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Gov’t formally names Mislatel 3rd major telco

By Denise A. Valdez
Reporter
THE GOVERNMENT on Monday declared as the country’s third major telecommunications service provider the Mislatel Group of China Telecommunications Corp., Dennis A. Uy’s Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., as well as franchise holder Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. (Mislatel), almost two weeks after it was announced provisional winner for completing the selection process.
Udenna Vice-President for Corporate Affairs Adel A. Tamano received the confirmation order from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) en banc on Monday, which indicated its status as “new major player.”
The chairman of the auction’s oversight committee, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Acting Secretary Eliseo M. Rio, Jr., said in a briefing at the NTC office that Mislatel now has 90 days to submit its business and rollout plans, among other requirements, before it may receive its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) needed to operate as a telco.
“‘Yung bola nasa kanila na [The ball is in their hands]. And they have a maximum of 90 days. If they do not, for some reason, accomplish (submitting the necessary documents) in 90 days, that would disqualify them also,” Mr. Rio said.
Mr. Rio noted the realistic schedule for start of Mislatel’s commercial operations would be mid-2019.
Based on the auction’s terms of reference, the NTC is supposed to give the CPCN and the radio frequencies to the winning bidder after it completes evaluation of the submitted documents by the end of the 90-day period.
The government will award radio frequency bands of 700 megahertz (MHz), 2100 MHz, 2000 MHz, 2.5 gigahertz (GHz), 3.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz to the new telco.
Mr. Tamano, who is also Mislatel Consortium spokesman, told reporters that the group is eager to partner with smaller telco players as well as with incumbents PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. “We’d like to invite all the stakeholders, everyone who wants to have better telecommunications in the Philippines, to work with us… In fact, even those bidders who either lost the bidding or who decided not to bid, we invite you to work with us… Let us partner. We will use your telecommunications resources for a faster rollout. In fact, even our competitors, Globe and (PLDT’s) Smart, we are ready to partner with you for the use of your tower facilities,” he said.
Mr. Rio expressed his opinion in a social media post on Saturday that to ensure the success of the “third telco” in competing with Globe and PLDT, it would help to seek partnerships with the likes of Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T), Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. and Sear Telecommunications, Inc.
PT&T and Sear are the two other bidders that were disqualified in the bidding for lack of requirements. Both are raising their cases to the courts.
Mislatel committed for its five years of operations a cumulative capital and operational expenditure of P257 billion, population coverage of 37.03% in its first year and 84.01% by the end of five years, and an average minimum broadband speed of 27 Megabits per second (Mbps) in its first year and 55 Mbps in the succeeding years.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

A glimpse of the beginnings of a growing empire

By Marifi S. Jara
Mindanao Bureau Chief
DAVAO CITY — Dennis A. Uy’s Udenna Group of Companies has pending proposals for two major infrastructure projects in Davao City: a P30-billion monorail that already has a stamp for Original Proponent Status from the Department of Transportation, and the development and management of the Davao International Airport under an unsolicited 30-year private-public partnership contract.
Though Mr. Uy has often been referred to as the “Davao-based businessman,” these two projects actually mark more of a return to Mr. Uy’s southern roots as his diversified interests have, in fact, pulled him out of his hometown over the years with nationwide expansion and ventures in the country’s north.
“He does not really hold office here, I have not actually seen him,” said one long-time worker of Udenna subsidiary Global Synergy Trade And Distribution Corp., which is based in the holding company’s published Barrio Obrero office in Davao City.
Global Synergy was among the first companies of the group, formed just after Phoenix Petroleum Holdings, Inc., Udenna Management & Resources Corp., and Chelsea Shipping Corp., all registered in 2006.
Udenna Corp. itself was born four years earlier, just two months ahead of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc.’s May 2002 establishment.
Phoenix Petroleum, a family business that became the first independent oil firm to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in July 2007 after enactment of the 1998 Oil Deregulation Law, has been growing, raking in P1.79-billion net income for 2017, up 65% from the previous year.
It has five of its own subsidiaries: Phoenix LPG Philippines, Inc.; PNX Petroleum Singapore Pte Ltd.; Subic Petroleum Trading and Transport Phils., Inc. (SPTT); P-F-L Petroleum Management, Inc. (PMI); and Philippine FamilyMart CVS, Inc.
The Phoenix Petroleum main office in Davao City remains Udenna Corp.’s published headquarters even after the topping off ceremony earlier this year of its own 24-storey corporate building at the Bonifacio Global City in the capital Metro Manila.
Continuing to be Udenna’s crown jewel, Phoenix Petroleum, based on its end-Sept. report this year, now has a nationwide network of 558 retail stations, including franchises, from only an initial five within Davao and other parts of Mindanao in 2005.
BUSINESS AND BASKETBALL
Ian Ray C. Garcia, a high school classmate at the Stella Maris Academy in Davao, remembers Mr. Uy as someone passionate about two things: business and basketball.
Mr. Garcia, a lifestyle writer for a local newspaper and blogger, said the young Uy always brought a basketball and played at the school gym, and during conversations about their teenage dreams, talked about building a business.
“He would tell us that he wanted to succeed in business by going into franchising,” Mr. Garcia, told BusinessWorld.
Mr. Uy did eventually go into franchising, but not as a franchisee.
His Phoenix Petroleum was awarded Outstanding Filipino Franchise in Retail-Large Store category in the 2015 Franchise Excellence Awards.
As for basketball, he’s now got his own professional team — the two-year old Phoenix Fuel Masters, which plays in the Philippine Basketball Association league.
TIES WITH THE GOKONGWEIS
The oil company, which now provides fuel services in 18 domestic airports, had Cebu Pacific, the Gokongwei family’s budget airline, as its first major client.
Phoenix Petroleum has grown as the airline’s major fuel supplier and exclusive logistics provider in Mindanao.
The Uy-Gokongwei partnership has also extended into the hotel business, with Udenna and the Gokongwei’s Robinsons Land Corp. forming GoHotels Davao, Inc. for the budget hotel branch in Davao City.
Go Hotels Davao, the biggest provincial branch in the chain, is just less than six kilometers away from the airport that Udenna’s Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp.(CLC) aims to expand and operate.
Under CLC’s proposal, which was disclosed to the PSE in March this year, a new taxiway will be built that can accommodate 30 hourly aircraft movements and the cargo terminal’s capacity will be tripled by the end of the 30-year concession period.
The Davao monorail, meanwhile, would initially stretch for 13 kilometers through the city’s central urban area, with an option for a possible extension to the airport, based on a press release issued by the company in May this year.
Dubbed the Davao People Mover, the metro railway proposal already has support from the Davao City council.
Councilor Jesus Joseph P. Zozobrado, chair of the public works committee and vice-chair of the transportation committee, said he sees the monorail complementing the High Priority Bus System, which is expected to be rolled out starting next year.
Mr. Zozobrado, in an interview last Oct. 23 before a council session where the monorail was to be discussed, said the project would help address the creeping traffic congestion.
“This is one problem that has crossed the social and economic divide. Everyone, at one time or another, is bound to experience the traffic congestion in the city,” he said.
Engineer Manuel T. Jamonir, business development manager of Udenna Infrastructure, said the company hopes to get government approval soon and start construction by 2020, with completion targeted in three to four years. It will be under a 35-year concession period, then will be turned over to the government.
On top of these proposed projects in Mr. Uy’s hometown, the Udenna Group also has its basket full with such big ventures as the 177-hectare Clark Global City under Global Gateway Development Corp.
TELCO
But the most ambitious — and most controversial — undertaking so far of the 44-year-old entrepreneur is in yet another sector: telecommunications.
It was not until Nov. 7 — on the day of submission and opening of bids for the country’s third major telecommunications service provider — that Mr. Uy’s Udenna and CLC confirmed their partnership with China Telecom, the foreign telco which President Rodrigo R. Duterte, a fellow Davaoeño, said in December last year should get the job. The consortium was provisionally named the country’s third major telco the same day under the name of its franchise holder, Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. (Mislatel), after its only two competitors were disqualified. It was formally declared third major telco on Monday.
Opposition senators have raised questions about the bidding, noting that while the country’s telecom industry needs more players and improvement in services, “we need to do things right.”
In a joint statement on Nov. 8, minority Senators Franklin M. Drilon, Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, Leila M. De Lima, Francis N. Pangilinan, and Antonio F. Trillanes IV said: “The selection of the joint venture of a Davao-based businessman and state-owned China Telecom as the provisional new major telecommunications player should be examined carefully.”
“What qualified it in the first place? Why were the other bidders booted out? What is the track record of the winning bidder in the telecommunications business? Was the government opening up the bidding to other players just a formality? In December 2017, Malacañang said it wants the government to ensure that China Telecom can begin its Philippine operations by the first quarter of 2018. Ito na ba ‘yun (Is this it)? ” they said.
In Nov. 2017, Malacañang did announce that Mr. Duterte offered China the opportunity to enter the local telecommunications scene in hopes of breaking the duopoly of industry giants PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. China Telecom Corp. Ltd. was later named as China’s chosen investor, but given the country’s 40% foreign ownership restriction, it needed to find a local partner.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission then proceeded to form a set of rules in bidding out what would be the “new major player” crown.
Several local and foreign firms were identified as interested parties months before the auction.
Although PLDT, Inc. and Globe Telecom, Inc. say they are not worried just yet of significant impacts to their businesses with Mislatel’s entry, the government is hopeful of its capability to shake up the country’s telco landscape.
The Uy-led consortium committed in its first five years of operations a total capital and operational investment of P257 billion. It also said it will deliver an average broadband speed of 27 Megabits per second (Mbps) in its first year of business and 55 Mbps in the succeeding years, and will cover 37% of the population within its first 12 months of operations.
Compared to how the incumbents currently fare — with average download speed at 5 Mbps for Globe and 7.5 Mbps for PLDT’s wireless unit Smart, according to an August report from wireless coverage mapping company OpenSignal — Mislatel does have the potential to disrupt the telco scene if it delivers on its promises.
What remains to be seen is how far political and legal resistance will go against the telecommunications foray of Mr. Uy — the young entrepreneur from Davao who steadily built a national business empire in the last 16 years, but has now come under the shadow of his hometown’s most famous political son. — with Denise A. Valdez, Arra B. Francia and Carmelito Q. Francisco
 
Click here to see related timeline.

A glimpse of the beginnings of a growing empire

DAVAO CITY — Dennis A. Uy’s Udenna Group of Companies has pending proposals for two major infrastructure projects in Davao City: a P30-billion monorail that already has a stamp for Original Proponent Status from the Department of Transportation, and the development and management of the Davao International Airport under an unsolicited 30-year private-public partnership contract. Read the full story.
A-glimpse-of-the-beginnings-of-a-growing-empire

iPeople allocates P2.5B for Mapua Makati campus

THE education arm of the Yuchengco group will be investing P2.5 billion to develop a new Mapua campus in Makati City.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange last week, iPeople, Inc. said its subsidiary Malayan Education Systems, Inc. (MESI) has acquired a 5,114-square meter property along P. Ocampo, Sr. Ave., Makati City. The company said this will be funded through internal and external sources.
MESI operates under the name of Mapua University, considered a leading private engineering and technical university in the country. It currently has a campus in Intramuros, Manila and another in Makati.
iPeople delivered an attributable profit of P57.16 million in the third quarter of 2018, 58% lower than the P136.63 million it generated in the same period a year ago. The company attributed the decline to the lower number of enrollees due to the K-12 transition period. Revenues for the quarter slipped 10% to P479.63 million.
In the nine months ending September, iPeople’s attributable profit fell by 60% to P122.59 million, against P305.35 million in the same period a year ago. This followed a 12% drop in revenues to P1.31 billion.
“Revenues from school operations dropped by 10% due to the continuing effect of the K-12 transition, as well as the transition to a new school calendar for academic year 2018-2019,” the company said.
It added that the number of freshman and sophomore enrollees also went down, but was offset by more students in the Senior High School program.
iPeople expects the K-12 program to continue affecting its bottom line until enrollments normalize by academic year 2021 to 2022.
The company is currently being merged with Ayala Corp. (AC)’s education unit, AC Education, Inc. The P15.5-billion merger will bring iPeople’s combined student population to almost 60,000 students.
Aside from Mapua University, MESI also operates Malayan Colleges Laguna and Malayan Colleges Mindanao. Meanwhile, AC Education owns University of Nueva Caceres and APEC Schools, the largest stand-alone chain of private high schools in the country.
The merger will still have to undergo regulatory approval. Once approved, 51.3% of iPeople will be owned by Yuchengco-led House of Investments, Inc., while AC will have a 33.5% stake.
Shares in iPeople dropped by 3.62% or 38 centavos to close at P10.12 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

Drive, fly, fight and escape in a virtual reality playground


A VIRTUAL playground includes racing simulators, escape rooms, and omnidirectional treadmills has opened in Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City.
“There are quite a few VR (virtual reality) themed parks around the metro but most of them are in the south and we felt that there’s an untapped market here [in Pasig],” Vijay Aidasani, co-founder and president of Virtual PH, told BusinessWorld during the official launch on Oct. 29.
Located at the fifth floor of the mall near the cinemas, the virtual theme park features VR simulators including a VR Karting simulator which can accommodate two people who will compete in a simulated go-kart race; a motorcycle race simulator; and a flight simulator where the player can pretend to be a superhero and fly through the skies.
Use of the simulators ranges from P120 to P400 depending on the number of players and the kind of simulator.
Mr. Aidasani explained that this section serves as an introduction to VR gaming for people who are yet to experience VR.
“Our vision is really to provide an advanced, immersive, social, and mind-blowing experience to our patrons by offering a fun and safe environment where people can just enjoy [VR],” Mr. Aidasani said in a press release.
The highlight of the 216-square meter space is undoubtedly the omni-directional treadmill called KATVR. This allows a player to run, turn, and duck in order to have a fully immersive experience playing first-person shooting games, role-playing games, or horror games.
KATVR can accommodate up to four people who can either team up or play individual games.
“There’s a bit of a learning curve because we attach sensors to the player’s shoes and once the game starts, the treadmill becomes slippery,” Mr. Aidasani said before adding that people usually get a hang of it after a few minutes.
“You can’t get me on a treadmill but I can do this for 40 minutes straight,” he joked.
He said that Virtual PH is the first to offer this kind of experience in the Philippines so far.
Use of KATWALK is priced from P250 for 10 minutes to P700 for 30 minutes.
Virtual PH also offers three themed escape rooms where up to six players must work together to solve puzzles. One room is for horror, another is for fantasy fashioned after Alice in Wonderland, and another is for sci-fi.
And for a fully immersive experience, the escape rooms are powered by HTC Vive VR headsets and GeForce GTX 1070 TI graphic cards, “the kind used to mine bitcoins,” said Mr. Aidasani.
“This section is perfect for friends or even companies who want to do team-building,” Anchesca Ang-Aidasani, co-founder and head of marketing, said in the same interview.
Access to the escape rooms ranges in price from P600/person (for a group of six) to P700/person (for a group of three to four).
One of the perks of doing a VR entertainment center is it’s able to change the games in its library so returning players can experience a different game. The company is currently testing many games which they plan to add to its existing library, said Mr. Aidasani.
For those not living near Pasig and who want to play VR games like these, Mr. Aidasani said they are considering opening a second branch next year though no other details are forthcoming.
But for those who want to travel across the metro or live in Virtual PH’s vicinity, this is quite an experience — though take it from this writer who played almost all of the games (except the escape room), do play with a bit of restraint as the visuals and the entire experience can be overwhelming if done in quick succession.
Virtual PH is located at the 5th floor of Ayala Malls Feliz, Pasig City. For more information visit govirtual.ph or contact 09171608774 or connect@govirtual.ph. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Rockwell Land reports 9% uptick in Q3 income

EARNINGS of Rockwell Land Corp. gained 9% in the third quarter of 2018, as higher income from its leasing segment offset the slight dip in sales of residential units.
In a regulatory filing, the Lopez-led property developer said net income attributable to equity holders of the parent climbed to P629 million in the July to September period, versus P576 million booked in the same period a year ago.
Revenues in the same period picked up 5% to P4.15 billion. Bulk of this came from the sale of condominium units, which stood at P3.01 billion, 2% lower than the P3.07 billion posted last year. Lease income meanwhile jumped 58% to P400 million.
On a nine-month basis, Rockwell Land’s attributable profit surged 17% to P1.88 billion, after revenues rose 14% to P12.2 billion.
Amid the slower third quarter, sale of condominium units went up 10% to P8.99 billion in the nine month ending September, which the company attributed to the higher completion of Edades Suites and The Vantage.
The launch of new projects — the Aruga Resort and Residences in Mactan, Cebu, and Arton in Quezon City — prompted a 34% increase in reservation sales for the period. Aruga Resort, with its 300 residential units and 300 hotel rooms, has a sales value of about P6 billion, while the second tower of the Arton is set to generate around P4 billion in sales.
For commercial development, revenues surged by 36% to P1.44 billion, boosted by the new retail and office spaces available following the expansion of Power Plant Mall, as well as the addition of RBC Sheridan and Santolan Town Plaza.
Cinema operations rose by 36% to P214 million following the addition of two cinemas in Power Plant Mall, and four cinemas in Santolan Town Plaza.
Meanwhile, the office segment generated P391 million in revenues, 83% higher year-on-year, also due to RBC Sheridan which logged an average occupancy rate of 61%.
Revenues from the hotel segment slumped 17% to P264 million, weighed down by the third discontinued operations of Aruga at the Grove Service Apartments in September 2017.
Rockwell Land said it has spent P10.24 billion worth of capital expenditures in the first three quarters of the year, out of the P14 billion it has committed to spend for the entire year. The company noted that half of the budget was spent for the development of Proscenium, while a total of P1.68 billion went to investment properties.
The listed firm earlier said it plans to ramp up land banking efforts this year, allotting about P4-5 billion to acquire up to 284 hectares of land across the country.
Shares in Rockwell slipped two centavos or 1.04% to close at P1.91 each at the stock exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

Mickey Mouse, the icon of an animation empire, celebrates 90th birthday

NEW YORK — It was the Roaring ’20s. Calvin Coolidge was in the White House, the New York Yankees had just won their third World Series title, and Mickey Mouse made his debut on the silver screen.
On Sunday, Mickey Mouse, the brainchild of cartoonist Walt Disney that eventually came to symbolize a global entertainment empire, celebrates his 90th birthday.
The iconic rodent, whose easily recognizable silhouette consists simply of a big circle and two little ones for ears, launched his celluloid career in Steamboat Willie, at New York’s Colony Theater on Nov. 18, 1928.
In the eight-minute-long, black-and-white cartoon, Mickey pilots a steamboat and entertains his passenger, Minnie Mouse, by making musical instruments out of the menagerie on board, according to IMDB.com.
Mickey Mouse, whom the Walt Disney Co. calls its global ambassador, also starred in Disney’s critically acclaimed 1942 animated film Fantasia, and would go on to launch a franchise with The Mickey Mouse Club, the 1950s television series that was a favorite of American baby boom kids.
His image appeared on T-shirts, lunch boxes, and watches, and the telltale mouse ears are still worn by kids visiting Disney theme parks today.
To mark his birthday, Disney opened a 16,000-square-foot art exhibition in Manhattan, called Mickey: The True Original Exhibition, featuring original art, larger-than-life photo ops and, of course, commemorative merchandise. The exhibition runs until Feb. 10.
After all, reaching one’s 90th birthday is a milestone for anyone, but especially for a mouse, which the pest control company Teminix estimates has a normal lifespan of no more than three years. — Reuters

Manila Bay Area seen overtaking Makati CBD by 2021 — Colliers

DEMAND from foreign employees of offshore gaming firms is boosting the growth of the Metro Manila’s residential condominium market, particularly in the reclaimed area fronting Manila Bay.
During its property market briefing last Nov. 7, Colliers International revealed the Manila Bay Area accounted for 26% of the total delivery of units during the third quarter, thanks to the completion of Monarch Parksuites developed by Anchor Land Holdings, Inc., and Palm Beach Villas developed by Federal Land Inc. The two projects added more than 1,200 units.
More than 4,800 condominium units were completed during the third quarter, Colliers said. The property consultancy firm is optimistic the full-year projection of 9,600 units will be achieved.
“Despite the central bank raising policy rates, developers are still aggressive with their completion because, note that, in the past three to four years, demand has really outpaced the supply, so developers are really ramping to really capture the demand in the market,” Joey Roi H. Bondoc, manager for research at Colliers, said during the briefing.
The so-called Bay Area accounted for 16% or 17,800 units of the total 113,700 units completed in the third quarter, overtaking Ortigas Center which accounted for 17,600 or 15%. Fort Bonifacio currently accounts for the bulk of completed condo units at 27%, followed by Makati CBD at 23%.
By 2021, Colliers expects the Bay Area to overtake other business hubs, including Makati. It expects the Bay Area to have 29,500 completed units by 2021, versus Makati CBD’s 28,700.
Unit prices in the Bay Area are likewise projected to go up to the same level as Makati’s.
“Pre-selling projects in the Bay Area, for instance, recorded a 25 to 30% increase in price since being offered to the pre-selling market at the start of 2018. As of 3Q2018, pre-selling prices in the Bay Area hover between P220,000 to P290,000 per square meter (sq.m.), reflecting Makati CBD prices in an emerging business district,” Colliers said in its latest quarterly review.
Colliers noted vacancy rates in the Bay Area dipped to 12.5% in the third quarter, from 12.9% in the second quarter. Overall, vacancy rates across Metro Manila went down to 10.8% during the July to September period, from 11.3% in the second quarter.
Demand for condo units is being driven by employees of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), as well as local employees who want to live near Fort Bonifacio and the Makati CBD.
“Fort Bonifacio, Bay Area, and Makati CBD are the three major locations that have been cornering bulk of offshore gaming space transactions since 4Q 2016. This strong demand is spilling over to the residential sector as aside from expansive office space, a major requirement of these offshore gaming companies is a residential complement,” Colliers said in its quarterly report.
Aside from residential developments, office buildings are also being completed in the Bay Area. SM Prime Holdings, Inc. recently launched ThreeE-Com Center, which 97% of its 114,000 sq.m. floor area have already been leased out. It also topped off the FourE-Com Center, which will have a gross floor area of 190,000 sq.m. Both buildings are in the Mall of Asia Complex.
D.M. Wenceslao & Associates Inc. is also planning a four-tower residential project MidPark Towers in its flagship mixed-use estate Aseana City.
DoubleDragon Properties Corp. last May opened its 11-storey project called DoubleDragon Plaza in DD Meridian Park, located at the corner of Macapagal Avenue and EDSA Extension in Pasay City. The building has 130,000 sq.m. of leasable space. — Vincent Mariel P. Galang

Clark airport expects 2.5M passengers by December

CLARK International Airport aims to welcome 4.5 million annual passengers by 2022.

THE Department of Transportation (DoTr) said it is expecting total passengers at the Clark International Airport (CIA) to reach 2.5 million next month as the holiday season kicks in.
In a statement on Monday, the DoTr said Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president and chief executive officer Jaime Alberto C. Melo reported the number of passengers in Clark is set to hit a record 2.5 million by the third week of December. In 2017, CIA recorded 1.5 million passengers.
“(Clark International Airport) is now one of the country’s busiest airports and this 2.5 million passenger mark is another record-breaking milestone for Clark,” he was quoted as saying.
The gateway in Pampanga currently handles 390 domestic and 184 international flights every week. By next year, the Clark airport eyes 11 domestic and 24 international destinations.
“The increase in the number of passengers here at the Clark Airport means we help ease congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and in Metro Manila, and at the same time increase economic activities in the central and northern regions,” Mr. Melo added.
The Clark airport targets to register 4.5 million annual passengers by 2022. — Denise A. Valdez

Vintage Mickey Mouse posters to fetch thousands at auction

LONDON — Seven rare vintage posters of Mickey Mouse are expected to fetch thousands of dollars at an auction that coincides with the 90th anniversary of the cartoon character’s first film appearance.
The seven posters, dating from the 1930s and 1940s, went on display on Friday at a commemorative exhibition in London organized by Disney.
They are going under the Sotheby’s hammer in an online auction that runs until Nov. 26. A price list in a statement from the auctioneer and Walt Disney Co. UK & Ireland suggests they could fetch more than £130,000 ($165,000) in total.
“We’re expecting a lot of interest… There are collectors who collect animation posters from all over the world and Mickey Mouse historically is the most valuable of all the animation characters,” Bruce Marchant, Sotheby’s film poster consultant, told Reuters.
“They’re particularly rare posters from England, France, Belgium and two of them are the only known surviving examples and for three of the others, there are certainly less than five known.”
Such posters were reused several times at cinemas and, being made of paper, most eventually fell apart and were thrown away. “So they were never meant to be looked at 80-90 years later” or viewed as works of art, Mr. Marchant added.
The exhibition, Mickey’s UK Art Collective Exhibition, is also showcasing new Mickey-inspired works by established and emerging UK artists including Jimmy C, Michael Bosanko and Pal Kumar. — Reuters

8990 plans 3-4 leisure projects in next 5 years

HOUSING developer 8990 Holdings, Inc. is planning to launch three to four leisure properties every year within the next five years.
“We recognize the fact that tourism is really a permanent fixture already in the Philippine landscape and secondly, we want to build up on our recurring income and we feel that the subsidiary we are going to embark in — this company which handle the resorts and hotels — we will be able derive in five years, at least 20%-25% of our gross income from this company,” Mariano D. Martinez, Jr., 8990 Holdings chairman told reporters on the sidelines of the subsidiary’s launch on Nov. 14 at the Green Sun hotel in Makati City.
The newly formed unit 8990 Leisure and Resorts has earmarked P5 billion for the development of three hotel brands: Adama, a five-star luxury family resort; Kura, a luxury hotel; and Argo, an urban hotel.
During the event, the company said it will launch the Adama resort brand in Puerto Princesa, Siargao, Lapu-Lapu City, Baguio, Boracay and Siquijor.
The Argo brand will be introduced in Cebu, Iloilo, Manila, Makati, Alabang, Legazpi and Clark.
Kura, described as a luxury hotel “a notch lower than a Mandarin Oriental,” will be in the same locations as the Argo hotel except in Legazpi and Clark.
Mr. Martinez said the company plans to open the first Argo hotel in December. Located along EDSA, the hotel will offer 250 rooms with sizes ranging from 13 square meters (sq.m.) to 30 sq.m.
8990 is also planning to open the first Adama resort in Siquijor by the first quarter of 2020. The resort will have 22 family villas.
“Some of the locations [we chose] was because we already owned [the land]… but [in the case of] Siargao, it’s because we really like the place,” said Willibaldo J. Uy, president and CEO of 8990 Holdings, Inc., during the same event.
Mr. Uy said the launch of the Adama Siquijor resort will be timed with the opening of the new passenger terminal building of the Siquijor airport.
Mr. Martinez said they will continue to have construction company Megawide Construction Corp., as their preferred builder because of their technology.
Despite creating 8990 Leisure and Resorts, this isn’t the first time 8990 has entered the hospitality business, as it already owns two properties in Boracay and Baguio under the Azalea brand.
The good performance of the Azalea properties gave 8990 the confidence to build its hospitality portfolio, Mr. Martinez said. The Azalea brand will not be folded into 8990 Leisure and Resorts.
“We’re happy with what Azalea was able to give right now, but we’re going to develop already Adama, Kura and Argo,” Mr. Martinez said.
“Azalea started as a timeshare [property] and we’re not going to do timeshare anymore. That’s why we cannot weld the two together,” he added. — Zsarlene B. Chua

Robinsons Galleria unveils a fresh new look

By Zsarlene B. Chua
Reporter
ROBINSONS Galleria, one of the first shopping malls that opened along EDSA in 1999, has gotten a much-needed makeover.
It took more than two years to complete the renovation of Robinsons Land Corp.’s flagship mall, which included widening the atrium, introducing more wood tones, removing the scenic elevator, and improving the lighting.
“The mall itself is an old one…so the renovations took time,” Myron Lawrence T. Yao, regional operations manager for the commercial centers division of RLC, told the media during a run through on Nov. 13.
Robinsons Galleria has a gross floor area of 215,000 square meters spread across five levels.
Mr. Yao said the renovation is 94% completed, and is expected to be finished by yearend. He said the mall only needs to re-paint its exteriors and finish the upgrade of the cinema, which will include a premium cinema with recliner seats for around 100 people.
To make the mall feel more modern, RLC used more wood in Robinsons Galleria’s interiors, particularly its ceilings, and installed more lights. Mr. Yao noted mall goers have often told them that the mall seems a little dark.
With the goal of making the space more open, Mr. Yao said they decided to remove the scenic elevator in the atrium. The new space is currently occupied by a 32-foot European fir tree Christmas tree which can be seen from all the mall’s floors.
Despite the extensive renovations, Mr. Yao said Robinsons Galleria maintained most of its tenants with the mall having 98% occupancy. He said the mall also increased the number of food retail partners, which now stands at 20% of the total tenants from 10% previously.
The mall’s food court, located at the lower ground floor, also increased the number of seats to 1,200 from 1,000.
Next year, Mr. Yao said Robinsons Galleria will also launch a new steel parking building near Saint Pedro Poveda College. The carpark structure will be able to accommodate 250 cars and 250 motorcycles and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2019.
ROBINSONS MAGNOLIA EXPANSION
Meanwhile, Robinsons Magnolia is set to open a new wing by the second quarter of next year.
In an email to BusinessWorld, Arlene G. Magtibay, general manager of RLC’s commercial centers division, said the new wing will add “55,000 square meters in floor area to the existing mall.”
Robinsons Place Manila will also undergo renovation in 2019 “to refresh and reinvigorate the malling experience,” Ms. Magtibay added.
Next year will also see RLC opening Robinsons Galleria South in San Pedro Laguna, which, as Ms. Magtibay describes, will be their “premium mall in the south.”
But before 2018 ends, RLC is scheduled to open their 51st mall in Valencia City, Bukidnon on December 12. This will be the company’s seventh mall in Mindanao and will have a floor area of 47,000 square meters spread across three levels.
The new mall will have around 200 stores and restaurants, six cinemas and a green park with a pond.

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