About

Daniel Martínez González’s in-house legal career began in November 2008 when he joined Arca Continental, the second largest Coca-Cola bottler in Latin America. ‘I started as legal counsel doing literally everything’, he explains. ‘As we were [the] only two lawyers in the company, I had to attend to the day-to-day issues, collaborate with the creation of the foundations of the legal department of Arca Continental and address inorganic growth through M&A transactions’. Over the next eight years, Martínez has had the chance to contribute directly to the exponential growth of the company across Latin America by supporting a plethora of strategic transactions, the most recent of which was forming a $2.7bn joint venture with Coca-Cola Refreshments across Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru as well as Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas in the US. Equipped with substantial experience in the sector, as well as an MBA qualification attained from IPADE Business School, one of Mexico’s most prestigious educational establishments, Martínez took charge of the company’s legal function in South America. Working out of Acra Continental’s Peru office, Martínez oversees all legal matters relating to the company’s beverages and snacks business units in South America (Argentina, Ecuador and Peru), including business combinations, cross-borders transactions, corporate governance and general business law affairs. Besides supporting the company’s growth plans in the region, Martínez is in the process of implementing fundamental changes to the internal organisation of the legal department. ‘It’s a work in progress that is starting to show results,’ he states. ‘Recently Fitch Ratings has upgraded Corporacion Lindley’s (our Peruvian bottler) long-term foreign and local currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘A-’ from ‘BBB+’. The rating upgrade reflects Fitch’s view of further strengthening of operational, strategic and legal ties between Lindley and Arca Continental. Those legal ties are part of the work that we are carrying out’.