areas of practice

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M&A is a top specialization of the Firm and its lawyers.

Founding partner, Elmer B. Serrano, is known for his role in the consolidation and shaping of the country’s banking and financial sector, having advised on the merger of Equitable Banking Corporation and the then behemoth PCI Bank, and later, what turned out to be the largest banking M&A transaction of its time – the Equitable-PCI Bank and Banco de Oro merger – creating what is today the biggest bank in the Philippines, BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO). Over more than two decades, Atty. Serrano has been instrumental in the successful completion of one of merger or consolidation each year in the banking sector.

The Firm’s lawyers also have extensive experience in handling complex acquisitions, and are regularly tapped by publicly-listed companies in their acquisitions and strategic divestments of equity interests in subsidiaries and affiliates.

Banking and Finance is an industry and practice area specialization of the Firm. The unique combination of lawyer profiles and client roster of the Firm sets it apart from other leading Firms in the Philippines.  All the Firm’s lawyers have from the start of their legal careers been very involved  in the banking sector.  The Firm’s lawyers, over the years, have acted as counsel to numerous local and international banks, for some of the most significant loan transactions in the country.

The Firm’s lawyers have extensive experience in securities law and capital markets and have advised on some of the most notable equity and debt issuances and public offerings in recent years. 

The Firm handles a broad range of undertakings from debt restructuring, corporate restructuring to insolvency proceedings. As leading experts in the field and industry of Banking and Finance, lawyers of the Firm are also the counsel of choice to some of the most notable restructuring transactions in recent years. 

The Firm boasts a roster of leading real estate companies, not only in the Philippines but in the region, as clients. They also handle private partnership projects for the development and operation of commercial mixed-use projects and regularly advise on the acquisition of coveted landholding or leasehold rights in some of the prime spots in the country. The Firm’s lawyers were also counsel to power companies, real estate developers and have advised on multi-billion credit facilities used for the funding of projects.

The Firm’s lawyers have extensive experience in the trademark registration and inter parts proceedings with the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. Retained clients have engaged the Firm’s lawyers to process and handle the registration of their trademarks. Lawyers of the Firm also handled patent registrations for real estate and construction and multi-national manufacturing companies.

The Firm’s lawyers also regularly advising clients on trademarks and other intellectual properties in the course of handling deals and transactions.

The Firm regularly advise clients on projects and acquisition financing, drawing from their expertise and experience in the specialty areas of M&A and Banking and Finance.

The Firm’s lawyers are adept at public private partnership projects as an offshoot of their expertise in the fields of Corporate and M&A and Banking and Finance.

The Firm’s lawyers have been at the forefront as they saw the inception and evolution of competition law in the country. The Firm’s M&A lawyers are true practitioners of Competition Law, specifically Merger Control. The Firm’s lawyers have represented clients in all stages of Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) merger control processes – from pre-notification consultations, Phase 1 and Phase 2 review, and even voluntary commitment negotiations.