About

Karen Piddo started her career as an associate in private practice with a focus on commercial and corporate law, M&A and securities markets first at Carey, then at Alvarez Hinzpeter Jana and Eyzaguirre y Cia. She also spent some time in Sao Paulo, Brazil, working as foreign associate at Souza Cescon. After 12 years working at law firms, Piddo moved in-house as general counsel and compliance officer of Equitas Capital, a local asset manager, with investments in private equity and venture capital. She was involved in all the legal aspects of the whole cycle of the managed funds, from fund raising, investor relationships, investments in the portfolio companies and dealing with the different authorities with supervising powers over the asset manager, specifically CMF and Corfo. Currently, Piddo is the general counsel of MH Inversiones, the family office of the Matetic family, the shareholders of Viña Matetic, Aviasur, Aza, among other investments. At MH Inversiones, she leads an impressive in-house team in terms of professional experience and quality, working environment and the feeling of mission and purpose. She explains that before her arrival at MH Inversiones, the company ‘did not have in-house lawyer, so my first task was to organise a legal department and implement several processes, in addition to getting involved and giving support to the different investments of the group’. In the last year, Piddo has led on many major achievements, including the acquisition and financing, by one of the MH Inversiones portfolio companies, together with the Del Rio family, of Gerdau Aza, the Chilean subsidiary of the Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau, in which Piddo was involved in the later stage of the negotiation before signing. In the words of a nominator, ‘Karen Piddo knows how to deal with complex legal matters effectively. Even in an adverse environment, she has great leadership skills and a proactive approach to legal matters’.