What are the most significant cases and transactions in the LATAM region that you or your legal team have recently been involved in?

We start trading on BME Growth in 2021. Previously we carried out an internal restructuring with the creation of a holding company, called LLYC Partners, through which the Group’s professional partners manage their investment in the listed company. Before that moment, the professional partners were each shareholders of the existing company in the country in which they provided services, and with the listing we carried out an internal restructuring, with several share exchanges executed in cascade, by virtue of which, the partners exchanged their shares in the local companies for shares in the holding company. This involved complex work that mixed commercial, tax and labor law issues from different legislations and with a very tight deadline in terms of execution times.

The acquisition of the Mexican companies called BESO, the execution of which was closed at the end of 2021 and was carried out during 2022.

At a global level we have implemented a stock options system in which half of the beneficiaries are residents of Latam.

In Chile, we proceeded to the merger between our company in Chile and the subsidiary Factor C, after acquiring the part of the shares held by the previous partner of Factor C.

We have proceeded to restructure all the powers of all the Group companies to adapt them to the changes approved at the level of global firm policies.

This year we have managed to close an acquisition in the US, and we hope that next year we will be able to acquire more than one company in Latam and/or the US.

What are your organisations plans in the LATAM region over the next 12 months and how will your legal expertise help to achieve these plans?

Latam is a priority region for our Group and over the next twelve months it will continue to be, with great growth expectations in all the countries in which we are present, both from an organic and inorganic point of view.

We began trading on the BME Growth market in 2021 with the idea of raising funds to boost the company’s inorganic growth. This implies a continuous search for investment opportunities and targets that can become part of our group. In the next 12 months, the Group’s M&A activity will continue to be very active and Latam is a priority region for us.

The legal department is involved in the acquisition process from practically the first contacts with the targets, its participation becoming more and more intense as the acquisition process progresses. Over the next year, our help will be key in all acquisition processes that may be developed.

On the other hand, the organic growth of our business requires increasing participation from the legal department.

How do you adapt your legal counselling to align with the diverse business practices and customs of various LATAM countries?

In all the countries in which we are present, we have the advice of top-level law firms and we try to maintain fluid contact with them about the main legal news. In fact, we ask our local lawyers to include us in the legal alert mailing lists that circulate among their clients. If we consider any topic relevant, we try to discuss it with them and give feedback, if necessary, to the business directors of each operation. We hold regular meetings with the leading law firms in each country, to maintain close contact and stay up to date on the different legislative developments that are published in each country. Also we hold regular meeting with our financial department and our managers in each country to know their needs and to help business growth.

On the other hand, internally, the team of lawyers is informed of the issues that occur in each country, but each lawyer takes the lead in certain countries, so that they can acquire greater knowledge of the legal issues of each legislation, although; each lawyer reports to me.

This allows us to know, in general terms, the main aspects of the countries in which we operate and to be able to take into account in our policies the peculiarities of each legislation.