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Mercantile Careplans now under IC conservatorship

THE Insurance Commission (IC) has placed Mercantile Careplans, Inc. under conservatorship for failing to comply with the minimum capital requirement for pre-need firms.

In a statement on Monday, the regulator said the pre-need firm was placed under conservatorship as it failed to meet the paid-up capital requirement prescribed under Republic Act (RA) No. 9829 or the Pre-Need Code of the Philippines.

Under RA 9829, pre-need companies selling two types of plans are required to have a minimum unimpaired paid-up capital of P75 million.

“The result of the examination made into the affairs, financial condition, and methods of doing of business of Mercantile Careplans as of end-2018 disclosed that the company failed to comply with the minimum P75-million paid-up capital requirement. Particularly, Mercantile Careplans’ paid-up capital is impaired by P14.23 million,” Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa was quoted as saying in the statement.

As a result of the Conservatorship Order, the management of the company is now under the IC-appointed conservator Marianne P. Lozada-Marquez.

Mr. Funa said the company is required to continue servicing its clients until and unless the IC-appointed conservator recommends otherwise.

“The operations of the company will continue to run under the management of Atty. Lozada. The initial step in the conservatorship process is for the IC-appointed conservator to review the current financial condition of the company and recommend measures to ensure the preservation of the assets of the company for the benefit of its plan holders and other stakeholders.”

As of end-2018, the pre-need firm has 5,622 enforced pension plans and 170 enforced educational plans.

IC said before it issued the order placing the Mercantile Careplans under conservatorship, the firm was required to address its capital impairment.

However, Mercantile Careplans told the regulator it is no longer financially capable of addressing its capital impairment as it has stopped selling plans since 2009 and is “merely servicing its existing and maturing plan holders,” the IC said.

Mr. Funa, however, noted that despite its lacking paid-up capital, Mercantile Careplans’ trust fund contributions are compliant with the requirements of the Pre-Need Code.

Under the law, IC has the ability to suspend or revoke all certificates granted to the company if the paid-up capital stock is impaired or deficient, upon examination or through other evidence.

However, the regulator can lift the order if the company can submit a viable three-year business plan.

The insurance industry, including life and nonlife insurance companies as well as mutual benefit associations, posted a higher net income in the first three months of the year at P11.72 billion, 46% higher than the P8.04 booked in January-March 2018. — B.M. Laforga

San Miguel to build new brewery in Iloilo

SAN MIGUEL Brewery, Inc. (SMB) on Monday said it will break ground for a new production facility in Leganes, Iloilo this month, as part of a bigger plan to establish more breweries around the country in order to boost capacity and reduce logistics costs.

In a statement, SMB said the new production facility, located in Barangay Gua-an, will have an initial capacity of one million hectoliters. The brewery is expected to be completed within two years.

The Iloilo brewery will be SMB’s third in the Visayas region. The company established breweries in Mandaue and Bacolod in 1968 and 1990, respectively.

Parent company San Miguel Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Ramon S. Ang will lead the groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 20

“We look forward to growing our presence in the Visayas region. This major development is an important part of San Miguel’s current expansion in key regions nationwide… With this investment, we hope to help accelerate the region’s overall growth and bring more jobs,” Mr. Ang was quoted as saying in the statement.

The company is in the midst of a capacity expansion program “to grow its core business, meet increased demand, and bring economic growth and jobs to key regions nationwide.”

Aside from the Iloilo facility, SMB is on track to complete a brewery in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental. It is also converting its existing Santa Rosa, Laguna bottling facility into a brewery.

“(The Iloilo facility) is a significant milestone for our company as we continue to pursue new growth opportunities. Over the long-term, this new facility will allow us to address growing demand and maximize efficiencies throughout the supply chain,” SMB President Roberto N. Huang said in the same statement.

With its flagship brand San Miguel Pale Pilsen, SMB dominates the beer industry with a 95% market share. Its breweries are located in Valenzuela, Pampanga, Mandaue, Davao del Sur and Bacolod.

SMB is one of the units under San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. (SMFB), alongside Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. The food business comprises of San Miguel Foods, Inc.; San Miguel Mills, Inc.; The Purefoods-Hormel Company, Inc.; Magnolia, Inc.; and San Miguel Super Coffeemix Co., Inc.

In the first half, SMFB reported its net income attributable to parent fell 16% to P7.78 billion, from P9.26 billion a year ago.

Financier for Joker has made movies into ultimate yield play

JASON CLOTH manages risk in his film-financing business just like he did as an investment banker, scrutinizing deals with one big question in mind: “How do I not get screwed?”

That means staying focused on business and not getting bedazzled by the glitz and glamor of Hollywood.

“People play on the vanity of it,” Cloth, 53, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto office. “But if you strip away the vanity, bright lights, and you run it as an asset-backed lending play, then you just dig into the value and understand it.”

The approach appears to be working. The founder and chief executive officer of Toronto-based Creative Wealth Media has poured more than $750 million into backing films over a decade. That’s made him one of the biggest private financiers in the industry and generated returns of 8% to 11% for investors of the firm’s debt fund, according to Cloth.

What may be Creative Wealth’s biggest money maker is about to be released: Joker (starring Joaquin Phoenix) which is being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival Monday after premiering to critical acclaim in Venice, where it won the top prize Saturday.

The movie could draw as much as $263 million in the US and Canada after its opening in theaters Oct. 4, according to an estimate from Exhibitor Relations Co. With a budget well below typical superhero films, Joker could turn a tidy profit for Creative Wealth, which helped provide $25 million of the film’s $55 million in production costs.

Two other big projects are lined up right behind. Bombshell, about the Roger Ailes Fox News scandal, stars Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, and Charlize Theron, and Apple TV’s The Morning Show, with Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Carell.

Backing a winner is no easy feat in a field that famously devours money and relies on often-capricious audiences. The Birth of a Nation, which Creative Wealth backed, generated a lot of Oscar buzz in 2016 but flopped at the box office. Recent bombs include Dark Phoenix, a superhero film that prompted a huge write-off at Walt Disney Co., and The Kitchen, a Melissa McCarthy action movie that Cloth also backed, but took in just $14.7 million worldwide.

To manage risk, Cloth’s strategy is to lend to multiple projects, secure the backing of top studios, and surround himself with trusted people — including a team of ex-investment bankers. His clients include Canadian pension funds, high net-worth family offices, and individuals.

“We focus on being an alternative debt shop,” Cloth said. “We’re an asset-backed lender, we just happen to take intellectual property as the asset, the collateral for our loans. Within every pension, there is a small allocation for alternatives and trust me, we are as alternative as you’re going to get.”

The Toronto native started his career as a fixed-income economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, but left to start an alternative investment company focused on high-yielding assets not correlated to markets. It was there he was approached by two men to loan C$20 million ($15 million) to launch a new Canadian artist. “After I stopped laughing,” he said, he decided to invest a more modest sum in the artist known as The Weeknd.

It was Cloth’s only deal in the music industry, but it helped introduce him to people in film and television, a sphere to which he’d always been drawn, and led to the start of Creative Wealth. One of the first films he backed was indie flick Tumbledown with Bron Studios, who he’s now closely partnered with.

“We came to an understanding: I can bring you all the capital you need to grow, but when things go off kilter, which they do in the film world, I need the studio to stand behind me,” Cloth said.

Starting off with $5 million in loans from friends and family, Creative Wealth now has a $300 million debt fund and a $300 million equity fund.

In an environment of shrinking bond yields, Cloth said he’s got investors knocking on the door. The financier is aiming to boost his debt fund to $750 million by the first quarter of next year, including an additional debt raise with Canaccord Genuity Corp. for $200 million. He said he’s also in talks with other big studios for an additional equity fund.

Partnering with Bron has helped Creative Wealth win financing rights to several big hits, including Joker, the Batman-less tale cowritten by director Todd Phillips about how a failed comedian got so twisted.

Creative Wealth won a share of the project partly in exchange for a commitment to bring Warner Bros. ideas from Bron Studios in the future, Cloth said. “They need to distribute other things that are not their tent poles. They’re relying on companies like Bron to bring them top-end intellectual property.”

Getting backing by well-established Hollywood powerhouses is key to surviving as streaming grows, Cloth said.

“The streamers are a real problem for the indie film space: if you’re not some sort of event, people would rather stay at home and watch it on their personal screen,” Cloth said. “If you don’t have that huge marketing push of a major marketing studio behind you, boy oh boy it’s a tough slug.”

So far this year, the top-five grossing films account for 33% of the box office ticket sales. In 2015, that sort of box office concentration was less than 25%.

The business can always throw up a surprise. Cloth was proud to back The Birth of a Nation. Then decades-old rape allegations against its director and lead actor, Nate Parker, resurfaced. Parker had been acquitted at trial. It drew only about $7 million at its opening weekend.

“It’s still one of my most proudest films, but it’s also a cautionary tale,” Cloth said. “You’ve got to dig into your filmmakers and stars and you have to have the fortitude to say if there’s smoke, you might want to stay away. Film is risky as it is.” — Bloomberg

BSP streamlines guidelines for voluntary surrender of licenses

THE Monetary Board (MB) has approved streamlined guidelines on the voluntary surrender of banking licenses.

In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the enhanced guidelines approved by its policy-making body will cover banks that plan to proceed to voluntary dissolution and liquidation or those who intent keep their corporate or cooperative life and convert into a nonbank entity.

“The streamlining of the guidelines emphasizes the primary requirement that only a bank in sound financial condition and does not have any of the grounds to prohibit it from doing business under Section 30 of Republic Act (RA) No. 7653 or the New Central Bank Act, as amended, may be allowed to undergo voluntary surrender of its banking license,” the central bank said.

Section 30 of RA 7653 states proceedings in receivership and liquidation will occur when the MB finds that a bank or quasi-bank is unable to pay its liabilities as they become due; has insufficient realizable assets — as determined by the BSP — to meet its liabilities; cannot continue in business without involving probable losses to its depositors or creditors; or has willfully violated a cease and desist order under that has become final.

The central bank said the new guidelines cover instances of voluntary surrender where no creditors will be affected during the resulting voluntary dissolution or the conversion into a nonbank entity.

“At the minimum, the applicant bank will ensure immediately accessible funds equivalent to its outstanding deposit obligations to provide assurance on the repayment of depositors,” the BSP said.

“The guidelines also stressed that even after the surrender of banking license, the BSP may impose sanctions to concerned bank’s directors, officers and employees who are found to have violated banking laws, rules and regulations,” the central bank added.

Government renews Now Telecom’s CMTS license

By Denise A. Valdez Reporter

VELARDE-LED Now Telecom Co., Inc. renewed its government license to operate as a telecommunications company last week.

Listed parent Now Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday that the company has been awarded its cellular mobile telephone system (CMTS) license by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

The license gives Now Telecom the authority to “install, operate and maintain” its network, and upgrade its existing system to become a “nationwide wireless communications network,” allowing the company to facilitate mobile telephony and multimedia transmission in its areas of operations.

“We reiterate our belief that at present, there is an insufficiency in telecommunications facilities that can effectively address the needs for day-to-day real time operations…,” Now Telecom President Rodolfo P. Pantoja was quoted as saying in the statement.

The company said it joins Smart Communications, Inc., Globe Telecom, Inc. and Dito Telecommunity Corp. in the telcos in the Philippines that currently have a CMTS license.

ROOM FOR MORE TELCOS
Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said there may still be room for a fourth or fifth major telco player in the Philippines, as it seeks to claw back radio frequencies from the current telco and broadcast owners.

“What we want to do is conduct a performance audit on the process and the performance of the third telco. Kung maganda ang performance nila [If they perform well], then we’ll consider, but I cannot say when, the fourth or fifth telco,” DICT Secretary Gregorio B. Honasan II told reporters Monday.

He explained the DICT is currently working to rationalize the distribution of radio frequencies to telcos and reallocate these resources to allow for the entry of new telecommunications players.

“It will require getting back frequencies that are allocated. It requires a frequency management policy… (But) I cannot be locked into certain timetables because as we speak, variables are coming up,” Mr. Honasan said.

But he noted the focus of the DICT now is to monitor the performance of the third telco player, Dito, which is required to fulfill specific commitments within a five-year period.

“Ang gusto nating focus muna is itong third telco [We want to focus first on the third telco]… We will take it one step at a time,” Mr. Honasan said.

Dito, formerly Mislatel, was named the official third major telco player by the government last year. It is backed by China Telecommunications Corp. and Dennis A. Uy’s Udenna Corp. and Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure Holdings Corp.

The government is requiring Dito to deliver a minimum broadband speed of 27 Megabits per second (Mbps) to 37.03% of the national population by July next year.

Amazon’s The Aeronauts premieres in Toronto amid concerns about streaming

TORONTO — Amazon Studios’ The Aeronauts had its Toronto International Film Festival premiere on Sunday amid concerns about the impact of streaming service providers on the traditional theatrical-release model.

The Aeronauts reunites Felicity Jones and Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as pilot Amelia Wren and real-life scientist James Glaisher in their hot-air balloon expedition to reach unrivaled heights.

The Aeronauts will have a mere two-week run in theaters starting Dec. 6, before launching on Amazon Prime Video, a shift from an earlier plan to debut the film exclusively in IMAX Corporation theaters for a week before a Nov. 1 theatrical release.

“It’s all changed, isn’t it,” Redmayne said to Reuters on the red carpet on Sunday, saying that streaming services like Amazon give access to people who do not live near cinemas or cannot get to them.

“But obviously, I still love the experience of sitting in a dark room with other people and being bombarded with stories that you experience as a community,” he said. “So I hope there’s room for both.”

For the first time, Cineplex Entertainment’s 14-screen Scotiabank Theater, one of the festival venues, is not screening any of Netflix’s eight productions or Amazon Studios’ seven films.

The theater is the venue for most of the festival’s press and industry screenings. The two streaming services’ press and industry screenings are held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox location, a spokeswoman for the festival told Reuters.

Cineplex prefers to screen movies from studios “who understand and appreciate the importance of the theatrical release model,” a Cineplex spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.

Netflix pulled out of May’s Cannes Film Festival after organizers banned its films from competition for its refusal to release them in cinemas.

“I’ve made so many films that they just don’t get seen that it’s so lovely to be making something that you know it’s so easy to access and people all over the world will be able to see it,” Jones said on the red carpet.

The Aeronauts’ story is based on a Sept. 5, 1862, hot-air balloon expedition by Glaisher and balloonist Henry Coxwell which broke the world record for flight altitude.

Redmayne and Jones co-starred in The Theory of Everything, for which Redmayne won an Oscar for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking. Jones, who played Hawking’s ex-wife Jane, was nominated for an Oscar.

“We’re old friends,” Jones said. “I think we really push each other. We probably drive each other crazy. We’re both meticulous and detail oriented and we don’t stop until we feel that we’ve done something special.” — Reuters

Home Credit to test Hong Kong IPO mart

HONG KONG — Consumer lender Home Credit is poised to offer the biggest test of Hong Kong’s capital markets since China’s Alibaba delayed plans for a $15-billion listing last month because of the political turmoil engulfing the city.

The Prague-based lender, which has a sizeable Chinese business, could launch its initial public offering (IPO) as soon as this month, and is seeking to raise more than $1 billion from the offering in the first of a series of significant IPOs planned in the city.

Hong Kong’s markets have been weakened by frequently violent pro-democracy protests and political turmoil over the past three months, slashing a 12% gain for the year to June on the blue-chip Hang Seng Index to a 3% positive performance by Monday. By contrast the benchmark US S&P 500 is up 18.8% so far this year.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators in the Central business district and the upmarket Causeway Bay shopping district on Sunday, as the city endures its worst social unrest since its handover from British rule to China in 1997.

Last month, Alibaba dealt the city’s investment professionals a blow when it delayed plans for a $15-billion listing in Hong Kong, choosing to hold off until the city’s politics and its markets had stabilized, Reuters reported.

That deal delay came soon after brewing giant AB InBev pulled the $10-billion IPO of its Asia-Pacific operations, citing market conditions.

Home Credit’s forthcoming IPO will be a key gauge of sentiment as typically the last four months of the year are the busiest in Hong Kong for public floats, accounting for an average 51% of the funds raised annually over the past decade, according to Refinitiv data.

Shanghai Henlius Biotech, a developer of innovative drugs and biosimilars — which are not exact replicas but are as effective as the original drug — is also expected to launch an IPO of up to $500 million this week.

Hillhouse-backed Topsports International Holdings begins informal investor meetings this week according to a term sheet reviewed by Reuters, ahead of a float expected to seek about $1 billion.

VALUATION PUSHBACK
So far this year, companies have raised $10.8 billion in new listings in Hong Kong — well short of the $16.5 billion raised between Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the $38.4 billion raised in New York.

The political uncertainty is making investors cautious and will weigh on valuations, bankers have warned.

“In good markets, generally good issuers would have a bigger say in deal terms and valuations, but that’s not the case any more as the Hong Kong market has turned volatile,” said a banker involved in one of the deals poised to launch. “The upcoming issuers have to be more realistic and moderate on valuations if they want to get the deal done.”

Home Credit’s week-long informal investor meetings were scheduled to take in cities including Hong Kong, Singapore and London before finishing in New York on Wednesday, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.

The lender, which focuses on point-of-sale loans as well as cash loans and revolving loan products, has an extensive Chinese business that accounts for almost two thirds of its total loan portfolio.

“The business (of Home Credit) is definitely a good one and they have great market position. It’s just whether the current market environment can deliver a deal that they think they deserve,” said one source with knowledge of the deal.

As well as Home Credit, Shanghai Henlius Biotech and Topsports, Chinese lender Bank of Guizhou began meeting with potential investors last week for an IPO of up to $1 billion, while baby-formula maker China Feihe is due to seek approval on Thursday from Hong Kong’s Listing Committee for a float of about the same amount, sources said.

“With all the uncertain, unpredictable factors in mind, investors would become way more cautious about issuers’ target valuations,” said a banker involved in one of the deals.

Home Credit, Henlius, Topsports, Bank of Guizhou and China Feihe declined to comment. All the people declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media. — Reuters

Keppel unit redeems 10M preferred shares

KEPPEL Philippines Properties, Inc. (KPPI) said one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has bought back about half of its redeemable preferred shares for P100 million.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Monday, the listed real estate firm said Buena Homes, Inc. (BHI) has purchased 10 million out of 20.6 million redeemable preferred shares at P10 each on Sept. 6.

The redeemable preferred shares came from the conversion of KPPI’s advances to BHI to such securities back in August 2013. This amounted to a total of P206 million, which may be bought back in full or in part within a period of 10 years until Aug. 28, 2023.

With this, the preferred shares will be retired and no longer issuable. KPPI will still own the remaining 10.6 million redeemable preferred shares.

“As such, the redemption of the preferred shares will not dilute the shareholdings of KPPI in BHI. Consequently, BHI remains a wholly owned subsidiary of KPPI,” the company said.

KPPI has authorized its director Oh Lock Soon to be the representative and signatory for the redemption of the preferred shares.

The company on Monday also announced the resignation of its assistant corporate secretary, Myla Gloria A. Amboy. She will be replaced by Stephanie Maree N. Dysangco, who also serves as the assistant corporate secretary of another listed firm, Mabuhay Vinyl Corp.

KPPI widened its net loss attributable to the parent to P51.68 million in the first six months of 2019, from P46.37 million in the same period a year ago. This came amid negative revenues of P24.71 million.

Shares in the company were unchanged at P4 apiece at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday. — Arra B. Francia

The Sphere targets staycationers, business travelers

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Associate Editor

THE Makati central business district is probably not on most people’s lists of places to have a weekend staycation. But when you think about it, the CBD is the perfect place to get away from the crowds. The CBD is nearly empty during weekends, there’s no traffic, parking is plentiful, coffee shops are actually quiet, and it’s easy to get a table at many restaurants.

I discovered this for myself when I was invited by Hospitality Innovators, Inc. (HII) to stay a night at the The Sphere Serviced Residences along Valero St. in Salcedo Village.

Owned by Six Stratos and managed by HII, the 120-room hotel occupies 21st to 26th floors of The Stratosphere Building (which also has residential condominium units).

Alec Yatco, operations manager of The Sphere, said the hotel has seen a steady stream of corporate travelers and weekend staycationers since it officially opened on Jan. 11 this year.

“Being centrally located in the Makati, surrounded by large corporations, The Sphere’s main target market would be corporate travelers, but at the same time, with facilities such as a swimming pool and fitness center, while being surrounded by numerous restaurants and several points of interest, we are able to attract leisure travelers and weekend staycationers as well,” he told BusinessWorld.

Mr. Yatco noted many of the companies in the area have booked rooms at The Sphere for their overseas or out-of-town guests.

The Sphere’s rooms range from studio (25-32 square meters) to one-bedroom suite (70-88 sq.m.). It comes with a fully equipped kitchen, refrigerator, smart cable TV, mini-bar and free Wifi.

These generously-sized rooms are what attracts business travelers, as well as long-staying guests who want a place that doesn’t feel as cramped as a usual hotel room.

“The Sphere, being a serviced residence, is able to set itself apart from Airbnbs and hotels in the Makati area because each guest is able to experience the best of both worlds. A serviced residence is basically an apartment with a kitchenette that can be rented both for short-term and long-term, while providing services and amenities you would typically find in a hotel, such as daily housekeeping, room service, bathroom amenities, fully stocked minibar, etc. All of these perks paired with flexible pricing, most specially for longer stay periods, will certainly attract many guests,” Mr. Yatco said.

The one-bedroom suite also had a spacious living area, dining area and kitchen. The wide glass windows provided ample natural light, making it feel more like a residential condo than a hotel room.

Unlike hotels that give complimentary mineral water bottles to guests, HII is committed to sustainability and provides purified drinking water in a sealed glass bottle under the brand Hiidrate.

“Our goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of various hotels and establishments by providing clean drinking water in sustainable glass bottles,” the company said.

The Sphere also removed the tiny bottles of shampoo, body wash and conditioner, replacing them with larger, pump-topped bottles. The Mooi & Co. branded products are free of parabens, sulfates and phthalates.

While it still has a few toiletries like a toothbrush kit and shower cap, the packaging indicates that it is made from stone paper, printed on soy ink, 100% recyclable, 100% tree-free and 100% photo-biodegradable.

NEIGHBORHOOD WALK
The Sphere’s amenities include a swimming pool, business center, fitness center and function rooms on the 9th and 10th floors.

While the hotel does not have its own restaurant, The Sphere partnered with Little Flour, located on the ground floor. Hotel guests can have their free breakfast at Little Flour, with a selection of breakfast favorites served with coffee. Guests can also order room service from Little Flour.

If you need a caffeine fix or afternoon snack, there’s also a Starbucks Reserve, Datong Ice House and Tea 18.

Take a walk around Salcedo Village and you can find numerous restaurants and cafes such as Mendokoro, Juju Eats, The Wholesome Table, Ooma Sushi Bar, New Bombay, Smith Butcher & Grill Room, Tim Horton’s and Toby’s Estate.

On Saturdays, there’s the Salcedo market at the Jaime C. Velasquez park a short walk away.

Mr. Yatco said the hotel is working to have more partnerships with restaurants in the area. For instance, the hotel helped me book a table at Apartment 1B, which is just around the corner.

Aside from The Sphere, HII also manages over 20 properties such as The Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences (Makati City), Y2 Residence (Makati City), The Serviced Residences at Kasa Luntian (Tagaytay), Hue Hotel (Puerto Princesa and Boracay), and Upper Story (Quezon City). It also manages residential condominiums, condormitels, and co-working space.

The Sphere is the first investment of Six Stratos, a 100% foreign-owned investment fund based in Singapore, in the Philippines.

Menarco Tower is ‘healthiest’ building in SE Asia

By Mark Louis F. Ferrolino, Special Features Writer

THE Menarco Tower, located in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), received a WELL Gold certification from the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), making it the first and only building in Southeast Asia to secure such kind of certification to date.

The WELL Building Standard measures and monitors the health and well-being of buildings and its occupants. Buildings are certified based on verified and measurable financial outcomes of its tenants such as employees’ productivity in terms of “presenteeism,” medical costs, and task efficiency, among others.

“The WELL Building Standard looks at the different elements within the building, but instead of focusing on green sustainability, we focus on human sustainability,” IWBI Asia Director of Business Development Samantha Allen told BusinessWorld in an interview.

“We see ourselves as two sides of the same equation, we don’t think that you should have one over the other. It’s about piecing it altogether. It is important to take care of both people and the planet,” she added.

A WELL score card is based on seven concepts: optimal indoor air quality, safe and clean water for various uses, availability of fresh wholesome foods for better nourishment, specialized lighting and illumination systems, availability of fitness features and components, comfortable indoor environment, and optimum features that nurture heath for the mind.

Ms. Allen noted that WELL is the culmination of years of rigorous research in collaboration with leading physicians, scientists and industry professionals. The WELL certification is awarded at one of three levels: Silver, Gold and Platinum.

There are only a total of 214 buildings across the globe that have been certified by IWBI, she said. Of this total, 114 were certified gold.

Some of the WELL-centric features and facilities of the Menarco Tower include filtered air circulation, ambient music and natural light in fire staircases, healthy food choices in the food hall, and drinkable tap water.

The first office building project of Menarco Development Corp. is located along 32nd street in BGC.

Menarco Development Corp. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Carmen Jimenez-Ong said in an interview with BusinessWorld that the Menarco Tower is currently the “healthiest” building in Southeast Asia.

“In terms of healthiest, we mean it takes care of the whole person,” she said. “In Menarco Tower, you can be assured that when you are here, you are in the most well-planned, humanity-centered space, where you can do your work best. Anything that comes in here is filtered to a level of cleanliness that, I think, kind of unheard, but it’s necessary because our conditions outside are already less than ideal.”

In 2017, the Menarco Tower was registered with IWBI to secure the WELL certification.

To attain the prescribed standards, Ms. Jimenez-Ong said that the team did some modifications during the building’s construction by installing more air and water filters, among others.

“I realized we were already doing most of the things that were prescribed in the certification. Of course, not as stringent when it comes to air filtration or water filtration, we just had to keep it up,” Ms. Jimenez-Ong said.

Aside from the health benefits of a WELL-certified building, Ms. Allen said that enabling a healthy space helps property developers attract and keep tenants.

“A lot of occupiers that we are speaking to are demanding for healthier workplaces. That’s one of the reasons that we see why developers are pursuing WELL, to attract those tenants and to keep those tenants for a longer period of time,” she said.

Apple puts music streaming service on the Web, rivaling Spotify

APPLE INC. on Thursday launched its Apple Music service on the web, opening up access to users to who prefer a browser instead of an app.

The company said the web version is an early beta test. It looks similar to the Apple Music app coming to Mac computers later this year. Beats Music, which Apple bought in 2014, had a web version, but Apple discontinued that upon launching Apple Music in 2015.

The company hasn’t built web versions of other major new services like Apple News+ and Apple TV+. But iCloud and iWork products are offered via the web. Apple Music competes with Spotify Technology SA. — Bloomberg

Draghi primes ECB easing seen to test currency defenses

EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi will test the composure of global policy makers this week as he unleashes a barrage of stimulus to shore up economic growth.

The monetary easing will probably feature the centerpiece of an interest-rate cut that widens the difference between borrowing costs in the euro area and elsewhere. That will potentially affect foreign exchange markets — and risk the ire of critics such as Donald Trump.

While Mr. Draghi has a mantra ready that his institution strives for price stability and doesn’t target the euro, that won’t stop the US president or others from accusing the ECB of fighting a “currency war,” a termed coined by former Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega. Mr. Trump has a history of citing the weakness of the euro when piling pressure on the US Federal Reserve to cut its own rates.

The timing of Mr. Draghi’s action won’t help blunt such calls either, coming a week before the Fed determines its own response to a slowing economy impaired by global trade tensions. Meetings of the Bank of Japan and Swiss National Bank (SNB) are also due then.

“Draghi is pressing for something significant,” said Kit Juckes, chief global FX strategist at Societe Generale SA, who expects at least a rate cut. “I don’t know that it’ll trigger a big FX response, but the more it does, the more likely it is to elicit a response from the president.”

The ECB chief put investors on watch for stimulus in July, when he said policy makers had instructed staff to prepare options. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg all predict a rate cut of at least 10 basis points (bps) to minus 0.5%, and probably further deepening later in the year, and investors are pricing 15 bps. While some governors oppose an immediate reactivation of bond purchases, the survey suggests that’s also likely to happen.

The anticipation of action helped push the euro below $1.10 to a two-year low last week. Against that backdrop, Swiss central bank data suggests its officials stepped up interventions in August to keep a lid on the franc.

A weak currency can boost an economy by making its exports more competitive. For Mr. Trump, with his focus on trade protectionism, that means Mr. Draghi’s impending easing has been a bugbear ever since the idea was first aired by the ECB chief in June. The US president tweeted about it then, and has since cited the euro as he presses for Fed easing, most recently on Aug. 30.

The euro has fallen against both the Japanese yen and the Swiss Franc, dropping to the lowest level since 2017 against both, as investors seek safety from the US-China trade war and slowing growth in the euro area. The common currency is nearly 18% undervalued, according to the Big Mac index, a measure of purchasing power across countries.

The Fed will take its own decision on Sept. 18, and may deliver a quarter-point rate cut as a festering trade standoff between the US and China weakens global growth.

The next day, the Bank of Japan, which like the ECB also has a negative rate, may consider reducing its own benchmark deeper below zero. The SNB, also meeting on Sept. 19, already has the world’s lowest rate at minus 0.75% and probably has limited space to act. Credit Suisse Group AG reckons it may stick with currency market interventions for now.

Other central banks are also taking a measured approach. Sweden’s Riksbank stuck last week with its plan to withdraw stimulus, the Bank of Canada declined to ramp up its own aid to the economy, and Australia’s central bank kept its key rate unchanged.

“I’d not call this a currency war,” said Ricardo Garcia, head of European Macroeconomics at UBS Switzerland AG. “We’re not at a point where it’s escalating between central banks.”

The ECB will be glad if that analysis can hold. With a deposit rate at minus 0.4%, its space to ease further is finite. Significantly expanding bond purchases remains contentious among policy makers because it might require self-imposed limits on quantitative easing — aimed at staying the right side of the line between monetary and fiscal policy — to be scrapped.

The danger that European stimulus could provoke a counterattack is surely a concern for policy makers, in particular if Trump changes tactics, according to Ned Rumpeltin, European head of foreign-exchange strategy at Toronto Dominion Bank.

“The issue now, in particular, is whether that decision could draw retaliation from the US in the form of tariffs on autos or other measures,” he said. “If he simply uses whatever package the ECB presents as a stick to beat the Fed, then the market is probably prepared for that. If, however, he turns more aggressive toward the euro zone itself, then we think we could be entering a new phase of the conflict.” — Bloomberg

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