Team size: 32

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

At the end of 2022, the SAESA Group invested US$1,403m in the purchase of 683kms of transmission lines and 57 substations located in the metropolitan region of Chile, sold by Enel Transmisión and minority shareholders. During the last 12 months, this transaction has undoubtedly been one of the most significant issues for all of us in the legal department. In the first stage, the challenge was the study and analysis of the company that was born as a spin-off of Enel Distribución as a consequence of the single business law, due diligence, public share offers for minority shareholders, and financing. The second challenge was related to the absorption and incorporation of more than 100 employees, 33 contractors with all their operations, contracts, and procedures to SAESA’s compliance rules, processes, and policies, which have been developed and implemented with particularly good results.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is essential. Transparency and integrity are non-negotiable values for us. We are the only Chilean company that has been recognised for four consecutive years – 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 – with the “commitment to integrity” award, a prize and recognition given by Fundación Generación Empresarial. This is an important recognition achieved with effective policies and procedures, strong corporate governance, training, and top-down commitment. So, when we choose contractors, consultants and, incidentally, external lawyers, we pay particular attention to their values and backgrounds, ensuring that they are fully aligned with our values and principles.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

The in-house lawyer has the advantage of having all departments and areas of the company as internal clients. They must be involved and study the complexities of the business and the requirements of each area and its processes in order to provide good advice. This allows them to have a cross-cutting view of the business, looking at the processes and their complexities from outside the box, and gives them a privileged position to facilitate change, promote it, and even take a more participative role as agents of change.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

Chile’s electricity regulation has undergone many changes in recent years, for example, the law on exclusive supply, the new system for setting distribution tariffs, the law on price stabilisation, new technical standards of the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels, among others, as well as the law on basic services enacted following the Covid-19 pandemic, which prohibited cutting off supply to vulnerable customers for non-payment of bills. All this new legislation requires constant involvement and decision-making with the company’s operational areas to coordinate criteria and decisions in the face of unforeseen situations, or grey areas that are not clear in the laws or regulations.

Furthermore, although they have not yet entered into force, we are already focused on the analysis, effects, and implementation in the organisation of laws that will cause a substantial change in the way we continue to practice. The laws that I am speaking about here are new laws on economic crimes and its effects not only on individuals and legal entities, but also adapting the crime prevention model of the law on criminal liability of legal entities, together with an update of the risk matrix of law 20.393 and the compliance policy. Additionally, there will be new laws on personal data and information security that we will need to take into consideration.