About

Operating in the highly regulated and constantly evolving Chilean market of pharmaceutical and consumer care products makes conducting business and formulating new strategies somewhat challenging from a legal perspective. In such circumstances, the role of Bayer Chile’s in-house legal department becomes even more crucial, as the company needs hands-on, legal expertise to accompany every facet of its multidimensional business. As head of the department Karin Ioannidis points out, in order to provide solutions, her team has had to grow ever closer to the rest of the company and act as a partner to the business, assisting on projects from their earliest stages, while working ‘as a team member, not just an advisor’. To maximise its already advanced role within the company, Ioannidis envisions a team that needs to be even more ‘compliant but flexible, and committed but also coherent’, all attributes that sources state her team already possesses. A good example of the team’s elevated position within Bayer can be seen in its involvement in the ongoing multinational mega-deal to acquire Monsanto. Whilst posing obvious challenges to the team, given the sheer amount of information that has been requested by the national antitrust authority, the transaction has provided it with an opportunity to showcase its superior expertise by explaining in detail commercial policies and the very specific peculiarities of the Chilean agrochemical market. ‘I believe we are very strong as a group,’ says Ioannidis when referring to her colleagues: Alberto Zink and Silke Thom. ‘They are both strongly motivated and are an essential part of the output of the legal department. They not only supervise legal and corporate requests but also trademark and IP issues’.