SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan

Banking, Finance & Securities; Special Projects; Litigation.

Arlene M. Maneja is a partner in SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan specializing in the practice areas of Banking, Finance & Securities, Special Projects, as well as Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

She has led due diligence teams in several high-value transactions and assisted in rendering regulatory, transaction and business advice in connection with, as well as in documentation of, deals involving commercial lending, acquisitions, investments and divestments, capital restructuring, project financing and corporate reorganizations in, among others, the real estate, public infrastructure, oil and gas, mining and power/energy industries.

Her recent projects include:

• Acquisition by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company of controlling interest in Digital Telecommunications Phils., Inc.;
• Acquisition by Century Pacific Group of substantial equity interest in Arthaland Corporation—a real property development company;
• Sale of South Star Drug, Inc., a chain of retail drugstores;
• Php 75 Billion Syndicated Loan to the National Food Authority;
• Php 75 Billion Syndicated Loan to the Power Sector Asset and Liabilities Management Corporation; and
• US$ 270 Million project financing of a 2x100 MW coal-fired power plant in Naga City.

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Prior to joining SyCipLaw, she was an associate at the Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako, the oldest law firm in the Philippines, specializing in the practice areas of labor and civil litigation. She represented clients in negotiations and litigations relating to collective bargaining agreements, downsizing and rightsizing activities, corporate reorganizations, employee termination and strike contingencies.

Ms. Maneja has taught Statutory Construction, Legal Research & Bibliography, Roman Law, Constitutional Law and Torts & Damages in the UST Faculty of Civil Law, as well as Constitutional Law in the San Sebastian College of Law. She has also delivered lectures regarding techniques in bar review and examinations, as well as arbitration.

Apart from legal practice, she has acted as consultant to a number of firms in relation to industry studies, feasibility and business plans, marketing and branding strategy, as well as business model formulation in the telecommunications, outsourcing, retail and technology industries.

Ms. Maneja obtained her AB Legal Management (1998, cum laude) and Bachelor of Laws (2002, magna cum laude) from the University of Santo Tomas on full scholarship. She ranked 1st place in the 2002 Philippine Bar Examinations and was admitted in the Philippine Bar in 2003. She also obtained an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management on full scholarship and attended The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania as an international exchange student.