Shearman & Sterling announced today the appointment of Robert Ellison as managing partner of its São Paulo office and veteran partner Antonia Stolper as leader of the firm's award-winning Latin America group. These leadership appointments are effective immediately.

Shearman & Sterling has served private and public organizations in Latin America for over 80 years in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, project finance and development, international arbitration, and other practice areas. Approximately 20 partners serve the region from São Paulo, New York and other international offices. The firm's strength in Latin America comes not only from its long history in the region but also from its depth of coverage, as multiple partners have worked in every country in the region.

"Latin America has become one of the most vibrant regions in the world during the last decade, and we have capitalized on our long history to establish a strong footprint from Mexico to Chile," said Rohan S. Weerasinghe, Shearman & Sterling's senior partner. "Our teams have truly shaped the region, taking leading roles in some of the most significant deals, including nearly 80 percent of offerings during 2009 in Brazil, the Panama Canal expansion financing, Ecopetrol's listing in the NYSE, and JBS's acquisition of Pilgrim's Pride, not to mention the multiple sovereign issuers across Latin America."

"We're very excited about our new São Paulo and Latin American leadership," he added. "Rob Ellison brought significant international experience to Brazil when he arrived from Rome almost two years ago, and his contributions and achievements have been significant. Antonia Stolper, who has lived and worked in the region for more than 30 years, has an outstanding reputation and network throughout Latin America and will enable us to maintain and grow our strong position."

Ellison, a member of the firm's Capital Markets practice, has played a lead role in a number of significant transactions, including the much-publicized Santander Brasil and VisaNet IPOs last year. Prior to relocating to São Paulo, he was managing partner of Shearman & Sterling's Rome office for six years and spent seven years in the Paris office.

"The firm has built a strong team in Brazil since we opened our São Paulo office in 2004, which put us at the forefront in capital markets and M&A," Ellison said. "We are committed to serving our client base of Brazilian corporations and financial institution, using our Brazilian presence and global footprint, as their financing needs and M&A activities become increasingly globalized."

Stolper's practice focuses primarily on corporate finance transactions in emerging markets. She has extensive registered public offering experience for foreign private issuers, with a heavy emphasis on debt and equity securities offerings for Latin American corporate and sovereign issuers, representing both underwriters and issuers, and on restructuring transactions, representing issuers, dealer managers and creditors. In addition, she advises a number of foreign and domestic issuers on their ongoing SEC reporting requirements, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and corporate governance matters.

"We are widely known and highly regarded in the region," Stolper said, "and recently we have increased our focus on Mexico. Like many of the members of our team, I have spent most of my professional career in Latin America. The continued growth and development of the region is very important to me and to all of us."