Ms Kristin Charisse Siao > Villaraza & Angangco (V&A Law) > Manila, Philippines > Lawyer Profile

Ms Kristin Charisse Siao

+6329886088 kc.siao@thefirmva.com View profile

Work Department

General Corporate, M&A, Tax, Real Estate, TMT, Capital Markets, Private Client

Position

Partner

Career

In her general corporate practice, Atty. Siao has advised and assisted clients on the full spectrum of legal issues in business concerns and in all aspects of regulatory compliance. She has extensive experience in the drafting, negotiation and review of all kinds of commercial contracts – ranging from the simple promissory notes and deeds of sale to the complex omnibus loan & security agreements and sale & purchase agreements.

As a CPA-Lawyer, Atty. Siao is also an expert in the field of Taxation – where she is able to provide her clients with adept advice on tax structuring and planning, transactional tax issues, as well as in tax audits and disputes. She has given lectures on numerous tax matters in various forums such as the basics of corporate income taxation, the effects of TRAIN on wages and benefits, estate planning and wealth management, and taxation of M&A transactions.

Atty. Siao also specializes in Mergers & Acquisitions and has actively participated in transactions spanning a wide variety of industries. Her other key practice areas include Property Development & Real Estate Transactions, Capital Markets, Technology Media and Telecoms (TMT) and Private Client. She serves as director and corporate secretary of a number of corporations.

Some of her recent work highlights include:

• Provides comprehensive legal advice and assistance to Fountel Corp. on its significant investment in Professional Services Inc. (“PSI”), a public company which operates The Medical City (one of the largest hospital in the Philippines with operations all over the country and in Guam), beginning from its Cooperation and Shareholders Agreement in 2013 with a Singapore-based investor, through the increase in its shareholding within the next 5 years, the financing of such PSI share acquisitions, a proposed Mandatory Tender Offer (“MTO”) which it intends to launch together with the Singapore-based investor, and the successful holding of an election of a new board of directors amidst one of the more controversial intra-corporate disputes in the Philippines.

• Acted as counsel for Jolliville Holding Corporation (“JOH”), a Philippine Stock Exchange (“PSE”)-listed company, in the block sale by JOH of its entire shareholding in Philippine H2O Ventures Corp. (“H2O”), another PSE-listed company to Udenna Corporation, including the clean-up of H2O’s assets through the spin-off of its water business.

• Provides routine and transactional advice for Ayala Land, Inc., a leading property developer in the Philippines, on a broad spectrum of issues concerning its residential, commercial and mixed-use developments.

• Provides tax advice (routine, structuring and transactional) to a wide range of clients, such as Emperador Distillers Inc., Ayala Land Inc., Seaoil Philippines Inc., Bank of Singapore, Credit Suisse, among others.

• Assists businesses engaged in tech and e-commerce, such as Lalamove, Lalafood, Shopee and Garena, in navigating complex Philippine regulatory requirements concerning their structure and operations.

• Provides routine advice and consultation to foreign companies with operations or subsidiaries in the Philippines, such as the Lee Kum Kee Health Products Group.

Advised a well-known international hotel brand on its contracts with Philippine partner for a proposed luxury island resort in the Philippines.

Languages

English and Filipino

Memberships

Integrated Bar of the Philippines

Tax Management Association of the Philippines

Inter-Pacific Bar Association

UP Women Lawyers’ Circle

UP Portia Sorority

Philippine Bar Association

Education

Juris Doctor, University of the Philippines College of Law (2008)

BS Accountancy, Silliman University (2003)