About

Grupo Bimbo is a Mexican multinational investment holding company engaged in the production, distribution and sale of bakery goods, and is Latin America’s second-largest food company in terms of revenue. As general counsel for the company, which has almost 130,000 employees and global annual revenue of around $14bn, Luis Miguel Briola heads a highly regarded legal team that works closely and effectively with the company’s diverse business operations. After extensive work in obtaining the necessary approvals from both Spanish and Portuguese competition authorities, the legal department helped complete Bimbo’s acquisition of Panrico S.A.U. in Spain and Portugal for $209m in 2015 – a transaction that supports the expansion of Bimbo’s presence in Iberia. Members of the team are particularly skilled in M&A matters, having completed the acquisition of Canada Bread (for $1.7bn), Saputo Bakery (for $100m) and Italian Home Bakery in the space of 18 months. After eating hazards were found in the company’s Entenmann’s brand brownies and muffins in 2016, the legal department and other operational units acted swiftly to recall products in 34 US states to mitigate further risks for consumers and the company. The same year they assisted on the purchase of General Mills for an undisclosed fee in a transaction that includes General Mills’ ‘bakery and food service business and all associated facilities, equipment, land and inventory in Argentina, as well as employment contracts for the production and salaried staff’, according to one source.