John Rigau joined PepsiCo in 1992 after initially spending two years at the Barcelona office of Baker McKenzie. After gaining experience in Mexico and the US, Rigau was invited to join the company’s Spanish office to create its in-house legal function. Over the following decades Rigau has held a number of accountabilities at the company, including the legal responsibility for PepsiCo Restaurants (Pizza Hut and KFC) for South Europe and Northern Africa, PepsiCo Foods Continental Europe, PepsiCo’s M&A expansion into Eastern European markets and the board membership in various European operations and joint ventures.

Currently employed as PepsiCo’s general counsel for Western Europe, Rigau holds the responsibility for 15 European markets and manages a team of lawyers based in Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Barcelona, as well as PepsiCo’s corporate and government affairs for Spain, Portugal and Italy. During his time at PepsiCo Rigau has developed and coached an ‘efficient and business oriented’ legal team of over 16 lawyers across Europe, who are said to possess a ‘deep understanding of the business needs and priorities’. Rigau has contributed to the integration of his legal team with the rest of the company with all senior lawyers in his team serving as ‘members of the executive committees providing strategic and legal support assuring things are done in the right and ethical way’.

‘Our lawyers focus their efforts to minimise risks without slowing down the pace of business and play a key role in all relevant transactions and business projects,’ Rigau adds. Other achievements in Rigau’s career in PepsiCo relate to his transactional work with sources pointing out his work on the acquisition of food businesses in Romania, Serbia, Poland, The Netherlands, Spain and France, as well as his involvement in competition investigations and complex pieces of litigation in numerous European markets. Particularly impressive has also been Rigau’s contributions to PepsiCo’s strategic alliances with Schweppes in Spain and Orkla in Scandinavia.