About

Formerly the animal health division of Pfizer, Zoetis, the largest producer of medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock in the world, became an independent company in 2012. Zoetis’ current legal director for Latin America, Juan Pablo Malfavon, led the legal aspects of the spin-off and subsequent IPO, an offering that was received favourably by the market and has seen the company’s shares climb from an initial offering price of $26 a share to around $62 as of summer 2017. For Malfavon, however, the work is still ongoing. ‘When it was decided that we would separate the animal care division from Pfizer we of course knew it would not be a simple thing to do. There are many stops along the way and you’re always thinking about how to proceed. As a lawyer, you are dealing with this kind of thing for many years, but the company has performed incredibly well and that is a sign that we got things right’. Malfavon was well prepared for the rigours of the deal, having previously been involved in Pfizer’s sale of its consumer division to Johnson & Johnson in 2006 and its acquisition Wyeth for $68bn in 2009, one of the largest integrations ever completed in the pharmaceuticals sector. While Malfavon’s experience in pharmaceuticals has proved useful, subtle but important differences in the animal healthcare sector have presented him with new challenges. For example, documenting transactions can prove difficult at times. ‘There are a lot of verbal agreements between vendors, suppliers and the major buyers of medicines for animals in this region. We are trying to change the way of doing business in the sector and I spend a lot of time now looking at how we can influence practices in the field to encourage modern practices among the major buyers, but it can be difficult when the customer is a large farm in a remote region. That means the job of lawyer is key’. Malfavon has also been busy setting up the Latin America legal and compliance function at Zoetis, which largely inherited Pfizer’s geographical footprint. A team of two lawyers based in Mexico and a paralegal in Argentina supports him in overseeing a region which generates around a quarter of Zoetis’ total revenues. Following a restructuring of the legal team, Malfavon has been focusing on compliance training. ‘Throughout my career I have looked to build new and better ways of making compliance part of the operating culture’, he says. ‘In 2004, during my time at [the Mexican subsidiary of] Abbott, I created the organisation’s compliance policies and implementation framework. What excites me about it is finding ways to train and educate the sales teams about compliance, to help them understand the importance of compliance and explain why we have all these practices. It is about creating a fair market where we ensure everyone gets the best products, not the most promoted products. That’s why we need to care’. Before taking up his New Jersey-based role at Zoetis in 2012, the majority of Malfavon’s 20 year in-house career was carried out in Mexico, including working at the Mexican subsidiary of Abbott Laboratories and as Latin America regional counsel at Pfizer in Mexico. He has also worked for Colgate Palmolive, General Motors and Philip Morris.