The global law firm Jones Day has announced that Marcello Hallake has joined as a partner in the Firm’s São Paulo Office where he will be advising on mergers, acquisitions, and project financing deals. He arrives from the New York office of Thompson & Knight.

“We are delighted that Marcello is part of our Latin American practice and based here in São Paulo. His arrival further demonstrates the commitment Jones Day has to investing in the region,” said Luis Riesgo, head of the Latin American practice. “We have had a particularly successful year in attracting great talent to our Latin American team and we believe that Marcello will contribute to our growing practice enormously.”

Mr. Hallake focuses his practice on representing U.S. and European companies, financial institutions, and investment funds in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, privatizations, private equity, and other financing transactions, particularly in the area of projects, in Latin America and around the globe. He also represents Brazilian and Latin American companies in cross-border transactions and has extensive transactional experience advising companies in the energy, telecommunications, media, and technology sectors.

“The addition of Marcello caps a tremendous year of global growth for Jones Day’s Energy Practice, said Jeff Schlegel, co-head of the Firm’s Energy Practice. “His inbound and outbound experience in Latin America is a significant addition to our regional, global, and energy industry focused capabilities.”

Prior to joining Jones Day, Mr. Hallake represented France Telecom in various M&A transactions in Latin America, including the acquisition and subsequent divestiture of its investment in Intelig Telecomunicações Ltda. of Brazil, the acquisition and subsequent divestiture of Compania de Telecomunicaciones de El Salvador S.A. de C. V., and the sale of Telecom Argentina. He also represented Petrobras in cross-border oil and gas, oil shale, and EPC transactions in the U.S., Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Other clients that Marcello has counseled on cross-border matters include Eutelsat, Globo Comunicações e Participações, Grupo Algar, Lagardere, Sinochem, Total, and Vitro.

Mr. Hallake, a Brazilian citizen, earned a B.A. degree from Saint-Louis University (Belgium), an LL. M. from Georgetown University, and an M.A. and J.D. from Louvain University (Belgium).