Firm Wins Precedent Setting Case

Tender offer rules were finally applied in the Philippines when the Firm won a hard fought precedent-setting case in Cemco Holdings, Inc. v. National Life Insurance Company of the Philippines, G.R. No. 171815; 529 SCRA 355,where the Supreme Court, affirming the ruling of the SEC and the Court of Appeals, applied the rules mandatorily to a transaction that involved only two sellers, and one that did not even result in a direct purchase of the shares of stock of a listed company as the transaction involved the purchase of a holding company, which held the shares in question. In its Decision, the Supreme Court held that the Mandatory Offer Rule under Section 19 of Republic Act No. 8799, otherwise known as the Securities Regulation Code [“Code”], applied not only...