Spanish giant Uria & Menendez has secured a merger with top five Portuguese firm Vasconcelos F Sa Carneiro Fontes & Associados in an audacious deal to create a pan-Iberian heavyweight.

Uria will merge with the 50-lawyer Vasconcelos, a long-term referral ally of London’s Allen & Overy (A&O), this month – giving the 300-lawyer Spanish firm the third-largest legal practice in Portugal and a key position in the emerging Iberian market.