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Celebrating an ‘authentic’ Oktoberfest at Solaire

OKTOBERFEST beer festival which is celebrated in Munich usually from mid-September until the first Sunday of October was first held in 1810 when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, eventually Ludwig I, created the festival to celebrate his marriage to Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Ludwig I’s reign may not have lasted long — he abdicated in 1848 amid numerous scandals including overspending, repressive policies, and his many affairs with women including the infamous dancer Lola Montez — but at least Oktoberfest endured and we can continue partying.

Solaire Resort and Casino, in cooperation with the German Club Manila, is bringing the most authentic Oktoberfest in the country at the Tent at Solaire on October 17-19.

“The German Club Manila is excited to celebrate this year’s Oktoberfest celebration once again with Solaire. The previous year broke our records. We look forward to a more dynamic and vibrant celebration of German culture through the Oktoberfest celebration,” Tobias Rast, president of the German Club Manila said during the preview.

Last year, “more than 6,000 guests” attended the Oktoberfest and Solaire is expecting the same number or more to attend this year, according to Michael Dinges, vice presider for culinary at Solaire said.

Guests can expect free-flowing beer, German delicacies, and Bavarian folk music, notably from the Bavarian Sound Express band. A variety of sausages like the weisswurst and an assortment of meats such as pork schnitzel, Swabian red bratwurst, Kasekrainer (an Austrian cheese sausage), and veal sausages, were presented in platters and samplers during a preview at Solaire last week. Classic desserts like the apple and walnut strudel with vanilla sauce and ice cream, and Kaiserschmarn, a dish made of shredded rum raisin pancakes with berry compote and vanilla sauce were served as well.

And what’s an Oktoberfest without beer? Bavarian Weihenstephan beer (from the former royal brewery, no less) will be served during the event, approximately 25,000 liters of it.

“This year’s 81st Oktoberfest will continue to be authentic and put the spotlight on the best of German culture. Following a very successful Oktoberfest celebration last year, we are thrilled to be hosting once again German Club Manila’s Oktoberfest celebrations and look forward to continuing this partnership,” said Knut Becker, Solaire’s Vice-President of food and beverage said during the preview.

“The German Club Manila’s Oktoberfest here at Solaire underscores authenticity… guests will receive an overflowing selection of Germany’s best tastes and flavors, surrounded by the finest Filipino hospitality,” Mr. Becker added.

For tickets to Oktoberfest, check oktoberfest-manila.ph, call The German Club at 818-4236, or e-mail reservations@germanclub.ph. Ticket prices are from P4250 to P7860. Corporate rates and early bird prices are available until October 16.

Solaire Resort and Casino is located at 1 Aseana Avenue, Parañaque City.— JLG

German beer, food at Okada Manila’s Octoberfest

ENJOY authentic German cuisine alongside free-flowing German beer and music from a Viennese band at Okada Manila in Parañaque City as they celebrate their “true Bavarian” Octoberfest from September 23-28.

Okada Manila is building a replica of a Bavarian village inside its Crystal Corridor where guests can enjoy unlimited German food including veal sausages, Bavarian meatloaf with potato salad, and brotzetibrett, a German cold cuts platter.

Free-flowing German Weihenstephan beer straight from kegs will be served by the hotel’s beer maidens.

“Octoberfest is very special as it is that singular event where you gather with your friends or family and just have a good time with great food, drinks, music, and fun. And Okada Manila is proud to be the only venue that provides the biggest and most lavish celebration indoors, thanks to the Crystal Corridor’s state-of-the-art climate control,” said Sumit Lalitkumar Rajput, Okada Manila’s F&B Director, in a release.

Access to the Octoberfest at Okada Manila is priced at P4,500 for regular access to P10,000 for VIP.

The event is from September 23 to 28, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. For bookings and reservations, e-mail RestaurantReservation@okadamanila.com or call (02) 555-7799 or (02) 888-0777. Reservations can also be made through any of the casino resort’s food and beverage outlets or at the event registration booth at the Crystal Corridor.

Okada Manila is located at the New Seaside Drive, Parañaque City.

Erdogan dares new central banker to think differently

Erdogan threatens to ‘chop off’ traitors’ heads
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — REUTERS

PRESIDENT RECEP Tayyip Erdogan may finally get to crow “I-told-you-so.”

For now at least, a coincidence of favorable data and timing would appear to vindicate Erdogan’s assault on economic orthodoxy, which holds that borrowing decreases when interest rates rise, curbing inflation as consumers spend less. Turkey’s president believes the opposite is true, and lower rates bring price growth down.

Thanks to a more stable lira, weak demand after recession, and distortions from year-on-year comparisons, Turkish inflation could soon be in single digits for the first time in over two years. And the central bank will almost certainly oblige on Thursday with a rate cut of as much as 4 percentage points, according to some analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Most see a reduction of 275 basis points to 17%.

But economists worry that Erdogan may be confusing correlation with causation. Much of the credit for the disinflation and the room to cut rates should go to the outsized monetary tightening delivered last year. And by exerting ever greater sway over monetary policy, Erdogan risks wrecking what’s left of the central bank’s credibility.

What’s more, the benefits of stimulus could be short-lived if it prompts a market backlash and starts another cycle of inflation and currency upheaval.

Just last year, the central bank came under pressure from Erdogan to refrain from raising rates, contributing to a crash in the lira by leaving Turkey’s assets vulnerable against a resurgent dollar.

The worry is what would happen next. Lack of a disciplined monetary policy means a “renewed collapse in the lira” is only a matter of time, according to Commerzbank AG. Rabobank is warning that a “major policy mistake could be in the making.”

“Erdogan intends to rewrite books on monetary policy, reiterating his unorthodox view on the relationship between inflation and interest rates,” said Piotr Matys, a London-based strategist at Rabobank.

LOOSE LANGUAGE
At the moment, Erdogan thinks he has the upper hand. Megaphone monetary policy has been all the rage in Turkey since the ouster of Murat Cetinkaya — who held rates for nine months after a massive hike — as central bank governor in July. While his replacement, Murat Uysal, has kept mum on rates for over a month, the president liberally weaves strident calls for easing into his stump speeches and interviews.

Uysal had only been in office a few weeks when he slashed the benchmark by 425 basis points. Hours later, Erdogan said Turkey’s biggest rate cut in at least 17 years was “not enough.”

Then days ahead of this week’s meeting, Erdogan suggested Turkey will lower borrowing costs to single digits soon and inflation will follow suit. Speaking on the economy Monday, he said he favors the Islamic risk-sharing model over charging interest.

“You will see that inflation will slow as interest rates fall,” Erdogan said in another speech on Saturday. “You are going to say: ‘Our president told us so.’”

Erdogan’s distaste for high rates has been linked to Islamic proscriptions on usury. In his view, producers have to pass on their higher borrowing costs to customers, so they raise prices.

ON EDGE
The verdict is still out on how long the market will tolerate an emboldened Erdogan and a mostly silent, pliant central bank. While the lira held up well after Cetinkaya’s dismissal, its fragility has been on full display since Erdogan started to turn up the heat last Wednesday.

Turkey’s currency is the worst performer in emerging markets against the dollar since Sept. 4, the day Erdogan said rates will fall further and unveiled next year’s target for economic growth that many analysts deem overly ambitious. It traded weaker for a fifth straight day on Wednesday, on track for its longest losing streak since May.

Expectations that the European Central Bank will pull off a rate cut and restart quantitative easing may give Uysal extra cover on Thursday. But chances are, price pressures will catch up with Turkey. Although inflation has slowed by more than 10 percentage points since a high in October, the deceleration will likely begin to fade in the last two months of this year.

“Over a longer horizon, the trend toward overly loose monetary policy risks exacerbating Turkey’s age-old vulnerabilities by fueling the twin dynamics of inflation and attendant currency weakness,” said Phoenix Kalen, a strategist at Societe General SA in London, who expects the central bank to cut its one-week repo rate by 250 basis points. — Bloomberg

AbaCore unit sells property in Batangas

By Arra B. Francia, Senior Reporter

A UNIT of AbaCore Capital Holdings, Inc. is selling its Batangas property to cement manufacturer Premiere-Slag International, Inc. for P225.88 million.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday, the listed company said its wholly owned unit Omnilines Energy International Network, Inc. has signed a contract with Premiere-Slag for the sale of its 30,117-square meter land in Mabini, Batangas.

In addition, AbaCore will subscribe to 10% of Premiere-Slag’s proposed authorized capital stock of P1.02 billion for P102 million.

“The intention is for Abacore to be the direct owner of Premiere-Slag International, Inc., an operating company, with business operations in the production, processing, and selling of cement or cement mixed with other components,” the company said.

AbaCore said this transaction will provide the company with other sources of recurring revenue.

Premiere-Slag is a company based in Subic Bay Freeport Zone that supplies cement products to the brand Sun Portland Cement.

AbaCore will subscribe to Premiere-Slag’s shares once the latter gives the full payment from its acquisition of Omnilines Energy’s property.

The transaction will still be subjected to several closing conditions within 100 days from the signing of the agreement, including Omnilines Energy assisting Premiere-Slag with the acquisition of licenses required for the development project. Premiere-Slag will shoulder the expenses for this process.

Omnilines Energy should also assist Premiere-Slag in obtaining ownership or the right to rent the seaside land connected to the property at a reasonable price. This will allow Premiere-Slag to install a pipeline that can transport raw materials from a dock to the property.

The AbaCore unit must also help Premiere-Slag secure permission from the Province of Batangas for the construction of a dock that will aid in its business activities.

Incorporated in 1981 originally as a mining company, AbaCore now functions as a holding firm with controlling interests in financial services, real estate, gold mining, and coal mining.

AbaCore’s net income attributable to the parent dropped 23% to P264.29 million in the first half of 2019, after gross revenues slumped 135 to P342.91 million.

Shares in AbaCore jumped 4.49% or four centavos to close at 93 centavos each at the stock exchange on Wednesday.

‘Bad things could happen:’ Turning to tech to tame the crypto jungle

LONDON — “Hi guys, could you please show me a firm bid for 100 Bitcoin?” a seller texts on Skype.

“One sec. $10270.”

Two minutes later: “Sorry guys, that was an old order from Friday when skype wasn’t working.”

“I really think we should get off skype. Bad things could happen. Someone is going to make an expensive mistake.”

*****

A messaging exchange over a potential $1 million deal, between a European asset manager looking to sell Bitcoin and broker Joel Fruhman, illustrates the casual and often chaotic nature of cryptocurrency deal making.

Trades involving hundreds of thousands, or millions, of dollars are routinely struck via brief chats on apps like Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat or Zoom, often with scant certainty over the identities of participants or the legal basis of agreements.

“We’d end up in a Zoom call with about five ‘introducers’ — we didn’t really know who any of them were,” said Fruhman, a physicist by training who started a cryptocurrency brokerage business with his brother Dan in their British hometown of Manchester in 2018.

“And who were we? What was our credibility?”

Over-the-counter (OTC) trading — buying and selling through a broker — is now beginning to change, however.

It is moving toward electronic automation as the cryptocurrency sector matures from the province of online enthusiasts to emerging financial assets drawing increasing mainstream interest, Reuters interviews with more than a dozen industry players show.

This is a fundamental shift, as messaging apps have for years been the predominant platforms.

It is a key front in attempts by cryptocurrency enthusiasts with roots in the traditional finance industry to drag into the mainstream a singular, largely unregulated sector born on the web a decade ago as a symbol of rebellion against the establishment and offering users near-anonymity.

OTC trading is favored by big investors like hedge funds because cryptocurrency exchanges often suffer from thin liquidity, and large buy and sell orders can move the market.

But the opaqueness of the messaging process and its impracticality for use on a large scale, plus the glitches that could cause the “expensive mistake” warned of by Fruhman, have left it fraught with risk.

Now, as spreads — the differences between bid and ask prices for immediate orders — tighten as liquidity in crypto markets grows, OTC brokers and market makers are seeking to move away from unsophisticated chats and offer quotes electronically, with automated execution and settlement.

“Things have shifted quite rapidly toward electronic trading,” said George Zarya, CEO of London-based cryptocurrency exchange BeQuant, which also runs an OTC desk and is planning to switch toward automation.

“Anything that is liquid — Bitcoin or ethereum — these markets are going to go electronic. That’s a natural path that traditional markets have gone through.”

The changes are likely to appeal to larger investors using algorithms and high-frequency trading for whom split-second timings are important, according to the interviews with cryptocurrency OTC brokers, market makers and investors.

Alameda Research, a crypto trader based in California and Hong Kong, launched an almost entirely automated OTC desk around six months ago that is already seeing flows of $20 million-$30 million a day, said Ryan Salame, its Asia-Pacific head of OTC.

For Salame, the future of OTC trading is electronic, with prices for all but the smallest coins to be quoted electronically.

“This is just the next step how you stay more competitive. Each desk is trying to be more competitive and making better systems,” he said. “It’s just a by-product of spreads coming in so much that I can’t update in the chat fast enough to give people the pricing they’re expecting.”

‘CAN YOU SELL A FEW MILL?’
The Fruhman brothers, Joel aged 29 and Dan 28, built a contact book packed with Bitcoin miners they met on internet forums and apps as they grew interested in the emerging technology.

Miners use computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles, competing against others and earning rewards in the form of new digital coins. As recently as a few years ago, individual crypto enthusiasts could mine Bitcoin from their bedrooms.

But many had a problem, the Fruhmans found: They were producing Bitcoin faster than they could convert them to the cash they needed to clear the hefty electricity bills run up by their high-powered computing gear working overtime.

“We saw something very clear: A bunch of guys with a lot of Bitcoin valued in USD, who had no idea how to turn that into money,” said Joel. “It started with one request, which was just one of these guys, our mate, who was like: ‘Can you sell a few mill?’”

Late last year, in an attempt to tap bigger investors and offer more sophisticated back-office services, the brothers swapped their contact book for a stake in a startup run by ex-financiers well-versed in the infrastructure of the financial system, from escrow accounts to settlement systems.

The startup, BCB Group, then based in London’s financial district, offered something the Fruhmans lacked: regular access to clients from mainstream finance willing and able to buy the regular supply of digital coin offered by their mining contacts.

“It’s not the stoned 22-year-old that we were dealing with a year and a half ago,” said Joel. “And it’s not the equity traders, the Goldman Sachs. They’re kind of in between — it’s growing from one into the other.”

TRADE BLOSSOMS IN BITCOIN BUBBLE
Global cryptocurrency trading volumes are highly erratic. Over the past year, Bitcoin alone — by far the largest coin — has seen daily volumes of between $900 million and $3 billion, according to research firm Coin Metrics.

Brokers estimate the OTC market typically accounts for 10% to 30% of global volumes on any given day.

The OTC market blossomed as Bitcoin’s value soared during its 2017 bubble. That was when miners, wealthy individual investors, hedge funds and companies earning revenue in crypto grew active in the market.

Now, said the industry players who spoke to Reuters, the market is seeing a new shift as the predominance of messaging apps wanes and the more sophisticated tools used in traditional markets like equities and bonds become increasingly common.

“Doing stuff over Skype and over these voice chats is not really scalable,” said Kevin Zhou, co-founder of San Francisco-based OTC desk Galois Capital.

The evolution is partly being driven by newer entrants to the sector, many of whom are tooled up with cutting-edge tech. Some, like Chicago-based Jump Trading, are from the traditional proprietary trading worlds. Others, such as Alameda Research, specialize in cryptocurrencies.

And the changes are popular with big investors.

“I prefer to use electronic because all our algorithms are fully automated,” said Andrea Leccese, president of Bluesky Capital in New York, an investment firm that often runs orders of $5 million-$10 million through OTC desks. “If we can send our quote electronically to the OTC broker, it’s much better for us.”

“It’s fair to say more or less half of OTC trading is going through technical innovation like making fully electronic platform, and that’s even better on our side.”

Cryptocurrency regulation is patchy across the world, with curbs on the illegal use of digital coins the priority, and the implications of increasing automation in OTC trading are unclear. But, some market players say, because the changes are likely to attract more mainstream investment they could be a factor in speeding up the introduction of the kind of securities rules seen in traditional markets.

MACHINE VS MAN
While increasing automation may be inevitable, many OTC desks are in a bind. Some clients are loath to ditch the personal relationships they have established with their brokers and the apps they use to communicate.

New York-based Genesis Global Trading sees around $1 billion a month in volume, CEO Michael Moro said. While that’s down from the $2 billion-$2.5 billion a month during Bitcoin’s 2017 boom, volumes are now rising between 10% and 20% a month.

Genesis uses TradeBlock, a New York firm that provides tools for trading cryptocurrencies, to execute its deals — but can’t completely abandon messaging apps.

“We will give market color over (Skype), but the actual transactions are over TradeBlock,” Moro said. “When your clients that are buying $5, $10 million say, ‘Hey, let’s just chat on Skype,’ to get them to change their behavior and say, ‘No, we don’t do Skype,’ you end up creating a friction.”

For the Fruhman brothers, personal relationships will remain key.

“The plan is to go to an automated platform, where they’ll be able to request quotes on our front-end website,” said Dan. “But the interesting thing is that a lot of people actually like the human-to-human interaction.”

“It’s not just ‘like,’” said Joel, quickly. “If you’re trading $20 million, you’re not clicking a button — you want to push on the price, you want to get a feel, you want to maybe break it up.”

“I think there’ll always be this human OTC component for institutional clients.” — Reuters

All White Wine Dinner

WHITE WINE consumption in the Philippines is still way behind red wine, and this ratio is “guestimated” at a lopsided 25:75 in favor of the reds. We are, however, not alone in this phenomenon as several of our Asian neighbors, including South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and China are also red-wine consumption dominant. Despite our tropical weather and high average temperature, Filipinos still like reds over the more refreshing whites. On the other hand, Australia (to name one country) is still 60% white wine consumption, against only 40% red.

STRONGER RED WINE REGION RECALL
The red wine dominance is not really surprising considering that some of the most popular wine regions are better known for their reds than whites, including Bordeaux, Piedmont, Tuscany, Rhone, Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Priorat, Napa, and Barossa.

White wines, on the other hand, performs extremely well only in certain countries like Germany, Austria, and New Zealand. In France, the top white wine regions are Alsace, Loire, and Burgundy — home of the best Chardonnays grown in the planet. Of the three, Alsace has the most varietal versatility, even if Riesling is the undisputed white varietal king in this region. Aside from Riesling, Alsace can also produce the best expressions of Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris. Alsace also grows three other white wine varietals: Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, and Muscat, aside from its only red varietal, Pinot Noir.

ALSACE GERMAN INFLUENCE
The Alsace region is located in the north-east of France, next to Germany and Switzerland, and to the south of Benelux. Alsace has a very unique history among wine regions as it was part of Germany a few times. In 1871, Alsace was added to the German empire following the Franco-Prussian War (July 1870 — January 1871). After over four decades and a half, the French took Alsace back in 1918 under the Treaty of Versailles, after Germany was defeated by the Allies in the First World War. Alsace was once more in the thick of things during the Second World War. Germany re-occupied and annexed the region again in the early stages of World War II on November 1940. People living in Alsace were forcibly made into German citizens by the then Nazi government to help them fight the Allies. The German’s occupation of Alsace ended when the Allies liberated Strasbourg (the capital of Alsace) on Nov. 23, 1944.

It is therefore no surprise that a German influence can be seen, from the language (Alsatian, which is a German dialect), to food, and to wines. This is why Riesling is the main varietal, similar to those from Germany, and not another varietal made popular in the other French wine regions. Alsace wines are also contained in long fluted Rhine bottles, another Germanic association. Alsace has 15,000 hectares of vines with almost 5,000 grape growers. It is protected by the Vosges mountains (the highest mountain, Le Ballon des Vosges, reaches 1,200 meters above sea level). Because of this protection, Alsace benefits from a dry and cold winter, and a dry and warm summer — a continental micro-climate that can make good wines consistently in almost every vintage, unlike those in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and other wine regions.

Eighty-two percent of Alsace wines are still wines, and 18% are sparkling under Crémant d’Alsace.

TRIMBACH ALL WHITE WINE DINNER
Trimbach is among the oldest wineries in Alsace with almost four centuries of existence (since 1626). Trimbach is also a 100% family-owned winery and is presently being managed by both the 12th and 13th generations. Trimbach owns around 25 hectares of their own vineyards with 20% from designated Alsace Grand Cru vineyards. More than 40% of Trimbach wines are Rieslings.

Trimbach Brand Ambassador and famous wine journalist Joel Payne was recently in Manila to preside over Trimbach’s All White Wine Dinner at the China Blue restaurant in Conrad Hotel Manila. This dinner was made exclusive to The Gold Club members — Golden Wines’ in-house wine club. This may be a first of its kind as customary wine dinners always feature both whites and reds, with most dinners gravitating towards majority reds.

The menu of China Blue, created by celebrity chef Jereme Leung from Singapore, has been a welcome treat to fans of modern Chinese cuisines since it opened three years ago, and the four-course menu designed for the Trimbach All White Wine Dinner was no exception.

Four Trimbach wines were featured: the Trimbach Pinot Blanc, Trimbach Gewurztraminer, Trimbach Riesling, and one of the most iconic Alsatian wines, the Cuvee Frederic Emile Riesling — named after one of the great-grandfathers of the Trimbach lineage, first released over 50 years ago with its 1967 vintage.

Trimbach’s other iconic Riesling wine is the Clos Ste. Hune, which is also celebrating its century mark with this vintage, as its first vintage was in 1919. The Philippines does not even have an allocation for the Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune, which many wine experts are calling perhaps the best Riesling wine.

THE MENU AND WINE PAIR
The first course was an appetizer set composed of China Blue Signature Mushroom Bun, Green Pear-Shaped Dumpling and Shanghai-Style Soya Braised Fish. This aesthetically crafted opening course was paired with both the Trimbach Gewurztraminer and Pinot Blanc. While the Gewurztraminer appeared and nosed quite sweet, Mr. Payne explained that the Gewurztraminer was actually very dry, with very low residual sugar, considered Brut already by Champagne classification. Both wines paired well with the first course, but I enjoyed the Gewurztraminer a little better than the Pinot Blanc because of the added “white pepper element” it brought to the different appetizers.

The soup course, which was Braised Shredded Fish Lip in Chicken Soup, came next, and understandably with no wine pair. Then came the main course, Roasted Duck with Orange Sauce, with Seafood Fried Rice in China Blue Signature XO Sauce. This was paired with the two Trimbach Rieslings, the classic Riesling, and the Cuvee Frederic Emile 2008 vintage. Once more, both Rieslings complemented the main course, but the Cuvee Frederic Emile was absolutely a marvel at the pairing, with the lime, minerals, and wonderful acid backbone rendering the roasted duck in orange sauce more tasty and flavorful. Mr. Payne also declared that the Cuvee Frederic Emile 2008 is one of the best vintages of this wine in the last two decades.

The dinner ended with a not-so-Chinese, but innovative Coconut Charcoal Ice Cream with Crispy Cheese Cracker.

The successful Trimbach All White Wine Dinner proved that Alsatian wines are great pairs to not only Chinese cuisines, but Asian dishes in general, Filipino food included. The key is the nice acidity that these Alsatian wines inherently contain, plus the unmatched aromatics and food-friendly dry style that are expressed, most especially when it comes to dry Rieslings.

Reservation at the China Blue can be made at (02) 833-9999. For interest in Trimbach wines and The Gold Club, contact Golden Wines, Inc. at (02)638-5025/27.

The author is a proud member of UK-based Circle of Wine Writers (CWW). For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.

Brokerage Charles Schwab says to cut about 600 jobs

CHARLES SCHWAB Corp. is looking to cut about 600 jobs. — REUTERS

DISCOUNT BROKERAGE company Charles Schwab Corp. is cutting about 600 jobs after an internal review, a company spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday.

“Impacted positions span all staffing grades, as well as organizations and locations across the company,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the company planned to eliminate nearly 3% of its workforce.

Chief Executive Walt Bettinger discussed the job cuts at a recent town hall with some employees, the Journal reported, citing an attendee. Charles Schwab said last week it will close its Singapore office by the end of 2019.

It will focus on growing its business in Hong Kong, China, Latin America and Europe, including the United Kingdom, in addition to the US-based international service teams.

The company, which provides brokerage and financial advisory services, reported an 8% year-on-year jump in second-quarter net income at $937 million. — Reuters

ABS-CBN signs deal for show distribution

ABS-CBN Corp. has signed a partnership deal with a French content distributor to air one of its local shows in territories in the Pacific and Indian areas.

The Lopez-led media firm said in a statement yesterday it signed a deal with France-based producer and distributor Ampersand to acquire rights for its television series Wildflower.

“ABS-CBN continues to evolve into a global media and entertainment company as another one of its wildly successful TV series makes its groundbreaking launch in three French-speaking territories…,” the company said.

The show, headlined by actress Maja Salvador, may now be viewed in New Caledonia, Polynesia and Réunion through television network Outre-mer la 1ère. ABS-CBN said the show is also available in French-speaking African countries, and by October, in Madagascar, through of a deal with China-based firm StarTimes.

The company has recently been expanding the audience for its locally produced television series with various deals signed since last year to take its shows outside the Philippines.

“The airing of Wildflower in French-speaking territories follows ABS-CBN’s string of successes in capturing more non-Filipino viewers in international markets this 2019, with Pangako Sa’Yo in the Dominican Republic, Halik in Tanzania, Forevermore in Thailand, The Blood Sisters in Kazakhstan, The General’s Daughter and Ngayon at Kailanman in Myanmar, and the upcoming co-production of ABS-CBN and Limon Yapim of Hanggang Saan in Turkey,” it said.

Distribution deals for ABS-CBN shows and movies are done by ABS-CBN International Distribution, which said has so far sold more than 50,000 hours of content across the globe.

In the first half of the year, the listed company posted an attributable net income of P1.55 billion, growing 83% year on year due to strong revenues from advertising sales. — Denise A. Valdez

Globe myBusiness partners with Facebook for MSMEs payments

THE enterprise arm of Globe Telecom, Inc. has partnered with Facebook, Inc. to offer payment solutions for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Globe myBusiness said in a statement that the social media giant will now allow payments through an Ad Creator, where online advertising may be paid through the company’s postpaid bill.

“While business owners acknowledge the importance of social media marketing and advertising, many of them do not own a credit card which is a requirement by Facebook if one wants to put up an ad in the Philippines,” Ces Porto, marketing head at Globe myBusiness, said in the statement.

With the alternative payment option through Globe myBusiness, the company expects to help MSMEs enjoy Facebook advertisements for their products.

“Globe myBusiness decided to join hands with Facebook in creating a unique platform…to give more opportunities for our MSMEs to promote their business to a wider market,” Ms. Porto added.

For his part, Facebook Philippines Country Director John Rubio said the partnership with Globe myBusiness will help the platform promote e-commerce use for local MSMEs.

“Together with our partners Globe and OnlineSales, we will expand our support for Philippine businesses of all sizes by providing tools and resources to help them grow and thrive in the digital marketplace,” he was quoted as saying. — Denise A. Valdez

How PSEi member stocks performed — September 11, 2019

Here’s a quick glance at how PSEi stocks fared on Wednesday, September 11, 2019.

 

Filipinos’ trust in major institutions declines

Filipinos’ trust in major institutions declines

Legislator backs P22.5-B NFA procurement budget

REPRESENTATIVE Jose Ma. S. Salceda, the House Ways and Means committee chair from Albay’s 2nd district, said he supports more borrowing by the National Food Authority (NFA) to boost its rice procurement funding to about P22.5 billion.

The NFA recommendation was contained in an aide-memoire to President Rodrigo R. Duterte and was among five proposed measures to address the collapse in purchase prices for palay, or unmilled rice.

“NFA should [be] allowed to borrow to triple its current buying operations from P7.5 billion to P22.5 billion. DA and DTI (the Departments of Agriculture and Trade and Industry) should implement comprehensive farmer assistance to affected farmers.”

The NFA pays a support price to farmers for their palay — currently at P17 per kilogram according to the NFA website, plus incentives — which is often much higher than what commercial traders are willing to pay. The onset of liberalized rice imports has softened the market for purchasing domestic rice, with some key rice provinces reporting that the price offered by private traders was as low as P7 during the current harvest. Expanding the NFA procurement budget would allow more farmers to benefit from the NFA price while traders are reluctant to buy.

Mr. Salceda’s other proposals include stepped-up price, import volume, and warehouse inventory monitoring by the DTI, DA and the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Mr. Salceda also said the DTI along the Department of Justice and the Philippine Competition Commission prepare to prosecute traders for profiteering, economic sabotage, and price manipulation.

He also recommended that “legal recourse should be made available for farmers.”

“Actions that can be undertaken in this regard include a government hotline for complaints of farmgate price manipulation, information campaigns on traders that offer the highest buying prices, and support for government efforts to procure its buffer stock, relief operations, and local services needs from farmers at fair prices,” Mr. Salceda said.

He urged the President to pursue a program of “economic tokhang,” deploying his political capital to defeat rice cartels.

“Tokhang” is a Visayan term used in a so-called persuasion campaign against drug offenders, who were identified and visited in their homes by police and local officials and urged to surrender or seek treatment.

“Buksan mo ang mga warehouses nila, tignan mo ang kanilang mga business records (open up their warehouses, inspect their business records), ask the (Bureau of Internal Revenue) to look into (or audit) their operations… and then after that submit it to the DoJ,” Mr. Salceda told reporters.

Mr. Salceda said Congress and the Executive branch should cooperate in helping farmers capture more of the value for their produce by providing the means to cut out middlemen, including “well-planned rural infrastructure and improved access to market information.” — Marc Wyxzel C. dela Paz

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