Bio

Ricardo Jesus Gutierrez is a Partner and a member of the Firm's Banking, Finance, and Securities and Special Projects. His practice areas include banking and finance regulations, project financing, structured finance, mergers and acquisitions, investments, projects and energy, technology, franchising and distribution, and arbitration. Mr. Gutierrez regularly advises banks and financial institutions for regulatory compliance. He likewise advises clients on the regulatory requirements applicable to derivatives and repurchase transactions and is part of the team that prepares the opinions on the legal aspects of these agreements. Mr. Gutierrez also has extensive knowledge of financial technology regulations, such as those relating to online contracts, payments and banking, and has advised a significant number of financial institutions in this area, including merchant acquirers, online payment facilitators, electronic money issuers, credit card companies and online merchants. He has also advised companies engaged in the business of leasing equipment and machineries. Mr. Gutierrez likewise regularly advises foreign companies regarding their Philippine investments and assists them in setting up local branches and subsidiaries. His corporate projects include establishing the Philippine branches of foreign banks and the representative office of a Swiss bank. Mr. Gutierrez is part of the team that handled the applications and liaised with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Mr. Gutierrez participated in a number of global acquisitions and advised clients in connection with the Philippine aspect of the transactions. His projects include the PhP35.3 billion investment by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. and the PhP22.8 billion Facility Agreement between KKR and Banco De Oro to partially finance the investment. He is also part of the team that assisted a US multinational investment bank in the sale of its consumer banking business in the Philippines. Recently, he also assisted major Philippine banks in respect of loans granted to finance the acquisition of tower assets of key telecommunications entities in the Philippines. Mr. Gutierrez also specializes in licensing, franchising & distribution. He has reviewed numerous international multi-unit franchise, licensing, and distribution agreements and regularly advises clients in this highly regulated area of technology transfer arrangements. His clients include multinational diversified hospitality companies, fast food chains, pharmaceutical companies, convenience stores, and software companies. He also participated in a number of arbitration and litigation involving highly regulated entities, such as public utilities and mining companies. He is a Senior Lecturer in the University of the Philippines - College of Law, teaching Property Law and Private International Law. He is also a Teaching Fellow and an Associate Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD). He co-authored the article entitled “The way forward” in the May 2017 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR), which looked at recent changes in the definition of corporate governance that have helped emphasize the responsibilities of boards of directors in Philippine companies.