Head of Legal | ButanGas
Matteo Cimenti
Head of Legal | ButanGas
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
A very strict relationship between the Legal Department and the business lines is necessary to assure a complete information about the activities, prevent mistakes and violation of compliance. Moreover, it is necessary to adopt regular training activities to share the company culture, ethics, goals and view, so that in a period of crisis anyone can react and manage any situation.
What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?
We are busy mainly with acquisition of local competitors, to defend our sales and increase our market share in a market which is no more expanding. In the past year we have managed two acquisitions, and we are directly involved in the negotiations for other acquisitions, hopefully to be finalised before the end of the year.
How do you measure the impact of ESG initiatives on the company’s overall performance and reputation? What role does the legal department play in promoting and ensuring corporate social responsibility in your organisation?
In my view, ESG initiatives are extremely important in the company performance and reputation. However, there is a huge risk that any ESG initiative is adopted only in a formal way: ESG is a chance for the companies only if it truly reflects the culture and the ethics of the company. Otherwise, it’s just a lie and will fail. It also a role for the legal department to be an actor in this change of the culture and assure that ESG initiative are true and honest, and not just a formal action.