Team size: Twelve

Jurisdictions your role covers: Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Macau

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

Over the past year, the corporate affairs and compliance team has played an active role in supporting several strategically significant matters across the Teixeira Duarte Group, acting from Portugal as a coordination point for other jurisdictions. 

A key area of focus has been the support of corporate restructurings linked to the group’s refinancing process, as publicly disclosed. 

This involved close coordination between shareholders, management, external advisers and local teams across multiple jurisdictions, with a focus on aligning corporate structures and governance arrangements with the financing framework. The corporate affairs team supported the preparation and implementation of the necessary corporate approvals and shareholders’ resolutions, while overseeing legal and governance aspects across jurisdictions. 

In parallel, as part of its recurring annual responsibilities, the corporate affairs team has been deeply engaged in the preparation and coordination of annual general meetings for the approval of accounts and corporate resolutions across the group’s core markets, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and Macau. This work involves ensuring compliance with local corporate law requirements, coordinating timelines and documentation across different legal systems, and supporting management and shareholders throughout the decision‑making process, with a strong emphasis on consistency of governance standards and transparency. 

As the holding company is a listed entity, the corporate affairs team has been closely involved in the coordination of the annual general meeting, the preparation of the Corporate Governance Report as part of the annual Report and Accounts, and the handling of ongoing disclosure and regulatory matters before the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM). 

At the same time, the compliance team has continued to strengthen and oversee the group’s compliance framework across jurisdictions. This has included the implementation and monitoring of the whistleblowing channel, handling of sensitive reports, and close coordination with management and other relevant stakeholders to ensure appropriate follow up and effective risk mitigation. 

Together, these activities illustrate a corporate affairs and compliance function that goes beyond transactional support, combining governance, restructuring expertise, compliance oversight and transnational coordination, and contributing directly to the group’s strategic, financial, and regulatory objectives across multiple jurisdictions.

How has the role of the legal function evolved within your organisation over recent years, and where do you see it adding the most strategic value today? 

The role of the legal function within the Teixeira Duarte Group has evolved significantly in recent years, reflecting both the growing complexity of international operations and increased regulatory and governance expectations. Functions that were historically more focused on technical or advisory support have progressively taken on a more strategic role, contributing directly to business and structural decision‑making. 

Within this context, compliance and corporate affairs have been brought under a closely aligned leadership framework, reflecting their natural convergence around governance, risk and institutional decision‑making. Today, these functions are involved at an early stage of key decisions, particularly in matters relating to corporate governance, group structuring, financing initiatives, and cross‑border risk assessment. 

Based in Portugal, the compliance and corporate affairs teams coordinate the group’s international activities, ensuring consistent governance standards across jurisdictions. 

The strategic value of these functions now lies in their ability to translate legal and regulatory complexity into practical, business-oriented guidance, anticipate risks, and support long term sustainability. In a multinational group such as ours, this requires not only technical expertise, but also judgment, cross‑border coordination, and the ability to align governance structures with strategic and financial objectives. This evolution has positioned corporate affairs and compliance as active contributors to sustainable growth, rather than purely reactive support functions.

In what ways has technology or process innovation changed how your legal team operates? 

Technology and process innovation have become essential enablers of efficiency, consistency and control across our corporate affairs and compliance activities. Given the size and geographical spread of the Teixeira Duarte Group – with more than 100 companies operating across multiple jurisdictions digital tools play a crucial role in ensuring that governance related information is accessible, reliable, and coherent at group level. 

In recent years, we have invested in the digitisation and standardisation of key corporate affairs and compliance processes, including governance management, compliance reporting, whistleblowing mechanisms, and document management. 

Process innovation has been equally important. Governance and compliance workflows have been redesigned to reduce fragmentation, clarify responsibilities, and improve coordination between corporate affairs, compliance, legal and operational teams. This has proved especially relevant in managing the day‑to‑day corporate lifecycle of many entities, ensuring that statutory obligations, approvals, and reporting requirements are met in a timely and structured manner across jurisdictions. 

Overall, technology has enabled a more structured and proactive approach to corporate affairs and compliance, strengthening oversight across a broad corporate perimeter, anticipating risks, and supporting consistent governance standards, while remaining closely aligned with the group’s strategic and operational objectives. 

What do you value most in external advisers working alongside your team? 

In external advisers, I value above all pragmatic judgment, responsiveness, and a clear understanding of the business context in which legal advice is applied. In a transnational environment, technical excellence is essential, but it must be combined with an ability to work across jurisdictions, anticipate risks, and deliver solutions that are both legally robust and operationally viable.

Long term trust, availability in critical moments and the capacity to engage as true partners to the internal team are key differentiating factors.