Jaime Renato (Jim) B. Gatmaytan is a founding partner of C&G Law. He was also the Managing Partner from February 2007 to February 2018.
Jim advises on corporate and commercial transactions, including equity investments, share and asset acquisitions, lending, security and other financing arrangements, real estate transactions, and construction and infrastructure projects. His experience in energy, construction and infrastructure work tracked the development of build-operate-transfer arrangements in the Philippines, having assisted in a number of infrastructure projects undertaken under the then recently-enacted BOT legislation. These include the development of various diesel-powered generation plants in Mindanao, the 1200-MW gas-fired Ilijan power plant and the 210-MW (net) STEAG State Power Inc. coal-fired power plant, as well as the Manila Metro Rail Transit System Line 3 (MRT3) along EDSA.
His work has extended outside of the Philippines and includes work with developers and sponsors on tenders for generation projects in China and Thailand, as well as structuring and documentation work in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Thailand.
Jim has been cited as a leading Philippine lawyer by Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific in the Corporate/Commercial field from 2010 – 2019, Corporate/M&A field from 2017 – 2023, and in the Projects, Energy and Infrastructure space from 2015 – 2022. He has also been named as a leading lawyer in the M&A and Project Finance fields in the Philippines by IFLR1000 Asia Pacific from 2015. The Legal 500 Asia Pacific also recognises him as a leading lawyer in Real Estate and Construction and Projects and Energy in its 2016 – 2023 publications.
Prior to founding C&G Law in February 2007, Jim joined SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan in 1991 and was a partner there from 2000 until February 2007.
EXPERIENCE
Jim is heavily involved in the corporate and commercial department of C&G Law. His more notable representative works in Infrastructure and Project Finance include:
- Advised a consortium of international banks that extended a US$650 million facility to Therma Mobile, Inc. (a member of the Aboitiz group of companies) to finance the acquisition of an equity stake in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. The acquisition was named M&A Deal of the Year and Philippine Deal of the Year by Asian Legal Business in 2017.
- Leading the Philippine legal team advising the Department of Transportation and Communications (“DOTC”) in the tender for the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of a nineteen-kilometer elevated rail transit system traversing parts of Cavite province south of Metropolitan Manila.
- Led the Philippine legal team that advised the Philippine Statistics Authority (“PSA”) in the tender for the computerisation of the civil registry functions of the PSA.
- Led the Philippine legal team that assisted a consortium made up of four of the country’s largest infrastructure and real estate development companies in the bidding for the Laguna Lakeshore Expressway-Dike Project of the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Laguna Lake Development Authority.
- Led the legal team assisted in the pre-qualification of a consortium for the Bacolod-Silay (Iloilo) (Bundle 1) Davao, Laguindingan and New Bohol (Panglao) (Bundle 2) Regional Airports Development and Operations and Maintenance Projects of the DOTC and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines.
- Leading the team in advising the DOTC and the Manila International Airport Authority in the proposed redevelopment of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
- Co-led the team that advised Ayala Land, Inc. in its bid for the South Integrated Transport System Project.
- Led the team advising Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc., a member of the Ayala conglomerate, in acquiring one-half of the equity interest in the Generika group of companies, a Philippine generic pharmaceutical firm.
- Led the local legal team advising Team Orion (an Ayala-Aboitiz consortium) on its bid for the financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway Project.
- Advised Therma Visayas, Inc. on the financing of a 300MW coal-fired power plant to be located in Toledo City, Cebu.
- Co-led the team that advised AAA Airport Partners, the consortium of A2 Airport Partners, Inc. (an Ayala-Aboitiz company) and ADC & HAS Airports Worldwide, Inc. (“AAA”), in relation to its bid for the Mactan Cebu International Airport Project.
- Advised Therma South, Inc. on the financing and construction of a 300-MW coal-fired plant in Davao.
- Co-led the team that advised Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. in the acquisition of a fifty percent interest in the Generika group of companies, a generics pharmacy that broadened the Ayala group’s presence in the healthcare sector.
- Advised The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in extending a US$400 million bridge loan to Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. to fund its acquisition of an interest in cement manufacturing assets.
Jim has also advised and assisted clients in the energy sector, including the following:
- Assisted Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc. with the fuel supply requirements of a 600-MW coal-fired plant in Zambales.
- Assisted Energy Development Corporation with its construction, relocation and electro-mechanical contracts in connection with the relocation of one of its geothermal plants from one location to another.
- Recently drafted the templates of the power supply agreements for the Aboitiz group of companies.
MEMBERSHIP
- Member, Integrated Bar of the Philippines (1991-present)
