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Realme launches first quad-camera phones

REALME PHILIPPINES has launched two quad-camera smartphones, targeting to provide a “premium mobile experience” at prices well below those of other brands’ flagship phones.

The company last week launched the Realme 5 and Realme 5 Pro, which both feature four rear cameras and priced below P15,000.

“Designed to deliver premium mobile experience, these phones are equipped with exceptional smartphone essentials such as strong system performance, superior camera capabilities and long battery life set to disrupt their respective segments,” Realme said in a statement.

“We at realme Philippines are thrilled to revolutionize the smartphone experience of the Filipinos by leading the leap to attainable quad camera technology, which marks realme’s new era of smartphone imaging technology. By bringing the realme 5 Pro and realme 5 to the Philippine market, we put an end to the notion that only flagship phones can have premium features,” Realme Philippines Marketing Director Austine Huang was quoted as saying.

REALME 5 PRO
The Realme 5 Pro features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 AIE processor and a Qualcomm Adreno 616 GPU. It has a 6.3-inch screen with a dewdrop design for a wider and clearer display.

The phone’s four rear cameras consist of an 8-megapixel (MP) 119-degree ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP portrait lens, a 2MP ultra-macro lens and a 48MP Sony IMX586 main camera.

“The IMX586, which underwent stringent research and tests by users and industry experts, features sensor optimization to deliver higher-quality images,” Realme said.

The realme 5 Pro also has a 16MP front camera with f2.0 aperture and Sony IMX471 image sensor.

The phone’s camera likewise has the Nightscape and Chroma Boost modes. It also supports slow-motion video recording in 960fps and 720p.

The Realme 5 Pro is equipped with a 4035mAh battery, and its AI Freezer function can predict the user’s app usage and freeze unused apps accordingly to save power.

The phone has two variants: 4GB RAM with 128GB internal storage and 8GB RAM with 128GB storage. It is available in crystal green and sparkling blue colors.

The Realme 5 Pro 4GB+128GB is priced at P11,990, while the 8GB model is sold for P13,990.

REALME 5
Meanwhile, the Realme 5 runs on a Snapdragon 665 processor and third-generation Qualcomm AI Engine, as well as an Adreno 610 GPU.

The phone features a 6.5-inch mini-drop full-screen display and an AI rear quad-camera setup: a 12MP primary camera, an 8MP 119-degree ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP ultra-macro lens, and a 2MP portrait lens.

Its 13MP AI front camera has the selfie beauty function. It adds AI beauty algorithms to accurately recognize photographed subjects using a total of 296 feature recognition points, providing eight million beauty effects.

The smartphone also has the Nightscape and Chroma Boost modes and can record slow-motion videos in 240fps and 720p. It has a 5000mAh battery.

The Realme 5 comes in three variants — 3GB RAM with 32GB storage (P6,990), 4GB RAM+64GB (P7,990) and 6GB RAM+128GB (P9,900) — and has two colors, namely crystal blue and crystal purple.

Maynilad allots P53B for new sewer lines

MAYNILAD Water Services, Inc. has allocated more than P53.4 billion to install new sewer lines spanning up to 425 kilometers starting next year until the end of its concession in 2037 to ensure the provision of sewerage services for its customers in the west zone.

“Sewer pipes have to be laid at a lower depth compared to water pipes — some as deep as fourteen meters below ground level — so wastewater projects take a longer time to complete,” said Randolph T. Estrellado, Maynilad chief operating officer, in a statement on Wednesday.

He warned that the installation of the sewer network may cause some inconvenience to motorists.

“To minimize traffic congestion in our project sites, we will use trenchless technology where feasible, although said technology will significantly increase the cost to install the sewer network,” he said.

Maynilad said the new sewer lines, to be laid in various portions of the west concession from Caloocan to Cavite over the next 18 years, will enable the company to catch wastewater generated by its over 9.6 million customers, and convey it to sewage treatment plants.

It said about 20% of Maynilad’s water-served population are currently connected to the sewer network. The share came from only 6% before the privatization of MWSS operations in 1997, Maynilad said, adding that those that are unconnected are provided septic tank cleaning services by Maynilad.

Maynilad said it is now laying sewer lines in Valenzuela, Cavite City, Las Piñas, and in barangays Cupang and Tunasan in Muntinlupa. It recently completed sewerage projects such as the those in Pasay and Parañaque.

The company said under its approved business plan, it still has to spend almost P200 billion for wastewater projects from 2019 until the end of the concession period in 2037.

“With the invaluable assistance of local government units and the relevant government agencies, we can facilitate completion of our sewerage projects despite the difficulties posed by right-of-way conflicts and lack of land for treatment facilities. Only by working together can we truly realize the goal of rehabilitating the Manila Bay,” said Ramoncito S. Fernandez, Maynilad president and chief executive officer.

The west zone concessionaire operates and maintains 588 kilometers of sewer lines and 22 wastewater facilities that have a combined treatment capacity of about 664,000 cubic meters per day.

Maynilad’s statement on its capital outlay to install new sewer lines comes after it filed a motion for consideration on the Supreme Court decision to impose a P921 million fine on the company for failing to connect all existing sewage lines to the available sewerage system within five years from the effectivity of the Clean Water Act, or from May 6, 2004.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) has a 52.8% stake in Maynilad. MPIC is one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld. — Victor V. Saulon

US growth sustainable: Powell

DENVER — Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday flagged openness to further rate cuts to fend off global economic risks, repeating that the central bank will act “as appropriate” amid an economy that he said is likely to continue to expand.

“This feels very sustainable,” Powell said in Denver at the annual meeting of the National Association of Business Economics.

“Clearly things are slowing a bit,” he said, noting that it’s normal for long expansions to have such periods. Twice in the 1990s, he said, the economy similarly downshifted, only to gain steam once the Fed cut interest rates a few times.

The Fed two interest rates this year, in July and September, were made in that spirit and have helped maintain a “favorable” outlook for jobs and inflation, Powell said. The US economy “may just be gathering itself — there’s no reason why the expansion can’t continue,” he added.

Powell noted recent data revisions showed less job growth in the year to March than previously estimated, turning a “booming” market into one of moderate growth.

Other recent economic data, including a possible contraction in manufacturing, add to the sense of reduced momentum.

“It seems that Powell is trying to, in a soft way, demonstrate to the market that the Fed continues to be aware of the downside risks and is actively willing to support the economic expansion as needed,” said Jason Ware, chief investment officer at Albion Financial Group in Salt Lake City, Utah.

NOT QUANTITATIVE EASING
Powell also used his speech to let markets know the central bank would soon begin allowing its balance sheet to expand to ensure smoother functioning of US short-term funding markets.

Recent spikes had raised concern that banks had an inadequate supply of reserves to manage occasional periods of high demand, and Powell’s remarks on Tuesday suggested the central bank was coming around to that view and would start buying Treasury bills to replenish reserves.

This move, he emphasized several times, would be technical, had no bearing on monetary policy and “in no sense” was the same as the bond-buying the Fed conducted in the aftermath of the financial crisis to ease monetary policy.

US Treasury prices rose after Powell’s comments on the balance sheet, while stocks pared losses.

READY FOR ANOTHER CUT?
At separate events elsewhere, two other US central bankers signaled their support for more policy easing.

“I wouldn’t mind another cut. I could see it either way,” Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told the Rotary Club in Chicago.

“It would help for a little more insurance. Is it necessary and essential? I’m not sure. But I’m certainly open minded to those arguments,” said Evans, who supported both Fed rate cuts this year to help the Fed faster achieve its 2% inflation goal.

In St. Cloud, Minnesota, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he was “generally in favor” of lower interest rates, but, “I don’t know how much lower they should go.”

One issue, he said, is how difficult it is to estimate the effect of trade wars on economic growth. “It’s almost, your guess is as good as mine,” he said.

The Fed’s September rate cut, to a target range of 1.75% to 2.00%, drew three dissents out of 10 votes, two from policy makers who believed the Fed should not ease policy at all, and one from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard who wanted a bigger, half-point interest-rate cut.

Among the seven nonvoting policy makers, at least a couple also disagreed with the move, including Kashkari who had sided with Bullard.

Traders of short-term interest-rate futures are currently pricing in more than an 80% chance of a third interest rate cut this year when the Fed next meets, Oct. 29-30. Traders see a 40% chance of a fourth rate cut in December.

“We will be data dependent, assessing the outlook and risks to the outlook on a meeting-by-meeting basis, Powell said, repeating that as global risks evolve the Fed would move “as appropriate” to keep the decade-old expansion under way.

“Looking ahead, policy is not on a preset course,” he said.

Much of Powell’s speech centered on how a “data dependent” Fed sometimes struggled to be sure it has statistics that accurately inform it about the state of the economy.

Mismeasurement of productivity may have actually understated growth in gross domestic product in recent years, Powell said. More significantly, the revisions to the employment data showed the economy added fewer jobs than previously estimated — a fact that could bolster arguments made by some Fed officials that there is ample “slack” left in the economy and thus room for lower rates.

The use of “big data” may help produce more accurate real-time employment measures in the future, Powell said. But in the meantime the revisions meant that “where we had seen a booming job market, we now see more-moderate growth.” — Reuters

20 years of making wine meant for Filipino tastes

PHILIPPINE wine company Novellino celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this week, marking its hold on the growing wine industry of the country.

Glasses of Novellino were passed around at an event on Tuesday in Manila House in BGC. The wines, with a price range of P200 to P400 a bottle, are made in a plant in Laguna (the only thing imported about Novellino is the grape juice from which it is made).

It’s easy to look down on the wine because of its price range — but then again, the process to make the wine sweeter (the sweetness giving it the mass appeal that has allowed it to stay for 20 years) is more sophisticated than traditional winemaking. It has to do with going against nature and arresting the fermentation process, allowing for only some of the yeasts to convert the sugar into alcohol, according to a presentation during the event by Christopher Quimbo, one of the heirs to the Novellino fortune established by his father, Vicente, and current President and General Manager.

In 2015, Christopher Quimbo was awarded the ASEAN Young Entrepreneur of the Year Philippines and the 2015 ASEAN SME Excellence Award for Innovation, on behalf of Novellino’s parent company, Bel Mondo Italia Corp.

Novellino products are also sold in Vietnam, the UAE (some of them as non-alcoholic beverages in the predominantly Muslim country), and even in one of the wine capitals of the world, California. This year, they’re launching Novellino Wines on Tap (essentially a keg).

While Novellino was founded in 1999, one of its biggest coups was in 2011 with the opening of its facility in Laguna, where all the wine action is made. Asked why it was so important to make all the wines here (as opposed to the arguably easier process of just having finished wine repackaged), Mr. Quimbo said, “We can control the factors that allow us to have full control of making a product that is delicious to the Filipino public.”

A lot of the wine industry has to do with age — not only in fermenting the juice that makes the wine, but also the process by which a company plants its roots. “We’re a young player. We’re a small company in the grand scheme of things. Wine is a small category compared to beer, compared to spirits. But it’s the fastest-growing. We are going up against the Goliaths in the world,” Mr. Quimbo admits.

“Filipinos deserve a wine that’s made for them.” — Joseph L. Garcia

Waze makes Cities Data available on Google Cloud

TRANSPORT navigation platform Waze is making its data available on Google Cloud to allow city partners analyze and utilize traffic patterns for their own purposes.

In a statement, Waze said its Waze for Cities Data is now accessible through Google Cloud by its more than 1,000 global partners. This is expected to help municipalities and other first responders in infrastructure planning.

“We are thrilled to provide this integration with Google Cloud that will make it even easier for our Waze for Cities partners to more seamlessly organize, store, interpret and share transportation data and insights,” Waze Head of Public Sector Partnerships Dani Simons said in the statement.

Waze launched the collaborative program with cities in October 2014, but partners used to have to create their own platforms to analyze and maximize the data.

With the partnership with Google, Waze allows its city partners to create visualizations and use other Google Cloud tools to more easily navigate the traffic data it collects.

“Waze for Cities Data partners will no longer need to build their own tools or have different systems for different data sources. The integration with Google Cloud will make it easy to view Waze for Cities Data and layer in other transportation-related data sources to see the full picture of mobility trends in one place,” Google Cloud Director, for Product Management Sudhir Hasbe said.

Mr. Simons added that the partnership with Google is important as the past five years showed city data continues to grow, making it necessary to have better tools to analyze and crunch them.

“With the availability of Waze’s Cities Data, Waze for Cities partners will have access to best-in-class data warehouse tool BigQuery and data visualization tool Data Studio. These tools will make the data even easier to interpret and communicate to non-technical audiences,” Waze said.

In its website, Waze said it offers the partnership for sharing traffic data for free. Once partners, Waze will give the city or public sector partner an access to the platform to input road closures and other traffic emergencies. — Denise A. Valdez

Largest PHL IPO since 2016 likely to gain in debut — analysts

SHARES in AllHome Corp.’s initial public offering, the biggest in the Philippines in three years, stand a good chance of gaining when they start trading Thursday, according to analysts and investors.

That’s because the home improvement and furniture retailer priced its IPO at the lower end. Also, with overseas demand exceeding the allocation limit for non-locals, foreign investors could provide support for AllHome’s share price, they said.

The lower IPO price made AllHome’s valuation “attractive” while “there’s pent-up demand from foreigners,” who didn’t get all the shares they wanted, said Noel Reyes, chief investment officer at Security Bank Corp.

AllHome is the nation’s biggest IPO since Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s $390 million flotation in 2016. It’s the third company go to public this year in the country, while the nation awaits its biggest IPO from Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s hospital unit. Axelum Resources Corp., a coconut products producer that sold shares before AllHome, was priced at the lower end of its range and sank 6.2% when it began trading on Oct. 7.

Allhome’s IPO raised P12.94 billion ($250 million) from the sale of 1.125 billion shares at P11.50 each — the low end of its indicative price, with the top end at P16 a share. The amount doesn’t include an additional 168.75 million shares set aside as an over-allotment option.

At its IPO price, valuation is at 28 times estimated 2020 earnings, making AllHome comparable with Wilcon Depot Inc., a retailer of hardware and home building materials, according to Rachelle Cruz, an analyst at AP Securities Inc.

“Stock could follow Wilcon’s performance, which began weak then started to climb as it delivered on store expansion and earnings,” AB Capital & Investment Corp. Chief Investment Officer Gerard Abad said. “Those buying the IPO are entering a business that’s still at the ground floor. AllHome will use the money for expansion and plug holes in its business model”

Mr. Reyes noted AllHome stores offer a more complete lineup than Wilcon, making it an alternative.

“AllHome’s expansion won’t be hampered by negotiations and lack of location since Vista Land has commercial properties in its more than 150 residential projects,” he said. — Bloomberg

Philam Life eyes boost from digital shift

THE PHILIPPINE American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) is eyeing to launch its automatic underwriting system next year and triple its overall consumer base in next three years with its end-to-end digital system, officials said on Tuesday.

Philam Life Chief Operations Officer Gigi Pio de Roda said the insurer is targeting to launch by 2020 the artificial intelligence (AI) model it has been working since the start of the year to streamline the underwriting process for simple cases.

“We have models that learned from the results of the historical data… It increases your efficiency in terms of auto-underwriting… We’re currently at the 70%, so we’re trying to achieve a 90% auto-underwriting. What that means is that you can actually underwrite bigger volume,” Ms. Pio de Roda said.

The AI model will automatically assess simple cases based on the decisions made by underwriters in the past, while the more complicated cases will still be handled by human underwriters since they need more in-depth analysis.

Philam Life Chief Marketing Officer Leonardo D. Tan said the insurer also wants to triple its current consumer base within the next three years as it boosts its digital push.

Currently, the insurer caters to a 2.6-million strong customer base, which includes both the firm’s individual and group clients, Mr. Tan said.

Philam Life CEO Kelvin Ang said the firm’s end-to-end digital system will allow it to reach individuals who typically live from paycheck-to-paycheck and assess their needs.

“They have no savings right in case something happens…so this is a segment that we need to assess. (We aim to) move into the C market and eventually we aspire to move into the D1 market… The people who really need it (insurance) are the people in D1, C market who live check on check… These are the people we want to observe and we can’t do it if we don’t have a solution and we don’t have a platform,” Mr. Ang said on Tuesday.

Last year, Mr. Tan said the insurance company has been looking to explore the microinsurance business to narrow the protection gap among Filipinos, adding that “it has been part of the plan” for the company.

Philam Life claims to be one of the leading companies in terms of digitalization in the industry since it was the first to adopt the interactive point of sale (IPOS) system.

IPOS is a self-serving sale system which assesses clients’ financial status, creates policy proposals and allows digital application and online payments.

Philam Life also has a online customer portal where clients can view and check their account for updates and electronic billing, as well as its digital customer service platform IServe.

It likewise has the ePolicy service, a legally binding “paperless” or electronic contract for customers. Completing its end-to-end digital system is a platform that allows the electronic submissions of claims.

Ms. Pio de Roda said Philam Life saves around P150 million yearly due to its digital platform, as manual processing requires printing and courier services, among others.

As of end-2018, Philam Life had P249.6 billion in total assets with over 700,000 individual policyholders and over three million insured group members. — BML

Amazon launches bigger local online store in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Amazon.com Inc. has launched a bigger local store and marketplace in Singapore, expanding its product selection and intensifying competition with rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada and Sea Ltd.’s Shopee.

The US company launched local online shopping in the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state more than two years ago with its fast delivery service through a mobile app. But its initial local selection, which focused on groceries and household essentials, has not been as wide as those offered by rivals.

“With Amazon.sg, we want to provide what customers have been asking us for: the ability for everyone to shop on desktop and mobile, more local and international selection from Amazon and trusted sellers, paired with fast and reliable delivery,” Henry Low, Amazon Singapore country manager, said in a statement.

Amazon also said it will allow small and medium-sized businesses to offer their products to online shoppers with Amazon.sg. Other e-commerce firms including Lazada mainly operate via a marketplace model in Singapore.

Singapore, a small but high-value market with a population of just 5.7 million, is often seen as a launchpad for consumer-focused companies into much bigger Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, home to over 260 million people. — Reuters

Greenwich Village hangout named World’s Best Bar

By Richard Vines, Bloomberg

AN ALL-DAY neighborhood joint in New York’s Greenwich Village was last week named the world’s best bar, beating competition from luxury lounges around the globe and knocking London off the top of The World’s 50 Best Bars rankings.

Dante, which is now owned by Australian friends, serves modern Italian food and a range of cocktails but is still known for its espressos and negronis. The original Caffe Dante first opened on Macdougal Street in 1915, which was then a largely Italian neighborhood. Dante placed 9th last year and has won numerous awards since the current owners took over in 2015.

Second place went to the luxurious Connaught Bar in London, followed by Florería Atlántico in Buenos Aires. Fourth was NoMad, New York, followed by the American Bar, London. The Clumsies, Athens, was 6th; Attaboy, New York, 7th; Atlas, Singapore, 8th; the Old Man, Hong Kong, was 9th; and Licorería Limantour, Mexico City, rounded out the Top 10.

The UK leads the 2019 list with 10 bars, while the US has seven: Six in New York and one in San Francisco. Last year’s winner, Dandelyan, closed after founder Ryan Chetiyawardana, AKA Mr. Lyan, created a new venue, Lyaness, in the same London space. Lyaness placed at No. 39 this year. The awards were announced in a party-style ceremony at the Roundhouse in London.

The 50 Best is an annual ranking voted for by more than 500 drinks experts from around the world. It’s owned and organized by William Reed Business Media, the group behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards.

Here is the Top 50 followed by the 51-100 rankings:

1. Dante, New York

2. Connaught Bar, London

3. Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires

4. The NoMad, New York

5. American Bar, London

6. The Clumsies, Athens

7. Attaboy, New York

8. Atlas, Singapore

9. The Old Man, Hong Kong

10. Licorería Limantour, Mexico City

11. Manhattan, Singapore

12. Native, Singapore

13. Carnaval, Lima

14. Katana Kitten, New York

15. Guilhotina, São Paulo

16. Three Sheets, London

17. Himkok, Oslo

18. High Five, Tokyo

19. Salmón Gurú, Madrid

20. Paradiso, Barcelona

21. Indulge Experimental Bistro, Taipei

22. The Dead Rabbit, New York

23. Coupette, London

24. The SG Club, Tokyo

25. Dr. Stravinsky, Barcelona

26. Employees Only, New York

27. El Copitas, St Petersburg

28. Scout, London

29. Jigger & Pony, Singapore

30. Operation Dagger, Singapore

31. Baba Au Rum, Athens

32. La Factoría, Old San Juan

33. Presidente, Buenos Aires

34. Schumann’s, Munich

35. Speak Low, Shanghai

36. Little Red Door, Paris

37. Linje Tio, Stockholm

38. The Old Man, Singapore

39. Lyaness, London

40. Happiness Forgets, London

41. Swift, London

42. Trick Dog, San Francisco

43. Maybe Sammy, Sydney

44. 1930, Milan

45. Sober Company, Shanghai

46. Electric Bing Sutt, Beirut

47. Kwānt, London

48. Artesian, London

49. Coa, Hong Kong

50. Jerry Thomas Speakeasy, Rome

51. Subastor, São Paulo, Brazil

52. Tayer + Elementary, London (new entry)

53. Lost & Found, Nicosia, Cyprus

54. The Bamboo Bar at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

55. Scarfes Bar, London (new entry)

56. Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo

57. Two Schmucks, Barcelona

58. Candelaria, Paris

59. Tales & Spirits, Amsterdam

60. Tommy’s, San Francisco

61. 28 Hongkong Street, Singapore

62. Zuma, Dubai

63. Buck and Breck, Berlin

64. Oriole, London

65. Hanky Panky, Mexico City

66. Bulletin Place, Sydney

67. Sweet Liberty, Miami

68. Danico, Paris

69. Siete Negronis, Santiago (new entry)

70. Baccano, Rome (new entry)

71. Quinary, Hong Kong

72. Blacktail, New York

73. Central Station, Beirut

74. Dry Martini, Barcelona

75. Lobster Bar, Hong Kong

76. Long Island Bar, New York

77. Panda and Sons, Edinburgh

78. Satan’s Whiskers, London (new entry)

79. The Baxter Inn, Sydney

80. Black Pearl, Melbourne

81. ABV, San Francisco

82. Drink Kong, Rome (new entry)

83. Charles H, Seoul

84. Le Syndicat, Paris

85. Bar Tench, Tokyo

86. Nottingham Forest, Milan

87. Donovan Bar, London (new entry)

88. Sin+Tax, Johannesburg (new entry)

89. Bar Orchard Ginza, Tokyo

90. Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore (new entry)

91. Lost Lake, Chicago

92. Tropic City, Bangkok (new entry)

93. The Pontiac, Hong Kong (new entry)

94. Amor Y Amargo, New York

95. PS40, Sydney (new entry)

96. Frank Bar, São Paulo

97. The Gibson, London

98. Mabel, Paris (new entry)

99. Aviary, Chicago

100. Clover Club, New York (new entry)

Sta. Lucia beefs up land bank in Davao, Zambales

STA. LUCIA Land, Inc. (SLI) continues to expand its land bank with the planned acquisition of more than 100,000 square meters (sq.m.) of land in provincial areas.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the listed property developer said its board of directors has authorized the firm to acquire parcels of land spanning 74,490 sq.m. in Davao; 35,588 sq.m. in Zambales, 917 sq.m. in Rizal, and 450 sq.m. in Batangas.

The board likewise authorized its entry into joint venture deals for the development of a project in Rizal covering 45,649 sq.m., as well as a project in Davao sized 221,973 sq.m.

SLI has been ramping up project launches this year to expand its residential and commercial properties in the country. It will be spending P20 billion over the next three years to support this expansion.

The company has lined up the launch of 28 residential and commercial projects over the period, as well as five condominium and hotel developments that could fetch about P20 billion in sales.

SLI in August filed an application to conduct a follow-on offering worth up to P8.40 billion, in order to finance its capital spending. It will offer a total of up to three billion common shares, consisting of 2.7 billion primary offer shares and 300 million shares for the over-allotment option.

Shares will be priced within the range of P2.26 to P2.80. If approved, the price will be finalized on Nov. 12, while the offer will run from Nov. 18 to 29. The shares will then be listed at the stock exchange on Dec. 9, after which SLI’s public float will rise to 26.79%.

Bulk of the proceeds will go to capex of new and ongoing projects. About P820 million will be for landbanking purposes, while P518 million will be spent for general corporate purposes.

SLI hired China Bank Capital Corp. to be the transaction’s issue manager, underwriter, and bookrunner.

SLI’s net income attributable to the parent more than doubled to P883.74 million in the first half of 2019, after gross revenues likewise surged 70% to P3.496 billion.

Shares in SLI dropped 0.71% or two centavos to close at P2.78 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday. — Arra B. Francia

BoT needed policy space for future risks: minutes

BANGKOK — Thailand’s central bank saw a need to preserve monetary policy space to address possible future risks, when it kept its benchmark rate on hold last month, meeting minutes showed on Wednesday.

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) remains worried about the impact of the strength of the baht on Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy and will consider implementing additional measures as needed, according to minutes of its Sept. 25.

The baht is Asia’s best performing currency so far this year, up 7.3% against the US dollar, driven by Thailand’s hefty current account surplus and fund inflows. It traded at 30.32 dollar at 0405 GMT, the highest in more than six years.

“The Committee remained concerned about baht appreciation against trading partner currencies given the economic slowdown prospects, as the economy could be more sensitive to greater currency appreciation,” the minutes said.

“This would be an additional pressure on the softening domestic demand, particularly export-related manufacturing and services sectors”.

BoT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob told Reuters on Friday the central bank planned to further relax rules on fund outflows by the end of the year to help balance flows.

At the Sept. 25 meeting, policy makers left the policy rate unchanged at 1.50% after August’s surprise cut — its first since April 2015.

The central bank also downgraded its 2019 economic growth outlook to 2.8% from 3.3%. Last year’s growth was 4.1%.

The next monetary policy review is on Nov. 6.

“The committee saw the need to preserve policy space in order to cushion against possible risks in the future and deemed it necessary to monitor the impact of the policy rate cut and fiscal stimulus measures on the economy,” the minutes said.

Some committee members felt that “given the already accommodative monetary policy stance, the policy rate cut might not lend significant additional support to economic growth”, compared with potentially increased financial stability risks.

While some financial system risks had been partly addressed by macroprudential measures, other risks to financial stability had not improved and warranted monitoring, the minutes said.

High and rising household leverage could lead to an accumulation of risks in the household sector, the minutes said.

Thailand’s household debt accounted for 78.7% of gross domestic product at the end of June, among the highest in Asia. — Reuters

Call of Duty Mobile off to explosive start

TENCENT Holdings Ltd.’s Call of Duty Mobile has attracted 20 million gamers within the first two days of its worldwide debut, a big boost for the company’s ambition of adapting top-tier titles with global name recognition for smartphones.

Based on Activision Blizzard Inc.’s marquee PC and console franchise, Call of Duty Mobile generated a quick $2 million in player spending after rolling out in the US, Europe, India and Latin America, researchers at Sensor Tower said. Its downloads rivaled those for Nintendo Co.’s Mario Kart Tour over its first two days, one of the most successful mobile game launches ever, according to their findings.

Call of Duty Mobile is the highest-profile project to emerge from Tencent’s effort to convert established gaming franchises to mobile, priming a pipeline that already stretches to 2022, Thomson Ji, vice president of Tencent’s TiMi Studios, said in an interview.

“We’re committed to developing games to target global markets,” said Ji at TiMi, which became the largest of Tencent’s four main creative studios off the back of breakout success Honour of Kings. “Call of Duty is very influential globally and we hope this game can help us reach hundreds of millions of mobile gamers overseas.”

Tencent, operator of the WeChat social media service, is developing new avenues for growth as uncertainty grips its home market. In May, the internet giant reported its slowest pace of sales expansion since going public in 2004, so it’s casting a wider net to diversify away from a domestic economy in the crosshairs of the US government. The company is moving beyond just importing famous titles for Chinese audiences and is now, conversely, designing smartphone versions of popular console games for export overseas.

Call of Duty Mobile, which launched Oct. 1., is a litmus test of Tencent’s ability to wow international players. It revamps one of Activision’s best-selling franchises for smartphone gamers, a group that now exceeds 2.2 billion in number. According to Tencent estimates, that’s three times the size of the audience playing on consoles.

Despite a temporary glitch, Call of Duty Mobile lured six times more players upon its opening than the mobile edition of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, another Tencent project, which hit the same markets last year, said Randy Nelson, Sensor Tower’s head of mobile insights. And all this is without the game launching in Tencent’s home market of China.

“This is a particularly strong launch for the action genre on mobile and mobile games in general,” he wrote in an email. “I can tell that Tencent has incorporated what it learned in the development of PUBG Mobile here.”

The WeChat operator is betting on the popularity of hardcore first-person shooters like Call of Duty to help it break into North America. It’s the company’s first attempt to bring a so-called triple-A title — one with the very highest of marketing and development budgets — to the smartphone screen. For now, players in India accounted for the largest proportion of installs at 14% while the US ranked ninth with 9% of downloads.

To ensure the popularity of the game, Tencent has introduced elements of what it knows best: social networking. The game allows people to link up with their friends from Facebook and form groups to go on missions. Call of Duty Mobile is free to play, though it features built-in incentives for people to spend real money on virtual goods such as character skins.

The mobile version was developed by Tencent but Activision Blizzard, in which the Chinese company owns a stake, is publishing Call of Duty Mobile in regions including the US, Europe and Latin America. Tencent oversees distribution for South Korea while Sea Ltd., which Tencent has also invested in, looks after Southeast Asia. Tencent will split revenues for publishing and intellectual property rights, Ji said without providing specifics.

“This is just the beginning,” said Rob Kostich, president of Activision Blizzard. “There’s much more to come.” — Bloomberg

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