About

General counsel of the family-owned industrial conglomerate Grupo Gloria (which operates in the food and dairy, cement, sugarcane and sugar, paper, cardboard and transportation sectors), Fernando Devoto advises that much of the company’s success can be traced to its constant state of activity. ‘This growth has imposed much work pressure in our service areas with an average of two corporate M&A transactions per year, including what these imply for the negotiation and financing aspects. Throughout this constant growth we have not concentrated only in one unit of business or country but have also implied a diversification of the Group both in other countries in the region and in other business lines’. Progressive by nature, Devoto is also proud of his championing of an equal working environment for all employees: ‘Looking forward and ensuring the legal department will have an adequate working environment for the upcoming years, I have been empowering women to choose the appropriate level of gender uniform in the corporation, as well as updating the shift onto a digital platform. I have also worked on increasing my teams’ capability in softer skills that will demand leadership in the near future such as perseverance, team work, empathy, tolerance and negotiations. This has had a strong impact on the overall company’. From a business perspective, Devoto has also had marked success with Grupo Gloria. ‘We have made two major acquisitions in our cement sector business’, he explains: ‘one in Bolivia worth $300m and another in Ecuador for $280m. The financing implied for both acquisitions was done through syndicated loans with commercial banks as well as through some local bond issues’. Through such deals, Devoto has earned acclaim from a number of nominating sources.