We have acted as counsel in many of the largest investments and M&A deals in the Philippines, shepherding these transactions from initial structuring and due diligence to the preparation of shareholders agreements to the requisite regulatory processes. We are experts in foreign investments, and have helped the top global companies establish their businesses in the country.
One would be hard pressed to identify any business or industry where our firm has had no M&A experience. We represented the major telecommunications companies in the past decade’s wave of foreign investor interest in the telecoms industry, including First Pacific in its acquisition of a significant interest in the principal local carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. We have acted for most of the world’s largest cement manufacturers in their local investments, and continue to assist some of them in the integration of local interests as they reorganize globally. In the banking industry, we have participated in many of the major acquisitions and mergers, including the merger of The Bank of the Philippines Islands and Far East Bank & Trust Company, the PCIBank-IBAA merger, and the series of mergers among Manufacturers Hanover Trust, Chemical Bank, Chase Manhattan and JP Morgan, with JP Morgan Chase Bank as the surviving bank. In recent years, we have assisted in setting up most of the call centers now operating in the Philippines. In the water industry, we represent Vivendi and United Utilities; in mining, Western Mining and Sumitomo; in manufacturing, Hitachi; in pharmaceuticals, Wyeth and Abbott; in IT, Sun Microsystems; in power, we act for Mirant of the United States, and KEPCO of Korea. And these are only a few names in a sampling of industries.
Many of the businesses our clients are interested in are highly regulated. In most cases, each of the parties involved in the transaction has a complex set of concerns that needs to be resolved or provided for, before the investment can close. We are experts in being able to integrate these, focusing on the issues and coming up with innovative solutions.
For other practice highlights and a representative list of clients, see Articles & Bulletins.
