Team size: 120

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

My legal department normally works simultaneously on 10-12 M&A transactions in different countries. As a way of example, we recently acquired 100% interest of The Fresh Market in USA and we are working on several transactions that cannot be disclose at this time. We also worked on the renegotiation of a USD 950 million debt originally due in 2017 with bondholders in Chile and USA. In terms of construction projects, we are advising on a full range of Cencosud shopping centres involving at least USD300 million. In connection to that, we participate in the acquisition by Cencosud of 51% of Plaza Central Shopping Center in Bogota, for an amount of US$124 m.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

Yes, I have been general counsel in the following industries: Financial Services, Cosmetics, Forestry, Mining, Retail. It is very unusual such a variety of industries. One particular interesting case or experience I had was to deal, from a legal perspective, with the collapse of a tailings dam in Belo Horizonte in 2015. It was one of the most complex environmental cases in the history of Latin America and involved a big range of areas of expertise (environmental, criminal, regulatory, litigation, construction, labor, etc). I was at that time legal vice president of BHP Billiton Latin America and the challenge was huge.