Team size: eight  

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?  

Having in mind that every period of instability or crisis is unique and has a variety of approaches, I tend to apply a basic but thorough method that helps es to go through the eventuality with caution, but confidence that we are undertaking the right path of analysis and activities. 

This method consists in four main pillars: 

Stay informed —  the legal team must activate a real time communication system within the team, with the other relevant teams and with the external counsels, under the company´s crisis protocol 

Compliance — no matter the crisis, legal team has to guarantee that the company is acting under legal and corporate policies standards. 

Risk Assessment — firstly, legal team hast to agree withcCompliance team and the management on how the crisis materialised a previously identified risk and how to approach it to mitigate any hazard or major impact. 

Documentation — every crisis needs thorough records under a structured documentation system. 

We always act under the premise that the company is stronger and bigger than a specific crisis or instability event, so it is important to not leave aside the business-as-usual legal duties during the crisis, and with this we also contribute to move forward to the crisis in a smoothly and resilient manner. 

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

On January 2024 we closed a M&A transaction, by which Alquería acquired one of the fastest growing entrepreneur companies in the Colombian snacking business (INADE SAS that commercializes Vitád products), contributing to the multicategory and multibrand strategy of the company. For this transaction, the legal team structured and executed the Share Purchase Agreement and the Shareholders Agreement with the remaining shareholders. 

We are also leading a corporate reorganisation project, by which the company is intending to optimse its 24 corporate vehicles to obtain operational, administrative and tax optimisation as well as a systematic reduction of the number of companies (corporate vehicles) for the next three years. This project involves (i) dissolution of companies, (ii) capitalisations, (iii) mergers, (iv) spin-offs, (v) changes in the intercompany operations model, among other strategies.   

As the corporate secretary of the board of directors of the holding company, we are currently structuring the Corporate Governance Code for the company along with the CEO and the shareholders. 

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?  

Alquería is the biggest certified B Corporation in Colombia. Certified B corporations are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy. As B Company, we work every day for a well-nourished population, with quality food for everyone, where the countryside is productive and sustainable at the same time and where the young people have better opportunities thanks to a better education.  

The company´s sustainability strategy gives to legal function a protagonic role as one of the enablers of the sustainability model; mainly with an ethical and exemplary corporate governance that guides all the decisions to fulfill the company´s ultimate purpose (“Nurture the future, transforming dreams into reality”). 

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?  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is for sure the most challenging emerging technology, having the most significant impact on the legal profession. However, I am a believer that AI will bring more dynamism and productivity to our profession, by giving laywers the opportunity to focus on matters that really add value to their profession and results. In Alquería´s legal team, we are conscious of this challenge and therefore we are trying to get the most out of it under the premise of confidentiality and responsibility. For this, we are continuously having training sessions on this matter given by our Intellectual Property external law firm. 

Having this in mind, we are internally developing three main systems that hopefully in the next months we will be able to integrate with AI: (i) litigation system, (ii) corporate governance system, (iii) intellectual property system, (iv) legal team service level agreements with internal clients.