About

‘A great all round lawyer, practical, careful and engaged with the issues’, Pedro Mariani is general counsel for Brazil’s leading drinks company, Ambev, a global player that is regarded as ‘truly cutting edge’ (‘the king of logistics and monster of efficiency, it really drives profitability’). Mariani was ‘a key player in the original tie up’ of AmBev with InBev in 2005, a merger facilitated by a unique cross-ownership structure. Since then he has continued to be involved in both local and regional acquisitions as the company has expanded across Latin America, with one admirer noting that ‘not only is he a hands-on general counsel with an impressive breadth of expertise across many different practices’, but ‘he seems to be personally involved in all the major matters of the company’. His former experience includes experience at mining giant, Vale (then CVRD), and, while accustomed to major transactions, ‘he has the patience necessary to deal with those who are not.’ Indeed, admirers highlight ‘his ability to relate positively to the other side during discussions’, regarding him as ‘a nuanced and flexible negotiator,’ but also one ‘who can deal with the toughest issues and the most difficult people’: ‘he can be an iron fist in a velvet glove’. Concurrently, he is also identified as ‘a fantastic mentor’, who has built ‘a very capable team of very young and dedicated lawyers that he has hand-picked and trained with passion and dedication’ and whom ‘he pushes to give their best’. As one international lawyer summed up, ‘he’s tremendously efficient, dynamic and capable; he digs deep so as to understand the issues but is not afraid of decision taking and all this means he is a pleasure to work for’.