Cornelio Abuda

Cornelio “Leo” Abuda is a founding partner of Abuda Asis & Associates. Leo has been cited by the IFLR 1000, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers Asia as a leading banking and finance practitioner in the Philippines. With over 20 years of project finance experience, Leo has acted as lead counsel in numerous landmark transactions, including the 70 MW Bakun Hydro Project (the first locally funded Philippine project finance transaction), the 67.5 MW San Lorenzo Wind Project (the first wind project to close under the RE Law) and the multi-awarded GN Power Project. He received his law degree from the University of the Philippines, where he was awarded the Dean’s Medal for Academic Excellence. He is also a licensed agricultural engineer. Prior to forming the firm, Leo was a partner and the head of the Banking and Finance Group of Quisumbing Torres, a member firm of Baker & McKenzie International.

Established in December 2007 with the vision to become one of the premier project finance law firms in the Philippines, Abuda Asis & Associates has since carved its own niche in the Philippine legal landscape. In just a few years since its establishment, the firm has represented clients in several landmark and award-winning transactions. Among these are the US$720 million greenfield financing facility to GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co. for its 600 MW coal-fired power project (recipient of Deal of the Year awards by six publications) and the US$425 million notes issuance and bond placement for Quezon Power Philippines Limited (awarded 2011 Best Structured Loan Deal in Southeast Asia by the Alpha Southeast Asia Deal and Solutions Awards). The firm continues to be heavily involved in significant project finance transactions in the Philippines. Recent projects of the firm include several conventional and renewable energy projects (including one of the first wind projects to reach financial close under the RE Law), the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Project, the LRT1 Extension Project and the NAIA Expressway Project, the last three being key components of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Program of the Philippine Government. The firm’s other fields of practice include banking, insurance, taxation, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate law. Its partners are Cornelio Abuda, Jehremiah Asis and Jose Jaime Cruz.