About

Based in Las Condes, Chile, SMU is a national retailer owned by wealthy businessman Alvaro Saieh. There are a number of well-known brands under the SMU umbrella, including chains of supermarkets under the Unimarc, OK MARKET and Telemercados names, as well as wholesale stores under the Alvi and Mayorista10 names. As a lawyer heavily praised for his skills in conducting due diligence for transactions and closing joint venture agreements, Mauricio Halpern Alamos was hired by the retailer in April 2015 to run its legal department. So far 2017 has been a very memorable year in Halpern’s professional career, as he participated in the finalisation of the $200m initial public offering of the company in Santiago. This transaction is the second following Lipigas, in November 2016, to take place after a four-year drought in the country. Before moving to the retail sector, Halpern spent four years as the Chilean executive legal manager at Pacific Hydro, where he provided advice on a number of marquee renewable energy projects. Prior to that he worked at law firms Bahamondez, Alvarez & Zegers, Clifford Chance and Yrarrázaval, Ruiz-Tagle, Goldenberg, Lagos & Silva.