On Wednesday Sicat vowed increased focus on cross-border deals involving renewable energy, telecom media and technology (TMT), the branded consumer sector and portfolio structuring, as well as restructuring for conglomerates as he took on the helm as ING Manila country manager.
At a news briefing on Wednesday at the bank’s Ayala offices, Sicat said he plans to capitalize on increased foreign interest to set up domestic operations or invest in the Philippines.
Sicat, former president and CEO of the Philippine Stock Exchange, is taking over from outgoing ING Bank Country Manager Consuelo Garcia.
“There is a lot of interest and people are [going around] all the time in the Philippines so that is a very good sign. We know it because we see it on the ground,” Sicat observed.
He said ING bank will be linking foreign companies interested in coming to the Philippines with local firms interested in selling a portion or even their entire operations.
“There is actually a little bit of an art there. It is not just your numbers and your maximizing financial models. There is an art in making sure there is connectivity in interest. In other words, there is shared vision of growth and also maybe complementation of what they offer to one another,” Sicat said.
The newly minted country manager also has bullish views on the stepped up integration across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, saying the process fits well with their business strategy of cross-border transactions going forward.
“In general, we are very optimistic that this creates even more economic activity. And when you think of it from the ING that a number of our other stakeholders and clients are looking at these cross-border opportunities to grow and provide us with additional transaction opportunities,” Sicat said.
“We chose Hans to be my successor, right? He is quite modest but he has considerable investment banking expertise in his past life,” outgoing ING Bank Country Manager Consuelo Garcia said.
“He was a formidable competitor on the other side, and I think it is really his investment banking expertise that we felt would be needed for us to take advantage of these business opportunities for the Philippines. We are confident we would have a fair share of the deals. It is not just Philippine companies going out but foreign companies going in,” she added.
Sicat knows global capital markets and worked at one time as investment banker with Citigroup and various firms in various roles in New York, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
He said he does not worry over the increased interest of foreign banks in the Philippines that only heighten competition.
“We are in a better position because we have a head start. It is probably in fact a confirmation that we are in the right space. Is competition worrisome? I think competition is good because it makes us aware of the needs of our stakeholders, of our client base,” the new country manager said.
Several banks have since provided increased competition following the approval of full foreign bank participation and entry to the Philippines.
In 2014 ING Bank was lead arranged the 150-megawatt Burgos Wind Energy Project in Ilocos Norte, the first such structure built under the country’s renewable-energy law.