|
| Publicar Publicidad Multimedia
The legal team of Publicar Publicidad Multimedia, parent company of Publicar & Gurú Group, is composed of six lawyers led by Andrés Pérez Velasco, who is the company legal vice...
The legal team of the vice presidency of legal affairs of Publicar Publicidad Multimedia, parent company of Publicar & Gurú Group, is assembled by six lawyers and is led by Andrés Pérez Velasco, who is the legal vice president.
The vice presidency of legal affairs is in charge of the legal management of the group, in Colombia and in the countries where there are operations, such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico and Spain.
Key team members:
Andrés Pérez Velasco – legal affairs vice president of Publicar & Gurú in the eleven countries with operations. The legal matters are coordinated from Colombia.
Fabián Díaz Hernández – responsible of legal corporate matters for Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Juan Sebastián Gómez Latorre – responsible of legal matters for Colombia.
Agustina Borio – responsible of legal matters for Argentina.
Cristian Andrés Muñoz Gatica – responsible of legal matters for Chile and Peru.
We have participated in the acquisition processes of new companies for the group in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and in the divestment of the company in Brazil. The legal team assumes the direct control of the legal matters of Publicar & Gurú Group, with presence in eleven countries: Panama, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Spain. In addition to advising the entry to the Uruguay and the Dominican Republic countries. On this basis is highlighted the following implemented changes:
A measurable strategy was defined to prevent contractual and extra-contractual damages of the entity in order to reduce the number of contingencies of the company.
A risk management policy was harmonised in the countries with operations of the group oriented to an appropriate judicial management.
A value generation strategy was developed to obtain resources for company based on contractual renegotiations with partners, suppliers and third parties, while identifying legal, regulatory and tax opportunities to add value to the business.
The structure of the area was redefined and reduced, outsourcing an important part of the legal services to external firms.
The information collecting process of 1800 legal proceedings located mainly in Brazil was put forward.
From the implementation of the defined policies, savings of US$40m have been generated in lower cost as a result of the renegotiation processes. This has generated a value for US$5m from the opportunities that the regulation offered and that had not been implemented, something that was advanced with the support of internal and external lawyers and a judicial management that has allowed us to have in the last five years more than 210 judicial decisions in favour of the company in Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador, amounting to US$18.5m.
Additionally, we have implemented a scheme that we have called ‘legality by design’ to better modulate or manage operational risks from project planning or decision-making at any stage, without causing trauma or internalities or at least decrease them. This has allowed strengthening the culture of respect for the law, betting on the prevention of damages in the operation of each one of the Group’s activities, which also means a better relationship with interest groups especially our customers.
In the same way from the advice to the internal operation, we have identified opportunities for improvement that we communicate to all the areas involved, to generate learning and promote corrective actions.
The company focuses a large part of its operation on local searching businesses based on printed advertising telephonic guides. However, the company is now challenging the aforementioned and is working towards a transition from that printed-market to a digital one.
This has determined the transformation at a very fast pace for the company from various perspectives of human management, processes, technology, marketing and product design with the purpose of designing a portfolio of products and services that respond to the needs of a market characterised by a plurality of competitors and products, in which consumption reaches the faster speed.
Therefore, the focus of the company in the next twelve months will be to consolidate it’s more than 60 years of presence in the markets of Latin America and Spain, define new products and services that are in-line with the trends and needs of the market and increase sales and the growth of customers. In such circumstances, it is clear that the transformations intended by Publicar are moving towards being an agent in the digital economy, and having relevant legal implications for the business, that are looked at by the legal team preventively to ensure that the portfolio of products marketed by the company are respectful of customers rights. This preventive measures will allow Publicar to position itself as one of the most important providers of digital advertising in the eleven countries in which it develops its economic activity.
Technology has been a vital tool for the legal management of the organisation, especially to coordinate all legal matters with internal and external lawyers between the eleven countries where we operate, where borders and distances are not an impediment to carry out meetings, to attend hearings and to respond to the requirements of private or state entities, among other activities.
