LATAM countries your role covers: Ecuador, Peru, Panama, El Salvador, Chile, Mexico.

What are the most significant cases and transactions in the LATAM region that you or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Over the past year, the legal team at Satlink has aimed to support and address the corporate strategic objectives of consolidation and growth for the group as a provider of technological solutions for the maritime and fishing industry in Latin America. The company already has a strong presence in Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, and Chile. It should be noted that our team provides the group with a wide range of legal services, and in this context, it has been involved in various cases and transactions over the past year.

One of the most significant actions has been the creation of a comprehensive legal-documentary structure applicable to collaborators and agents in new locations. This development enables us to address the growth objectives effectively. As a result, a new structure has been established with the dual objective set by the team: ensuring legal security and providing real operational flexibility, thereby establishing truly practical tools for our colleagues in the commercial department.

At the corporate level, we also highlight the achievement of sole ownership of the Ecuadorian subsidiary, as it is no longer necessary to have two shareholders based on local regulations. This transaction has allowed Satlink to become the sole shareholder of this subsidiary in Latin America.

How do you adapt your legal counselling to align with the diverse business practices and customs of various LATAM countries?

From my perspective, there are two fundamental aspects that would apply to the adaptation of our counselling. On the one hand, and perhaps most crucially, is the purely human aspect. Technically impeccable consultancy would be useless if we do not approach it considering the idiosyncrasies of each place. Talking and connecting with internal clients and our colleagues on the other side of the Atlantic, is essential to not only understand the origins but also the potential hesitations or advantages of doing things one way or another. I truly believe that a corporate legal counsel is only a valuable advisor when they are also a supportive team member.

On the other hand, the excellence of the advisory will necessarily go hand in hand with having good technical allies at the local level. Additionally, in our case, we limit the external assistance provided to the team to a very select number of law firms and individuals in whom we have full confidence, based on previous and long-standing successful experiences.

What are your organisations plans in the LATAM region over the next 12 months and how will your legal expertise help to achieve these plans?

The legal team is fully aware of the need to support our group in its daily needs as well as in achieving the strategic objectives outlined for each period. For this reason, while our top priority is to provide appropriate legal advice on a general and local level, our status as part of a corporate entity reminds us of the need to align ourselves when it comes to prioritising one action over another. In this context, corporate efforts in LATAM are focused on maintaining steady growth, strengthening our presence and relationships – both with customers and collaborators – and opening new markets.

An ongoing and interesting initiative for the LATAM region is Satlink’s Project ReCon, a worldwide collaboration network between fishing companies and local partners to recondition fishing devices. The design and adaptation of the entire legal framework and the protection of Satlink’s role are key concerns for our team in relation to this international project. Therefore, this team will focus on providing the group with the necessary technical support for the deployment of its strategy and the implementation of new initiatives in LATAM. Likewise, we will make our best efforts as a team to maximise the knowledge gained in LATAM to enhance the support provided to the group in its decision-making process.