Norma Margarita (Norge) B. Patacsil is a founding partner at C&G Law. She heads the firm’s General Corporate Practice group. Norge’s main practice areas are Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As), Competition & Antitrust, Corporate & Commercial, and Foreign Investments.
Norge is ranked under Band 2 for Corporate M&A by Chambers Asia-Pacific and Chambers Global. She has been Chambers-ranked for M&A since 2018. Since 2018, Asia Business Law Journal has named Norge among the Top 100 Lawyers of the Philippines. According to Chambers: “Clients praise the quality of her advice, appreciating that she does not ‘just provide dry legal advice, but takes into consideration practical concerns as well.’”
Norge advises on share and property acquisitions and foreign and local investments, including joint ventures. She also conducts due diligence and other activities in connection with such acquisitions and investments.
Norge also advises on competition law matters. She assists clients with filings, investigations, and appearances before the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC). In 2021, 2022, and 2023, The Legal 500 ranked C&G Law’s Antitrust and Competition practice under Tier 1. C&G Law’s practice is also Highly Recommended by asialaw for Competition & Antitrust in 2022 and 2023.
EXPERIENCE
Mergers & Acquisitions; Joint Ventures; Investments
- Advised The Coca-Cola Company in its affiliates’ sale of 100% of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. to the joint venture of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Plc.
- Advised Ayala Land, Inc., the Philippines’ leading real estate developer and a publicly-listed member of one of the most prominent Philippine conglomerates, on a five-company merger with its affiliates. Two of the five companies are publicly-listed.
- Assisted in the merger of two publicly-listed companies.
- Advised Holcim Philippines, Inc. on the shareholders agreement for and restructuring of Holcim Mining and Development Corporation (a mining and landholding corporation).
- Advised on the Holcim Philippines, Inc. divestment (awarded by Asian Legal Business as the M&A Deal of the Year for the Philippines in 2019).
- In connection with the Stellar-Probe merger creating the largest and most diverse Australian owned customer experience outsourcing provider, advised Stellar on the sale of its Philippine BPO companies to Probe.
- Assisted in establishing a joint venture company between a member of a prominent Philippine conglomerate and a Singaporean company for the development and operation of data centers in the Philippines.
- Acted for the Philippine affiliate of a global, US-based food giant in its investment/joint venture with the Philippines’ largest restaurant chain relating to a poultry production and related facilities, as well as a landholding company.
- Assisted in the merger of leading global ship management companies by conducting legal due diligence on the Philippine affiliates of the Norwegian merger party.
- Advised on the Philippine aspects of a multinational medical devices group’s acquisition of Southeast Asian affiliates of the reputed largest ophthalmologic distributor in Southeast.
- Assisted a Japanese securities firm acquire a minority stake in a Philippine financial services company engaged in investment banking, financing, and securities brokerage.
- Assisted an Indonesian platform/technology company with legal due diligence on the corporate aspects of its Philippine affiliate.
Competition & Antitrust
Competition clearances for mergers:
- Assisted The Coca-Cola Company in obtaining PCC approval for its affiliates’ sale of 100% of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc.
- Assisted a leading real estate developer obtain PCC approval for its buyout of its foreign partner’s stake in their prominent condominium project.
- Assisted Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PCPPI) in obtaining PCC approval for Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. Ltd.’s tender offer for 57.78% of PCPPI.
- Advised leading Swedish conglomerate Altor and its Scandinavian counsel Mannheimer Swartling on a merger filing with the PCC. Clearance for the transaction was obtained.
- Confirmed with the PCC the non-coverage, from the PCC’s mandatory filing requirements, of a merger of related entities.
- Assisted a Japanese electronics company in its divestment of shares in its Philippine subsidiary and in obtaining PCC clearance for the sale.
- Assisted two American NASDAQ-listed semiconductor / electronics manufacturing companies with the PCC notification and approval of their merger.
- C&G Law assisted Ayala Land, Inc. and Royal Asia Land, Inc. in notifying the PCC of their proposed joint venture for the development of a 936-hectare property in Cavite, Philippines and in obtaining PCC approval for the transaction.
- Assisted a leading Chinese-European aircraft leasing company obtain PCC clearance for an investment by an affiliate of a global Japanese financial services company.
Other competition work
- Acts for an FMCG company defend itself against formal charges of alleged anti-competitive conduct filed before the PCC.
- Assists clients in PCC investigations including for alleged cartel conduct and abuse of dominance. Clients here include the Philippine affiliate of a prominent global building materials company, an international transportation company, and a food company.
- Assists clients with reviews of their employee guidelines, including dawn raid protocols, and contracts for compliance with Philippine competition law.
- Assists clients with internal audits and investigations to determine the client’s and its employees’ compliance with Philippine competition law.
Other Corporate / Commercial Work
- Norge has significant experience in various capital market, contract-based, land, mining and natural resources, anti-bribery and corruption, and regulatory issues. She has issued opinions for public offerings of securities. She handles the incorporation of companies and other investment vehicles and serves as corporate secretary of domestic corporations.
- C&G Law, through Norge, has acted as independent counsel in securities offerings by a real estate investment trust and energy companies.
- Advised a Chinese investment company on its multimillion-dollar loan to a Philippine nickel mining company. We assisted in the preparation of the loan, security, and royalty agreements and issued a legal opinion on the deal.
- Currently the Resident Agent of the Philippine branch offices of DOF Subsea Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., SolarWinds Software Asia Pte. Ltd., and N-able International B.V.
- While at SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan, worked on the initial public offerings of SM Investments Corporation and PNOC-Energy Development Corporation.
- Since 2008, Norge has been advising the Philippine subsidiary of an Australian mining company on various regulatory, right-of-way, litigation, and other concerns relating to is mining contract with the Philippine Government.
PUBLICATIONS
- Contributor, “Philippines: Overview”, Asia-Pacific Antitrust Review, published by Global Competition Review (2014, 2015, and 2016)
- Contributor, “Philippines: Capital Restructuring”, International Financial Law Review (December 2012)