Key team members:

Filipa Salazar Leite, Legal and Compliance Director

Duarte Abecassis, Compliance Officer

Nuno Magalhães Barros, External Lawyer

Ana Cristina Brás, Trademark Registration Specialist

Cristina Guincho, Debt Collection Litigation

Raquel Bártolo Andrade, Trainee Lawyer

Team size: Six

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

Over the past months, one of the most significant undertakings has been the design and implementation of a robust compliance programme with particular emphasis on antitrust and anti-corruption. As part of this initiative, we developed and delivered a tailored training curriculum for all employees, reinforcing best practices, clarifying red-flag scenarios and embedding clear reporting channels. By equipping our teams with practical guidance and real-world case studies, we have been focused on strengthening our culture of compliance to ensure that every colleague understands how to identify, escalate and resolve potential risks before they escalate into legal issues.

How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company?

Our legal team supports every business unit from project inception, shaping deal structures, commercial terms and market-entry plans to align with corporate objectives and mitigate risk.

Far beyond traditional advisory roles, we serve as proactive enablers of sustainable growth. By embedding legal expertise throughout our value chain, from navigating production permits to packaging/labelling and structuring distribution, marketing, and sales contracts across the world, we support the business to move swiftly and securely.

Our legal team provides trusted counsel on a vast array of complex matters, directly supporting strategic decisions by identifying opportunities within the legal framework and mitigating risks that could derail progress.

Central to our mission is the vigilant protection of our most valuable assets: our brands and trademarks. Through continuous global monitoring, strategic registrations, and decisive enforcement, we neutralise threats like trademark violation and design infringement worldwide. We have a proactive culture of compliance across antitrust, data protection, anti-corruption, environmental regulations, and intellectual property. By transforming complex legal frameworks into clear business solutions, we preserve the company’s integrity and empower every team to innovate with confidence.

What are some of the biggest legal or regulatory challenges currently facing your industry, and how is your team preparing to address them?

The food and beverage sector confronts legal pressures at every stage of our production chain, where compliance is non-negotiable. Chief among these is the relentless evolution of environmental and sustainability rules, from EU mandates on packaging recyclability and extended producer responsibility to carbon-footprint reporting, water-use limits and supply-chain due diligence. These requirements ripple through every activity, from sourcing sustainable raw materials and optimising energy and water-efficient production processes, to designing compliant packaging, managing logistics and shouldering end-of-life responsibilities.

Competition authorities are growing increasingly vigilant toward potentially restrictive commercial practices, and we have been responding by being demanding and vigilant, strict in risk detection and training in these matters.

Equally demanding is the global protection of our intellectual property. Safeguarding our brands, trademarks and proprietary recipes, with diverse enforcement regimes, calls for constant vigilance and swift action. To meet all these challenges, our team tracks regulatory developments worldwide, assesses their impact on our unique production chain, and tailor dynamic compliance programs across all levels and functions. By embedding robust controls, clear reporting lines and regulatory tracking, we ensure that we move forward confidently, efficiently and in full compliance.