About

Rubén Henríquez Núñez started his career in private practice with Cariola, Diez, Perez Cotapos & Cía’s dispute resolution and arbitration department. From there, he moved to Grupo Saesa, a company engaged in electricity distribution and transmission, where he mostly dealt with regulatory matters. In 2013, he joined Australis as the legal counsel and regulatory affairs manager, his current position. Henríquez Núñez presided over the sale of the company in 2018-2019, which involved coordination and development of internal due diligence processes. He also managed the legal aspects of the environmental approval granted in 2018 to a salmon processing plant in the Magallanes region. The department completed the planning of the project in compliance with the most demanding environmental standards and presented it to the competent authorities. In 2017, it also closed a refinancing agreement with foreign banking institutions for over US$100m. Asked about the his approach to management of an in-house legal department, Henríquez Núñez identifies that, ‘the largest challenge when joining the legal department in a company is getting fully acquainted with their business from within, so that you can serve and offer support to all company departments. A key aspect in the development of our department has been the formation of an interdisciplinary team that consists of not only lawyers but also of high-level professionals specialised in technical matters, which enables us to rely on the expert knowledge that a department overseeing regulatory compliance must have in our days. This professional interaction has been pivotal in meeting our goals and in strengthening the comprehensive technical expertise legal counsels our company requires’.