Vania Petrella is a partner resident in the Rome office.
Ms. Petrella's practice focuses mainly on Italian and international tax issues relating to capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, financial products and domestic and cross-border transactions with respect to which she advises a number of Italian and international clients, including multinational firms and financial institutions. She also regularly advises on the tax implications of holding structures, reorganizations, joint ventures, partnerships, debt restructurings, employee incentive plans and deferred compensation arrangements.
Ms. Petrella recently assisted WIND TELECOM in its combination with VimpelCom and in a series of multi-billion financing transactions related to such combination; First Reserve in its acquisition of a 45% interest in Ansaldo Energia; Bavaria Yachtbau in the acquisition of Cantiere Del Pardo; the Republic of Argentina and the Province of Buenos Aires in the Italian exchange offer relating to the defaulted bonds; Accor and Edenred in the spin-off of Accor’s Services business. She has acted as tax counsel to either the issuer or the underwriters in several capital markets transactions, including, most recently: Fiat and Fiat Finance’s GMTN programmes and multi-billion notes offerings; Enel’s €8.0 billion rights offering and Eni’s $800 notes issue; the IPOs by Yoox, Prysmian, MolMed, Aeffe, Aicon, Gas Plus, Newron Pharmaceuticals and Poltrona Frau. Clients she regularly assists on executive compensation matters include Goldman Sachs and ArcelorMittal.
Ms. Petrella taught for many years a course on International Tax Law at the University of Naples “Federico II” and currently teaches a course on Ethics and Tax law at the Lateran University. She regularly lectures at various other institutions, including the Universities of Bologna and LUISS. She is widely published and frequently appears on conference panels on topics relating to Italian and international tax law.
Ms. Petrella is recognized as a leading tax lawyer in Italy by
Chambers Global,
Chambers Europe,
The Legal 500 EMEA, and
ITR’s “World Tax”.
Ms. Petrella joined the firm in 1998 and became a partner in 2006. She has been resident in the Rome office since 1999. Prior to that, she was resident in the Brussels and New York offices. She graduated with honors from the University of Naples “Federico II” in 1993, obtained an LL.M. with Specialization in Tax Law at the University of London in 1997, and in 1999 completed a Ph.D. program in Italian and EU Tax Law at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Naples “Federico II”.
Ms. Petrella has been a member of the Bar in Italy since 1997. She is a native Italian speaker, is fluent in English and proficient in French.