How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

I see crises as opportunities for growth for organisations. For legal, compliance and risk management teams, they are opportunities to stand out in environments where usually other teams are called to shine brighter (such as the sales teams). To do so, it is essential to understand the company’s business objectives and make sure the team is fully aligned with them. Having the objectives in mind, potential risks need to be identified before they present themselves, together with periodically developing and updating potential crisis scenarios. Furthermore, outlining possible issues and action plans integrated with the organisation’s overall crisis management strategy is imperative. Once navigating crisis scenarios, teamwork and communication (both internal and external) are key, together with ensuring compliance and articulating with the different teams. In addition, together with legal expertise and know-how, strong leadership skills are required to keep the boat steady. 

What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?  

Our organisation is thriving, with a board of directors that is highly proactive in chasing innovative business opportunities as the most significant factor. In 2019, we went through an MBO process which resulted in the current directors becoming the major shareholders. Ever since, my team has been part of a couple of significant M&A transactions such as the purchase of the remaining shares of the company, the purchase of minority stakes in an investment adviser (smart investments), a business intelligence startup (Yhat), and the founding of an investment fund distributor (Davinci Trusted Partners), which quickly became a relevant player in the region. More recently, we lead a process where Investec, a renowned investment manager worldwide, became the new asset manager of a Luxemburg’ SICAV fund that is currently distributed by entities within our group (Golden Hind).  In the meantime, our client portfolio has grown exponentially as of 2020 and with strong growth projections for the upcoming years, placing our team in the spotlight to be as efficient as possible to keep up with the day-to-day business demands. 

What do you see as the major legal challenges for businesses in Uruguay over the next five years, and how are you preparing to address them? 

Uruguay is a small country that depends on foreign investments, in an international environment where the tendency is for global standards to continue becoming ever more stringent. Regardless of who will be the newly elected president in the upcoming elections this year, Uruguay shall very likely adapt to international norms (willingly or not), mainly in areas such as data protection, environmental, tax and labor laws. In addition, IA developments shall most likely impact our lives significantly, regardless of the country where we are located. In this context, investing in data security measures to comply with evolving data protection laws, and training collaborators about data privacy and cybersecurity best practices to safeguard against breaches and human error is crucial. Robust risk management policies and continuous market research to stay ahead of regulatory, taxation and economic trends that could affect business operations are also a must, together with developing and implementing flexible work policies that contribute to retain talent while ensuring compliance with labour laws.