What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

One of the most significant transactions our legal team was involved in during the past few years was the cash tender offer for up to $150m of our 4.50% Senior Notes due 2023; and two issuances of local bonds for a total amount of $570m. Recently, it has led the medium-term club deal with Banco de Crédito del Perú and Scotiabank Perú for up to $860m. The proceeds were used to pay the company’s short-term financial debts and the 4.50% Senior Notes due 2023. The in-house legal department has also obtained the ISO 37001 (Anti-bribery management system) for the company and subsidiaries. As a result, Pacasmayo was included on the Dow Jones MILA sustainability index for the third consecutive year and part of the sustainability yearbook for the second consecutive year. Moreover, Pacasmayo was awarded the Industry Mover distinction since we showed the greatest year-on-year score improvement in our industry and obtained local ESG recognitions from the Lima Stock Exchange and other entities. Finally, due to the exponential growth in cement demand, our legal team is currently involved in the company’s project to increase our production capacity and optimise our cement plant in Pacasmayo, which will replace equipment with new technologies to reinforce our sustainability strategy.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated innovation and technological advancements. It has rapidly proved to be game-changing beyond the needs presented by the pandemic. However, technology, cybersecurity and privacy are now implicated in most legal work. The role of technology in the workplace — remote working, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality — has increased to respond to limit in-person contact and further improve how in-house teams work and process information, reducing costs and increasing productivity. The lockdown has also revealed the importance of addressing improvements in healthcare, climate change, inequalities and ESG reporting disclosures. All these new trends have legal considerations and give additional challenges to general counsel to lead the way in addressing these recent trends and creating new work arrangements for work-life balance and mental health in their legal teams without neglecting the importance of other compliance, corporate governance, and ethical issues within the business and third parties.

What are some of the key developments – legal, geopolitical or otherwise – that have affected your business over the past year?

While the world’s legal and geopolitical environment is never stable, over the past year, it has been unprecedented. We had the Covid-19 pandemic, a new government in Peru, governmental corruption scandals, the Russia-Ukraine war, the subsequent increased cost of fuels and raw materials, and economic inflation.