I just committed to an investment with Mercan to get a PGV, and can see advantages and disadvantages to having their lawyer handle my legal concerns. Potential conflict of interest makes me wonder if I should retain an independent lawyer to review the term sheets with them, or if that it just likely to muddy the waters and delay my application. Has anybody any experience working with Mercan, and would they advise retaining a lawyer to review their documents?
I didn’t invest via Mercan so can’t comment on the them but…
IMO if a lawyer is acting for a seller, then there definitively is a conflict of interest if the same lawyer advises a buyer, you can ignore the conflict but it’s there…
On the one hand IAS is super experienced at processing GV applications, and in a way both your and Mercan’s priority (and hence IAS’ priority) is to get you in the door before the program closes.
That being said, I know that some people choose to use other lawyers than IAS, or at least have an independent lawyer look over the paperwork to help identify any potential issues. If you search the forum you might be able to find some people who did so.
Personally I’d probably stick with IAS doing the application, but I also don’t see much problem in hiring another lawyer to give an independent opinion on the paperwork (assuming you can have it done ASAP and you don’t mind the extra cost).
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Hello, thank you for creating a group.
I have a general question to those people who decided to obtain PGV with Mercan: did/do you have independent portuguese lawyer or you work just with Mercan lawyer?
If you have the independent one - which aproximate amount of additional expenses does it entail?
For me, having an independant lawyer is safer. But I know a lot of situations when, for ex., your lawyer proposes some protecting you adjustments for the contract, but company like Mercan refuses to do it.
And the last question: is there a possibility to insure (via insurance company) such type of investment (which Mercan offers) and related risks (risk of non-completion of construction or buyback risk or something else accompanying)?
Thank you in advance for all responses!
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I’m using an outside lawyer to review the documents but their lawyer to actually make the application and investment. Just for peace of mind!
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Thank you for your answer! Could you tell how much this adds to your overall expenses?
So far 600Euros. Very nice law firm. Lamares, Capela & Associados. Diogo is great.
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Hi @marlon — did you find that your independent lawyers asked for a lot of changes in the contracts IAS sent over? I just came across this forum — I’ve signed the paperwork given the urgency of the program ending now but haven’t yet transferred funds. So I’m wondering whether I should do a separate legal review as you’ve done.
Hi @ammae, great question! We are in a similar situation - severe time constraints due to the uncertainty around GV and working with Mercan at the moment. We were told that they provide money-back guarantee and would issue a letter stating such. Did you by any chance review that letter? Or is it part of your contact with Mercan?
Hi Portugal22 ! So the investor agreement I received has very clear buyback clause. There is a section that states that the Investor has the right to oblige Mercan to repurchase the Share and Mercan has the obligation to acquire the Share if any one of the 4 conditions are fulfilled
- rejection of ARI or for reasons not attributable to either party
- once investor acquires permanent residence permit
- acquisition of Portuguese nationality
- 6 years after the public deed has been exercised to acquire the share.
I’m not a lawyer but reading the contract, it actually seemed like there were protections in place for the investor. However, again, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know what to watch out for. I just assumed they had a standard contract for all investors. I didn’t even realize that people were getting second opinions and adapting the contract. So it’s new ground for me and I want to make sure before I send the funds, I’m not falling into any traps!
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I have read the Mercan agreements and I see some issues but it’s not clear to me whether you can successfully get changes to them.
Is anyone willing to share their experiences with the docs?
Anyone willing to share their concerns (other than the refund or buyback issues) from their reading of the docs?