How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?   

I think that managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, as an in-house lawyer, requires you to be very proactive and to have a comprehensive approach, considering not just the legal aspects but all aspects of the business. It is almost mandatory to think outside the box to find solutions that reconcile the necessities of the business with the legal requirements and to keep calm to be the base that gives confidence to all the interest groups. 

To do this, I would say that it is important to consider the following: (i) identify the legal risks including not only the contractual obligations, regulatory aspects, litigation, etc., but the potential risks for the directors and shareholders. Also consider the reporting obligations, for example to the investors or authorities; (ii) after identifying legal risks, it is necessary to do an integral assessment including the financial, commercial, etc areas to determine the impact on the business; (iii) plan and implement: have a legal plan to work in all affected fronts, determine the level or urgency to act and start with the implementation of the plan; (iv) coordination of the legal and business areas and communications: meetings and communications with all the areas throughout the crisis for all to act in a coordinated way; (v) document keeping: the company should keep the record of all the actions, plan management, communications, to answer any future request from authorities or internal reporting. 

What are the main cases or transactions you have been involved in recently?  

The main transaction I have been involved in during the last year, still ongoing, has been the structuring and implementation of a private equity fund secondary transaction (GP-led secondary transaction). This transaction consists of the sale of one or more of the portfolio companies of the fund to a new fund formed by new limited partners. The general partner will continue to manage the portfolio and there will be a combination of former investors and new investors, giving a liquidity option to the ones that do not want to continue in the fund. The company is seeking to continue to maximise the value of the assets as opposed to selling them with significant loss to the investors. 

This transaction is not common in Colombia, in fact, we are doing the first private equity secondary transaction, which has been a real challenge and a road of ups and downs and constant learning. 

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?   

As a private equity fund and investment manager, Altra has developed policies related to sustainability practices that must be implemented by all the companies of the portfolio. These policies are constantly revised and there is a permanent follow-up on implementation as well as reporting to the investors. 

As a legal counsel I have taken a proactive position not only by communicating the policies to the companies but also by knowing their operations to be able to implement the policies in practice, in a coherent way according to the business.    

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?   

I would say the most significant technology is artificial intelligence. It is crucial to learn to use it and incorporate it in the legal functions to be more efficient and use time to really add value to our work.