About

Domingo Valdés is one of the most outstanding general counsel in Chile. For more than 17 years he has been head of the corporate and legal affairs department at Enel Group in Chile – either at Enersis or in its current form as Enel Américas and Enel Chile. In this time, Valdés’ wisdom has supported the company through an amazing amount of internal restructuring as well as significant market and regulatory change. Valdés summarises the change that the utility company has undergone during his tenure: ‘Continuous M&A transactions changing the landscape and configuration of our group; takeovers and restructuring processes; finance operations here in Chile and in all the countries we operate; bonds issuance in Chile; American Depositary Share (ADS) and Yankee Bonds issuances in the USA; among many other transactions we could mention. To that scenario, we could add the constant changing in the regulatory framework that applies to our activity in each country we operate. Ceaseless changing in the electricity regulation, in the stock market regulation, in the corporate government regulation, in the financial and banking regulation and an always increasing demand of transparency and information on behalf of our shareholders and stockholders, is one of the most characteristic features of our times’. One of the landmark events for Enel in South America was a corporate reorganisation in 2015/16, which saw Enersis S.A. conduct a spin-off that ended with two publicly held stock companies, Enel Chile and Enel Américas. This has resulted in a double workload for Valdés as he is now general counsel, secretary to the board of directors and committee of directors for both companies. The way that he has taken this in his stride is indicative of his approach to his work life. Valdés believes that in-house lawyers, ‘must be prepared for every imaginable change of circumstances. The most demanding feature of in-house practice is the change itself. And the lawyers must be duly prepared for that challenge. I think that every challenge I have faced during all these years, has been tackled with a personal and professional disposition to flexibility, keeping the enthusiasm to assume new risks and maintaining myself and my team updated in the understanding of the environment and in the knowledge of the new tendencies that may come up or may have come up in the regulation and the law’. There is no doubt that Valdés has enabled the actions that Enel has taken in order to obtain its dominant place in the energy market, and his leadership has inspired the entire legal team. His connectivity with and understanding of the business is something that he has consciously sought to disseminate to other Enel lawyers – in fact he believes that he has ‘encouraged [Enel’s] lawyers to take some risks in order to acquire expertise and skills in other areas related to their respective practices, such as accounting, business, electricity operation, and so on’. As Valdés continues to advise, mentor and adapt he will remain a great support to Enel’s business strategy and to be one of the standout counsel in Chile.