CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Cristián Eyzaguirre Fontaine, Daniela Del Solar Nielsen and Gonzalo Eyzaguirre Alvarado, Eyzaguirre & Cía
1. Trends 1.1 M&A Market
prominent, followed by the energy and industrial sectors (PricewaterhouseCoopers Chile, 2025).
M&A transactions in Chile, as in many other regions globally, were strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a decline as economic uncertainty began to unfold. Fur - ther, domestic economic conditions and politi - cal instability adversely affected the number of transactions in 2023 and 2024. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers Chile (2025), 97 M&A transactions were completed in Chile in 2024, a 14% decrease from the 113 transactions reported in 2023. Over the same period, total deal value fell from USD 4,637 bil - lion in 2023 to USD 3,985 billion in 2024, reach - ing a historic low. However, signs of recovery towards the end of 2024, combined with expectations that a more business-friendly political sector will likely pre - vail in the presidential election scheduled for late 2025, suggest a more optimistic outlook for the M&A market in 2025, with anticipated growth in activity across key economic sectors. 1.2 Key Trends The outlook for Chile in 2025 is positive, driven by the gradual reduction of political uncertainty, which has strengthened market confidence and encouraged investment activity. Additionally, the easing of inflationary pressures enabled the Chilean Central Bank to implement significant interest‑rate cuts throughout 2024, thereby improving access to financing and stimulating economic growth. 1.3 Key Industries The most active areas over the past year were the consumer, energy, and industrial sectors. In terms of volume, the finance sector was the most
2. Overview of Regulatory Field 2.1 Acquiring a Company The legal means used in Chile for structur - ing business combinations will depend on the existing structure of the target company and the objectives of the parties involved in the transac - tion. However, the most common forms of busi - ness combinations are: • purchase of shares of a company, either through the acquisition of outstanding shares or through the subscription of newly issued shares; • purchase of a company’s underlying business or all of its assets, excluding all or almost all of its liabilities or their contribution to another company’s share capital in consideration of newly issued shares; and • tender offer for shares in a public company. As in most other jurisdictions, the primary con - cern when choosing between a share purchase and an asset purchase in Chile is liabilities. If a company acquires all shares of another compa - ny, it effectively acquires the entire equity inter - est in the target, thereby assuming ownership of all its assets and liabilities. As a result, asset pur - chases are generally considered more advanta - geous and common in Chile despite often being more complex and time-consuming to imple - ment. This preference is primarily because an asset purchase allows buyers to exclude sub - stantially all liabilities from the transaction. Nev - ertheless, certain obligations may still be trans - ferred to the acquirer, particularly tax liabilities, in the event the seller has failed to comply with its tax obligations. It is common practice to miti -
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