What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In 2021, we were part of many interesting projects. Without hesitation, the biggest and most challenging project of that year, was related to a M&A transaction between PepsiCo and Georgalos, signing a commercial agreement for Georgalos to finally acquire 100% of the shares of Alimesa. It included the transfer of a production plant located in the city of La Rioja and the Toddy and Zucoa brands in both Argentina and Uruguay.

Do you use any “legal tech” products and do you find them a helpful management device?

Absolutely. Technology is an ally to our work, making our day to day a lot easier. We use different programmes. We have a contract tool that run the whole process, starting with procurement team, who complete some blanks to make sure that the legal department gets the right information and can decide and elaborate the first draft until the final version. It also helps to keep track of expiration dates.

Additionally, we have recently designed in the legal department, a bot who can automatically help our internal clients with some requests, as for example, legal documentation, such as powers of attorney, corporate documents, among others. It can also answer some recurring questions that do not need any further analysis, simplifying and making it easier and faster to solve everyday demands.

How much influence do you, as a general counsel, have on the diversity and inclusions policies of your organisation?

Diversity and inclusion are central topics for PepsiCo. We run a whole campaign each year to raise awareness on the importance of diversity. Personally, as general counsel, I am ambassador of this campaign and participate actively in some forums where we talk with volunteers about concerns and share ideas to keep on developing our company as a leader in this area.

Human resources and communications teams are best partners, not only to make sure we are an example on inclusion and diversity, but also that we promote, respect and celebrate all individualities.