Leading Spanish firm Garrigues is facing a strategic nightmare following the agreement this week of the local arm of its accounting parent Andersen to merge with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

The Spanish firm is believed to be unhappy at the prospect of joining Deloittes’ legal network, which trails behind the legal arms built by Andersen and KPMG in size and reputation, and is holding on to the possibility of joining KPMG’s KLegal network.