PRACTICE AREAS
The Group has a deep and lengthy experience in mergers & acquisitions, with considerable knowledge and appreciation of the clients' business, as well as their commercial goals and needs.
The Group's experience spans various industries, including: telecommunications, fintech, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, energy, airport ground handling, infrastructure, broadcasting & mass media, and insurance.
The Group has a strong team of banking, foreign investment, securities and capital market lawyers. We have been assisting issuers, underwriters and investors in connection with the issuances and offerings of debt, equity and equity-linked securities. We have been involved in numerous public offerings and loan and bond syndications as well as structured financing transactions. We have assisted clients in the listing of their shares and corporate bonds with the Philippine Stock Exchange and Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.
We give advice to public companies with respect to disclosure and reporting requirements under Philippine securities laws. We assisted clients in obtaining the necessary approvals or notices for their employee stock option plans and stock grants. We acted for a bond issuer in the simultaneous redemption of their bonds and consent solicitation for the amendment of their bond covenants. We are also assisting a client in its tender offer for shares of a publicly listed company.
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In drafting its 2017 Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Investment Company Act, the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission considered and adopted our major comments to the said rules.
The Group provides legal advice on regulatory and compliance matters to companies engaged in digital banking, e-money, and online financing. Our team also has competency in applying for e-money licenses with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, as well as in preparing anti-money laundering & terrorist financing manual, and the required operating manuals.
The Corporate Group has a strong team of banking, foreign investment, securities, capital market and transaction lawyers. The Group handles debt, equity and equity-linked issues and public offerings. It has acted on equity and debt public offerings and listings, equity-linked issues, term loan agreements, and project finance facilities for Philippine companies.
The Group has also been active in numerous M&A deals in various industries, and is constantly tasked by clients to assist them in their transaction structuring as well as internal corporate restructuring.
The Group likewise advises clients on anti-trust laws, banking laws, insurance laws, and data privacy issues.
The Tax Group is one of the strengths of the Firm. It is headed by a past President of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines and counseled by a pre-eminent practitioner who was the Managing Director and Head of the Tax Division of SGV and Co. The Group handles all legal aspects of income, business, estate and transfer taxes imposed by the national government, as well as business taxes imposed by local governments.
The services rendered by the Group include corporate planning for business entities to minimize income and business taxes, as well as estate planning for individuals to minimize income, donor's and estate taxes.
Other services include conduct of tax audits; preparation of tax returns; study of tax aspects of corporate organizations or reorganizations; counseling on tax treaty implications/applications; and advice on proposed tax legislation and preparation of position papers. Members of the Group have wide experience in appearing before and dealing with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Court of Tax Appeals.
The Energy Group has developed considerable experience and expertise in this field especially in recent years. The Group has represented the leading power distribution companies, power generation companies, and oil companies. It has a played a significant role in the privatization of the power generation and supply sector in the Philippines (including the formation of joint ventures and acquisition of energy companies), and has acted on financing of energy projects in the country.
The Group handles various energy regulatory applications, such as applications for permits and licenses, applications for authority to develop, own or maintain point-to-point limited facilities, applications for approval of rate revisions, power supply agreements, non-electric and electric capital projects, ancillary services procurement agreements, annual revenue requirement and performance incentive scheme, reclassification of sub-transmission assets, and business separation and unbundling plan, among others. The Group has wide experience in appearing before the Energy Regulatory Commission and regularly deals with its various departments and divisions
It has also advised on legislation for privatization, regulatory rules for the power industry and contractual arrangements underpinning the electricity market.
The Intellectual Property Group represents clients in all aspects of intellectual property protection. The group handles patentability and infringement investigations; registration of trademarks, patents, copyrights, technology transfer and licensing agreements; and patent and trademark infringement litigation. It has participated in the fight against trademark infringement, counterfeiting, piracy and unfair competition to protect legitimate holders of industrial and intellectual properties. Its members are active in national as well as international associations involved in the protection of intellectual property. It represents clients in the Consumer, Household, Apparel, Cosmetics, Music, Entertainment, Fastfood, Telecommunications, Computers and Pharmaceutical industries.
The Litigation Group has vast experience in handling all legal aspects of filing, maintaining and defending civil and criminal cases in trial and appellate courts or administrative bodies. The Group has acted for individual and corporate clients in major commercial litigation of every kind, including petitions for rehabilitation, suspension of payments and liquidation of corporations, intra-corporate and stockholders' derivative suits, actions involving enforcement of contracts, cases for damages based on tort, and real estate suits. The Group also handles judicial or extrajudicial foreclosures of chattel and real estate mortgages, as well as judicial enforcement of other types of creditor's liens or rights. The Group is responsible for ensuring that a client's business objectives are realized and his commercial interests are promoted and secured.
The Labor Group is well-experienced and capable of handling all aspects management-labor relations, including the negotiation of Collective Bargaining Agreements. Its practice extends from the Department of Labor and Employment, the National Labor Relations Commission, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. The Labor Group has handled cases of dismissal and suspension of employees, money claims, strikes and lockouts, negotiations of collective bargaining agreements, petitions for certification elections, unfair labor practices, and even labor-related civil and criminal cases.
The TMT Group has vast experience in handling all legal aspects of securing and maintaining franchises and licenses to operate telecommunications and mass media companies. The Group likewise has lawyers well-versed in technological advancements and the applicable regulatory laws, and regularly advises companies engaged in online banking & financing, as well as e-commerce.
The Immigration Group has sufficient experience in handling all legal aspects of securing employment, investors, treaty traders, retirement or permanent resident visas in the Philippines. Its clients include technical consultants and country heads of multinational corporations. Among the specific matters handled by the Immigration Group are: acquisition of Philippine citizenship; general counseling on immigration matters; processing of applications for various visas, including temporary visitor, treaty trader, student, pre-arranged employee, quota and non-quota immigrant, special non-immigrant, special investor resident, retiree, multinational regional headquarters employee, offshore banking unit employee, special work permits, alien employment permits, alien employment registration certificates, alien certificates of registration, re-entry permits, special return certificates, emigration clearance certificates, and similar documents.