About

Almost since the beginning of his legal career, Aníbal Prieto Larrain has been involved in energy deals and the construction projects of energy related facilities. Starting out as a private practice lawyer at Prieto & Compañía in 1998, he joined Engie (formerly GDF Suez) as a legal manager and chief legal counsel of the Chilean subsidiary of the company, where he has been working to date. Key highlights in his career include the negotiation of various EPC contracts and resolving conflicts associated with them, as well as participating the sale of 50% of Transmisora Electrica del Norte to Red Electrica de España. The latter deal was one of the most exciting transactions in Prieto’s career, as it was the first occasion that he worked in the selling team. He states, ‘the experience showed me the other side of the coin in these deals. I believe we got to agree a very good arrangement for both parties’. In addition, Prieto has had an active role in various negotiations of long-term (10-20 years) power purchase agreements with mining clients, as well as negotiations of sale and purchase agreements for the long term supply of natural gas. ‘This aspect of my career has been a great opportunity to participate in long and complex negotiations in which is pretty common to have different nationalities and cultures interacting. In these contracts I would say you really came to know the business,’ he says. Another major achievement in Prieto’s career at Engie has been changing the culture of Engie’s legal function. Apart from making the department less reliant on external counsel, Prieto has also integrated his team into the quality control process in the company, with every relevant contract and letter now being checked by the team to avoid mistakes. Education of business peers within Engie has been one of the keys to Prieto’s in-house success, and he believes that it is crucial that everyone within the company understands the benefit that collaboration with the legal team can create.