The Merritt team has extensive experience in energy transactions with senior level contacts throughout Asia.

He served briefly in early 2001 as Undersecretary for Industry at the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry and as Head of the Board of Investments. He led IT investment missions to Europe.

Prior to joining the Cabinet of the President of the Philippines in 2001, Mr. Pérez had 17 years of experience in debt restructuring, capital markets and private equity in emerging markets. At 35, he became the first Asian General Partner at Lazard Freres. He was Managing Director of Lazard Asia in Singapore from 1995 until 1997.

Mr. Pérez founded Next Century Partners in 1997, a private equity firm that invested in Smart Communications, Del Monte Pacific and Fastech Synery.

Mr. Pérez is also founder of Alternergy Partners, a renewable power company for emerging countries in Asia. He is an independent director of Nido Petroleum (ASX), SM Investments (PSE), ST Telemedia (a Temasek company) and PNOC Energy Development Corporation (PSE). He Also invested in Northwind Power, the first commercial wind farm in southeast Asia.

Mr. Pérez obtained an MBA from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor's Degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines. He was a 2005 World Fellow at Yale University, where he lectured an MBA class on renewable power in emerging countries.

Mr. de Dios was one of the youngest Undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Energy from 2001 to 2004. He led the preparation of the country's Philippine Energy Plan; supervised the downstream oil and gas industry; negotiated the Pandacan (Manila) oil depot scale-down, the first urban buffer zone for any oil depot; raised LPG and gas retail station safety standards; and guided the promulgation of the rules for the Philippine Power Sector Reform Law and the interim rules for the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry. He also played a significant role in regional energy diplomacy by forging bilateral cooperation in natural gas and downstream oil with India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and the US.

Prior to his government service in 2001, Mr. de Dios practiced corporate, energy and securities law for 10 years. From 1991 to 1994, he was the Senior Law Clerk to former Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. From 1994 to 2001, he was an attorney at the Romulo Law Office where he worked on the country's first and only Gas Purchase Agreement for Shell Philippines Exploration.

Mr. de Dios was Chairman of the Board of publicity-listed Philippine National Oil Exploration Corporation from 2004 to 2005. He was also designated Director of the National Power Corporation in 2001. He is Country Head of Nido Petroleum Philippines and Director of publicity-listed Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. He also sits in the board of Davies Energy Systems, Inc., an energy service company.

He obtained Masters of Law (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, where he was Commencement Speaker, a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) from the University of the Philippines. He is a member of the Council of Advisers of the Harvard Law School Club.

Ms. Ricolcol served as Chief of Staff of the Secretaries of the Department of Energy and the Department of Trade & Industry. She was also Director and Officer-In-Charge of the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion and concurrent Executive Director of the Export Development Council at the Department of Trade and Industry.

From 1998-2001, Ms. Ricolcol was a Director at Sycip Gorres Velayo (SGV) & Co., a member firm of Ernst and Young Global, where she focused on business development and advisory services with emphasis on investment promotion.

Ms. Ricolcol graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science majoring in Economics and Political Science. She also finished a Diploma Course on International Relations and Development from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The Netherlands in 1987 and a Diploma Course on GATT Trade Policy from the GATT/WTO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland in 1989. She was awarded a Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship in 2005 and pursued a Master's in Public Management (MPM) degree at the National University of Singapore where she also spent some time at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Ms. Ricolcol's areas of competency are in the fields of energy, trade and investments, international relations and public policy and management.

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Ms. Policarpio was with the Philippine Board of Investments from 1995 to 2001, where she was credited for drafting the Guidelines for the Evaluation of the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation (AICO) Projects . She was also part of the team that drafted the 1999 Philippine Investment Priorities Plan. From 1999 to 2001, she served as Technical Assistant to the Undersecretary and Managing Head of the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI).

In 1997, Ms. Policarpio was chosen by the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry as the Best Technical Staff for both the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments. She also earned the Most Creative Idea Award from the Secretary of Trade and Industry for the formulation of the AICO Guidelines in 1998.

Ms. Policarpio obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the University of Sto. Tomas.

Ms. Nepomuceno served as Senior Executive Assistant to Presidents of the major power companies in the Philippines. She was Senior Executive Assistant to the President of East Asia Power Resources Corporation, the President of the National Power Corporation, the Presidential Adviser for Energy Affairs and, until end 2006, the President of the National Transmission Corporation.

A dynamic planning strategist with both start-up and growth organizations, Ms. Nepomuceno provides expertise in the areas of event coordination, handling of confidential matters and office management.