About

Founded in Italy in 1948, ButanGas currently stands as one of the largest liquefied petroleum gas distributors in Europe. The energy company currently consists of 15 branches, 10 operating units and nine large products storage bottling facilities, operating across Italian territory. The ButanGas legal function is led by legal affairs manager Matteo Cimenti and is made up of four lawyers dedicated to enforcing the ethical standards of the company. ‘We are driving an ethical approach to business, customer and people management; this also means that we will enforce controls and sanctions against colleagues with different, unacceptable ethical standards’. Due to the difficult oil and gas market in the region, the team has been expected to produce better results with minimal budgets with a more efficient and more focused approach. To combat these challenges the team has been behind many innovations and changes throughout the function which include new standard contracts and most importantly they have introduced and promoted a culture where the legal team is a partner for all offices in the company. The team has also introduced a new approach to external lawyers and developed a database and software for the management of processes and debt collection. On how they achieve these new systems Cimenti stresses the importance of operating with utmost transparency: ‘We are open, every information will be shared, any mistake will not be hidden but managed, we implement a direct approach, no lies, any opinion will be clearly and openly expressed’. When looking at their most notable transactions Cimenti mentions a competition case with the Italian Authority and acquisitions, which was managed with ‘minimum support from external lawyers and with very good results’.