About

The Bogotá-headquartered Organización Corona is among the largest conglomerates based in South America. Specialising in the manufacture of ceramics for the home improvement sector, the company also operates six diverse subsidiaries and has presence in 20 countries. The legal department at the company has been a key and active player in Corona’s strategic transformation, assisting on a number of vital deals. Most recently, the legal department has worked on the structuring and set-up of a cement operation in Antioquia in a cross-border partnership with Cementos Molins from Spain. The transaction comprised facilitating the design of the investment vehicles and supporting all structured finance work. In the last four years, the team has also been involved in other marquee transactions, such as the cross-border acquisition of Labosa’s ceramic sanitary business in Mexico, the acquisition of a major part of the Incesa Standard Group in Central America and the investment made by Victoria Capital Partners Fund in Corona’s industrial business. As Corona has been expanding throughout the Americas, the legal department has developed key expertise in overseeing cross-border matters, enabling it to effectively support business divisions based in Mexico, Central America, the United States and Brazil, as well as its commercial offices in China. The team has also developed vital knowledge of changing international regulations, since compliance related work has been added to the team’s list of responsibilities. It has endeavoured to apply a preventive approach to compliance in a period of high scrutiny by regulatory authorities such as the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce and the Superintendence of Corporations. Of note has also been the team’s work to design and implement new anti-trust, compliance and intellectual property policies that provide strategic direction to the commercial activities of Corona, and to foster a compliant culture within the business. Led by Bernardo Avila, a lawyer with significant experience in complex business transactions, the team features several prominent professionals including Silvia Patiño, Francisco Murcia, Cristina Reyes and Gabriela Márquez.