Despite the hardships of the pandemic, Latin America remains a region of promise for businesses and financial institutions seeking to expand their footprint, grow their customer base, and seize new opportunities. However, as the pandemic has illustrated, crises can emerge suddenly and unexpectedly. When that happens, the right preparation can mean the difference between success and failure.

To help leaders plan for and manage a range of complex and multifaceted crisis situations, for the fourth year, Sullivan & Cromwell has collaborated with Latin Lawyer and other global organizations and law firms to produce The Guide to Corporate Crisis Management, Fourth Edition. The Guide gathers the perspectives of dozens of lawyers and other crisis management professionals and presents practical strategies for business leaders across a variety of jurisdictions, disciplines, and practices areas. As these authors explain, the types of crises that can arise in Latin America are tremendously diverse and do not lend themselves to a “one size fits all” approach.

Drawing on their industry-leading expertise in crisis management and Latin America, S&C partners Sergio J. Galvis, Robert J. Giuffra Jr. and Werner Federico Ahlers served as editors to the Guide and authored an introduction on how to manage crises effectively. In addition, S&C lawyers authored three chapters.





1. Crisis Management as a Tool for Approaching Shareholder Activism, by Werner Ahlers and Sergio Galvis

• How companies and their directors in Latin America can draw on crisis management techniques and strategies from the United States to prepare for activist campaigns
• Why boards of directors of Latin American companies should reevaluate traditional shareholder relations models and responses, including recognizing that activists are increasingly pursuing ESG initiatives

• Why companies should consider aiming for global resolutions in multilateral investigations, and in which  circumstances pursuing a global resolution may not be the best option
• How companies can be prepared for multilateral investigations, including by making critical early decisions that can lay the groundwork for coordination at later stages

• Why business professionals and non-U.S. practitioners dealing with potential insolvencies of Latin American companies should consider whether U.S. law can provide them with useful reorganization tools
• How Chapter 11 proceedings or Chapter 15 proceedings under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code can support a home country reorganization
  
  Read our chapter

• Helping to deliver “a lifeline of aid” to health care workers and others in Venezuela during the COVID-19 pandemic, by pursuing a novel strategy that was recognized by the Financial Times in its 2021 FT North America Innovative Lawyers Awards, and led FT to shortlist LatAm practice head Sergio Galvis for its “Innovative Legal Practitioner” award.
• Advising Belize in a historic “Blue Bond” restructuring to support ocean conservation
• Advising the Interim Government and the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela on the future restructuring of Venezuela’s external debt and the debt of certain of its state-owned instrumentalities
• Advising Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation in the $2.2 billion pending sale of their collective 45% interest in Chile’s Sierra Gorda copper mine to Australia’s South32
• Guiding clients through crises and navigating companies and boards through the developments of corporate governance and shareholder activism
• Being the leading international law firm in M&A deals in Latin America, advising on the highest volume by dollar value in the last 10 years and , according to Bloomberg and Refinitiv
• Advising on close to 63% of the Latin American market’s sovereign offerings in the last five years, according to Refinitiv
• Representing more sponsors and borrowers on project financings in Latin America than any other firm over the last 25 years, according to Dealogic

• Latin Lawyer: The Guide to Corporate Compliance, Second Edition
• S&C Critical Insights – Practical Advice for Crisis Preparedness in Latin America – COVID-19 Update
• S&C Critical Insights – Practical Advice for Crisis Preparedness
• S&C Critical Insights – Communications Strategies for Corporate Crises – COVID-19 Update
• S&C Critical Insights – Communications Strategies for Corporate Crises
• S&C Critical Insights – Insights on Shareholder Activism?