €50 million mark to in excess of €250 million.

Excellent relationships within Italian industry, fostered by it leading corporate practice, means it has also been the chosen counsel for a number of companies needing to address debt repayment issues.

On the bankruptcy side it has represented several domestic clients in concordato preventivo (agreement among creditors) matters, assisted an international bank with preparation of certain concordato fallimentare (agreement among creditors – after bankruptcy) and aided a large foreign conglomerate in a claw back action brought in extraordinary receivership.