About

Roberto Batres, the legal manager at Ambev Centroamérica, has overseen a rapid evolution of the Guatemala-based team. Over the past eight years, the department has grown from a one-person function, to a team comprised of several employees that oversees compliance and corporate relations and affairs. In addition, the department has shifted its focus from being predominantly involved in preventative actions to actively contributing to business growth. Batres has played a vital role in this transformation by successfully overseeing the consolidation of the legal structure and thus enabling the company to do business more effectively in Guatemala. During his eight-year tenure at Ambev Centroamérica, a leader in the Central American brewing market, Batres has made a particular impression with his work during an important arbitration victory before the International Chamber of Commerce, related to the distribution of Mexican beer brands in Guatemala. His involvement ranged from the planning of a legal strategy and coordination of internal and external counsel, to the execution of arbitration in both Mexico and the legal proceedings that arose in Guatemala’s legal team. ‘This was important, because Mexican brands today represent a significant part not only in terms of business and marketing results for the company’, Batres explains, ‘but also [affects] the strategy in the medium and long term’. Batres previously worked for three years at Guatemala City based law firm Carrillo y Asociados and for five years in the legal department of Grupo Financiero de Inversión (made up of Banco Americano (today Ficohsa) and Financiera de Inversión).