Identified by nominators in this year’s research for ‘actively [contributing] to the company’s current success’, António Neto Alves has gained an invaluable experience since 2010 as general counsel of The Navigator Company. The Company is the largest paper pulp producer in the world and one of Portugal’s largest exporters and land owners with a presence in eleven other European countries, as well as Dubai, Morocco, Mexico, Mozambique and the US.

In the role he has recently led on the acquisition of a tissue company in Portugal and the divestment of a pellet mill in the US. Alves is also commended for the ‘innovative way [he] has organised the pool of lawyers that deal with group’s legal matters’, as that has been ‘the key to effectively managing the matters for which he is responsible’, according to the nominator. Alves himself says that ‘using existing human resources but streamlining their functions according to specific needs of the internal client’ is one of his key contributions to the legal department. Nominators shared a number of positive comments about Alves to share: ‘He is also very knowledgeable of the several legal markets in which the company operates and dedicates time in appointing the best external lawyers for a given matter.

Notwithstanding the strong support of his team and external lawyers, [his] hand’s on approach takes him to be involved in the most complex legal matters ranging from anti-trust law, finance, capital markets, M&A, property and litigation issues in the 17 jurisdictions in which the company operates always adding value to the discussion and the solution for a given legal problem’.

Before joining The Navigator Company, Alves spent eleven years as head general counsel and corporate governance officer of Jerónimo Martins Group and says building its legal department from scratch and contributing to its turnaround by advising on the divestments and then on the strategic investments made between 2000 and 2008 as a particular career highlight.