About

Roberto Ladrón de Guevara, general counsel at MetLife in Chile, is an experienced in-house counsel with an impressive background and a wealth of experience, having been in his current role at MetLife since 2001. During the last 18 years, he has been actively involved in several initiatives and important corporate projects, including the due diligence process and legal advice that culminated in the acquisition of Compañía de Seguros de Vida Santander by MetLife; the constitution process of MetLife Chile Administradora de Mutuos Hipotecarios and MetLife Chile Seguros Generales; and the M&A of La Intermericana Compañía de Seguros and MetLife. In the last year, MetLife’s real estate area closed an important deal concerning in the acquisition of three high-standard office buildings in partnership with Toesca. In order to close this deal, Ladrón de Guevara and his team organised a non-redeemable investment fund expressed in quota shares, regarding which MetLife executed the quota subscription promise agreement, for a 20% of the total amount of the fund, US$14.5m, which will be paid to the fund through the relevant capital calls. Ladrón de Guevara worked with the real estate and tax management in the negotiation of this deal by establishing the conditions of the participation, as well as drafting the quota subscription promise agreement, and currently negotiating the terms of the acquisition agreement. In mid-2018, an agreement was reached with Sencorp through the purchase by MetLife of 40% of the shares of the New Developments I and New Developments II, companies belonging to Sencorp. This will result in around US$608m in investments and in about US$689m in sales for the next seven to 10 years, against approximately US$9.7m payment made by MetLife for the stocks in both companies. Ladrón de Guevara worked with the investment management office as well as external counsels, by reviewing all the legal terms of the proposals, and reviewing the drafts of the relevant stock purchase agreements. Ladrón de Guevara highlights that ‘the challenges for this year will be regulatory changes (laws and administrative regulation), so we have to be in the loop to be ahead on the changes in order to implement the same as fast as we can’. He is a diligent and supportive leader of the legal function at MetLife identifying that every day he is ‘training and empowering each of the members of the legal team in terms of decision making, in order to allow proactive and opportune legal advice to the company’. In the words of a nominator, ‘Roberto Ladrón de Guevara of MetLife is a very competent counsel who manages a broad range of issues. He and his team have the ability to negotiate and obtain consensus even in an adverse environment’.