LATAM countries your role covers: Panamá, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Salvador, Chile, Colombia

Could you please share the most significant cases or transactions in the LATAM region that you or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Two of the most significant projects currently underway by Grupo Puentes, with active participation from its Legal Department, include the Red Maule Project in Chile and the Corredor de las Playas Project in Panama.

In the Red Maule project, the legal department provides comprehensive support across the bidding, awarding, and execution phases of a €600 million concession contract developed by Chile’s ministry of public works. This extensive project includes the design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure, along with the provision, maintenance, and replacement of medical equipment and non-clinical furniture for three hospital facilities in the municipalities of Cauquenes, Constitución, and Parral in the Maule region, accommodating a total of 368 beds.

In the Corredor de las Playas Project in Panama, the legal department is delivering assistance in the awarding and execution of a US$250 million public works contract focused on the design, construction, and financing of the Corredor de las Playas highway, a project spearheaded by the ministry of public works.

What strategies do you employ to ensure your legal advice is effectively aligned with the unique regulatory environments and cultural nuances of different LATAM countries?

Our main legal framework of action—public procurement in Europe and LATAM—and area of activity—construction of large infrastructures—implies a standardisation of applicable regulations and business practices, derived from the intervention of international operators and financiers in the project. In any case, one of the key elements for the legal department when we start a project in a country where we are not established is the identification and selection of a local law firm that will allow us, as a local partner, to develop our project in accordance with the jurisdiction in which it will be carried out.