Name of most senior in-house lawyer in your team: Marisalve Ciocson-Co (Chief Compliance Officer, SVP for Legal and Compliance, and Assistant Corporate Secretary).

Key team members: Atty. Jesusa Pizarro-Yam, Atty. Maria Francia Fatima C. Vistan, Atty. Marina D. Macaraig, Atty. Clarisa Agnes A. Timbang, Atty. Cynthia Lyn P. Millan, Atty. Jill Julie V. Genio, Atty. Ma. Anna Katrina E. Visda, Atty. Nina Mikaela S. Tacandong, Atty. Patricia Andrea O. Hernandez

Team size: 40

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Key transactions we have worked on are many and numerous, so we will outline just a few below:

The 2016 joint acquisition of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe) of the telecom assets of San Miguel Corp leading to a 50-50 ownership, the total enterprise valuation of which was estimated at P70bn. This transaction preserved the government’s option to enable a future player to offer telecommunications services, as unused spectrum assets were returned to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). Further, the aim of the transaction was to provide benefits to mobile internet customers, given the added capacities and greater geographic coverage that additional spectrum could provide.

The 2017 transaction wherein Alipay Singapore , Ayala Corporation (AC), and AC Ventures Holding Corp subscribed to shares of Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.(Mynt), the parent company of G-Xchange, which led to the burgeoning of the fintech double unicorn GCash. Notably, Mynt’s parent company is Globe Capital Venture Holdings Inc. (917 Ventures), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe.

Globe’s ongoing tower sale and leaseback transaction for its 7,000+ towers with various tower companies, with expected total proceeds of P71bn. It is the country’s largest ever tower sale and leaseback deal and has managed to keep Globe’s balance sheet healthy amidst a rising interest rate environment, as well as to expand its digital ecosystem.

The 2022 landmark joint venture partnership with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) and AC, wherein STT GDC and AC subscribed to new shares in KarmanEdge, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe, to house the carved-out data center business. This has cemented a powerhouse data center partnership, thus reinforcing Globe’s transformation into a leading digital solutions group to provide connectivity and solutions to power and enable a robust digital ecosystem for Filipinos.

The 2022 consolidation of Global Telehealth Inc. (KonsultaMD), HealthNow, Inc. (HealthNow) and APPPPS Partners Inc. (AIDE) into a superapp, revolutionising the healthtech play in the country. The companies altogether have an existing user base of over 2M.

The 2022 stock rights offer (SRO) of Globe for its eligible common shareholders, with proceeds of up to P32B, which was used to accelerate strategic initiatives in and beyond telco, fund investments for the mobile and broadband network, as well as the repayment of debt.

Could you please share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

In 2018, the legal team made history by being the first in-house legal team to implement Docusign in signing commercial agreements. This foresight served the team well in futureproofing because Docusign was already embedded in its process when the pandemic and the eventual lockdown hit the country.

As such, the team was fully operational, and the transition was so seamless that the legal team proceeded to negotiate and execute multi-billion-dollar transactions, despite signatories being all over the world, with these closing within seconds. Similarly in 2018, the legal team made use of an existing app in the company to create the Legal Contract Request (LCR). Before the LCR, all contracts reviewed had a cover sheet, which had to be routed for the manual signatures of each department that needs to clear the endorsement to Legal, including Procurement and Finance. This entailed a lot of time, legwork and manpower and depended on the presence of the authorised signatory. When the LCR was implemented and rolled out, approvals and endorsements from the pertinent departments became much quicker and convenient, as the authorised signatories can approve anytime and anywhere. Further, tracking the progress and status of the contracts is much more efficient and transparent, resulting in better accountability and governance. The LCR changed the workflow quality for the legal department and its proponents. The legal team repurposed an existing application and customised it to serve the legal department’s purposes.