Chile′s Constitutional Court has thrown out a request by Chilean airline PAL to block the merger between Chilean flag carrier LAN and Brazilian airline TAM.
The decision, which was made public on Thursday, saw the Chilean court rule four to one to consider the case non-admisible.
PAL filed its complaint on the 3 August amidst allegations that the basis of its opposition to the merger was ′weak′ and ′groundless.′
Expected to deliver its decision on 24 August, the Constitutional Court twice pushed back the date it would rule on the complaint.
Lawyers say that had it upheld Pal′s complaint, it could have led to delays of between two to three months.
The merger, which would create Latin America′s largest airline, is still awaiting a key decision by Chile′s antitrust court, TDLC, after a Chilean consumer rights group lodged a third party complaint claiming the merger would have a negative impact on routes across Latin America.
None of the law firms contacted would comment on the ruling.
Counsel to TAM
General counsel - Luiz Claudio Aguiar
US
Clifford Chance LLP
Partners Anthony Oldfield and Sarah Jones and associates Anand Saha and Kristyn Walker
Brazil
Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados
Partners Antonio Corrêa Meyer, Carlos José Rolim de Mello, Raquel Novais and Fernando Tonnani and associates Fabio Falkenburger and Paula Magalhães
Barbosa Müssnich & Aragão
Partner Barbara Rosenberg and associates José Inácio de Almeida Prado Filho and Rafael Smizd
Chile
Cariola, Diez, Pérez-Cotapos & Cía Ltda
Partners Francisco Illanes and Peter Deutsch
Counsel to TAM′s shareholders
Turci Advogados
Partners Flávia Turci and associates Carlos Fujita and Ana Matsuda
Counsel to LAN
General counsel - Cristián Toro
US
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Partners Sergio Galvis, Duncan McCurrach and Juan Rodriguez and associates Carlos Pelaez, Felipe Capella, Rachael Dugan
Brazil
Pinheiro Neto Advogados
Partner Alexandre Bertoldi and associates Vânia Marques Ribeiro Moyano and Roberta Stettinger Bilotti Demange
Chile
Claro y Cía
Partners José Maria Eyzaguirre and Felipe Larraín
Counsel to LAN in Constitutional Court filing
Claro y Cía
Partners Felipe Larraín and Juan Cristóbal Gumucio
Counsel to Pal
Independent practitioner - Mario Fernández
(Latin Lawyer 05.09.2011)
(Notícia na Íntegra)