SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook on Wednesday announced its first original news shows for the social network, joining other online platforms producing video to compete with television. The news shows will be produced for Facebook by a variety of partners including CNN, Fox News, ABC News and Univision. The programs are producing the social network’s on-demand video service called Facebook Watch, which is part of an effort to compete with platforms such as Google-owned YouTube, and potentially develop a wider following. Facebook said the launch of news shows was also aimed at offering its members “trusted” content following concerns that the platform was used to spread misinformation. “Earlier this year we made a commitment to show news that is trustworthy, informative, and local on Facebook,” said a statement from Facebook news partnerships chief Campbell Brown. The first programs include ABC’s On Location featuring contribution from the network’s journalists from around the globe; CNN’s Anderson Cooper Full Circle featuring the popular CNN host; and Fox News Update hosted by chief news anchor Shepard Smith. — AFP
BDO Unibank, Inc., the banking unit owned by Mr. Henry Sy, Sr., stood at 1,072nd position from 1,018th last year.
FEWER Philippine companies landed on the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies.
Six companies — down from eight last year — bannered by SM Investments Corp. joined other global corporate heavyweights in the 16th edition of the annual ranking based on sales, profits, assets and market value, Forbes said in a statement.
The holding firm of Henry Sy, Sr., the country’s richest man, stood at 883rd place, down from 823rd last year.
BDO Unibank, Inc., the banking unit owned by Mr. Sy, also saw its ranking slip to 1,072nd position from 1,018th a year ago.
Top Frontier Investment Holdings, Inc., the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corp., tumbled to 1,210th spot from 1,128th, while Ayala Corp., the Philippines’ oldest conglomerate, dropped to 1,216th place from 1,175th.
JG Summit Holdings, Inc., the holding firm of the Gokongwei family, slid to 1,506th slot from 1,151st, and Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. of tycoon George S.K. Ty declined to 1,750th position from 1,531st.
“You can say that these are the companies that are too big to absorb the heat because they can spread the risks,” Rens V. Cruz II, analyst at Regina Capital Development Corp., said in a phone interview.
“You also have the two biggest banks in the country and going into 2018, financial is the most profitable sector,” he added.
Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. and Manila Electric Co. missed this year’s ranking after being included in the 2017 edition.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China dominated the elite list for the sixth consecutive year, with China Construction Bank remaining in second place.
JPMorgan Chase became the largest company in the US, moving up a notch to third place and overtaking Berkshire Hathaway, which slid to fourth place.
Rounding out the top 10 are Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Apple, Bank of China, and Ping An Insurance, respectively.
Collectively, the Forbes Global 2000 accounts for $39.1 trillion in sales, $3.2 trillion in profit, $189 trillion in assets and $56.8 trillion in market value. All metrics are up double digits year over year, with profits up 28%.
“It’s been a strong year for businesses worldwide, and companies on the Forbes 2018 Global 2000 saw their market value, assets, sales and profits jump,” Halah Touryalai, deputy editor for Money & Markets at Forbes Media, was quoted in the statement as saying.
“But while this year’s market correction may not hurt the world’s largest public companies, looming geopolitical challenges, like a trade war, are a different story. With China and the United States making up more than 40% of the Global 2000, the possibility of a trade war between the two is a major risk for global companies.” Forbes used an equal weighting of all four metric — sales, profits, assets and market value — to rank companies according to size. Each company received a separate score for each metric, with Forbes adding up all the scores to compile a composite score. The highest composite score got the highest rank. — Krista Angela M. Montealegre
THE International Labor Organization (ILO) said the Philippines is moving forward both in terms of its compliance with international labor laws and resolving the issue of contractualization.
ILO Philippine Country Director Khalid Hassan said he views the government to be taking “very seriously” the issue of labor contractualization after the labor department released a list of companies who are still allegedly practicing it.
The list consisted of 3,377 companies the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) submitted to Malacañang, though only the leading firms were made public.
“They are improving, they are discussing it, they are coming up with ideas, they are looking into the laws, if there is a need to adjust the laws. It’s not that easy,” Mr. Hassan told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Labor Standards and Trade Forum held in Makati City on Tuesday.
He added there is room for improvement in areas such as dialogue with stakeholders.
“You must have observed (that) there are a lot of discussions with the employers’ organizations. (But) it takes time, it needs social dialogue,” Mr. Hassan said in a press conference.
While admitting that some stakeholders “may still be not happy” with the measures the government has taken, communication is the “first step in going in that direction.”
President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s campaign promises include was putting an end to employment practices that deny workers a path to permanent employment and security of tenure.
To mark Labor Day, Mr. Duterte signed an executive order instructing the DoLE to inspect working conditions and compile its list of companies subject to compliance orders. — Janina C. Lim
NEW YORK — Indie rockers The National and Bon Iver on Wednesday unveiled the latest entrant into the streaming universe — a site for musicians to post their outtakes hassle-free. Dubbed People, the platform is designed not as a rival to major streaming sites such as Spotify but rather as a free site of benefit to musicians and, ideally, to fans. People, available in test form at https://beta.p-e-o-p-l-e.com/, will let artists upload tracks that did not make the cut for albums, early versions of songs that did see the light of day, or pretty much anything else the musicians think the world may want to hear. Justin Vernon, the central member of Wisconsin-based experimental rockers Bon Iver, speaking to The Guardian, said that many musicians lose focus and rhythm because they need to wait months before putting out their music. “So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it,” he told the newspaper. — AFP
By Krista A.M. Montealegre, National Correspondent
DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. is unveiling a food and heritage village targeting locals and tourists within its commercial project in Pasay City.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, the property developer said Islas Pinas will “showcase the abundance and vibrancy of the Filipino culture” and allow local and international guests to experience the Philippines’ heritage sites, its natural resources, hospitality and its cuisine.
Envisioned to be the “new icon of tourism,” Islas Pinas will have a capacity of over 700 seats covering 2,500 square meters (sq.m.) of space.
“Because of the ideal location of DoubleDragon Plaza at DD Meridian Park — our close proximity to the airport terminals and being only about five minutes away from (Ninoy Aquino International Airport Expressway) — we believe Islas Pinas will become a must visit stopover for both domestic and international tourists visiting the capital,” DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar “Injap” Sia II was quoted in a statement as saying.
Islas Pinas is a collaboration between the DoubleDragon Group and chef Margarita Fores to “inspire nationalism and cultivate patriotism” by highlighting the country’s beautiful sites and diverse regional cuisines.
Islas Pinas will put food at the centerstage, offering all-day Filipino breakfast favorites, comfort snacks, signature dishes of different regions of the Philippines, neighborhood baker products and urban street foods.
“DoubleDragon has always believed in embarking on projects with relevance. We believe Islas Pinas will be a landmark in the country, and will showcase the diversity not only of our cuisine and handicrafts but also our landscape and architecture brought about by the rich heritage and culture of the country,” said Marianna H. Yulo, the company’s chief investment officer.
Islas Pinas is the anchor of DoubleDragon Plaza, which forms part of the 4.8-hectare DD Meridian Park commercial and office complex.
The DoubleDragon Plaza is an 11-storey project offering 130,000-sq.m. of leasable office space and an additional 12,000 sq.m. of retail space on the ground floor. The project is located at the corner of Macapagal Avenue and EDSA Extension along the Bay Area in Pasay City.
DoubleDragon Plaza is the first phase of DoubleDragon’s 4.75-hectare DD Meridian Park in Bay Area.
By the end of its development in 2020, DD Meridian Park will have a total gross leasable area (GLA) of 280,000 sq.m.
Shares in DoubleDragon slid 75 centavos or 2.61% to end at P28 each on Thursday.
THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) said it is on track to address concerns raised by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) regarding the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (SCTW).
MARINA Administrator Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero reported at a Maritime Forum in Pasay City that the agency is looking to complete within the month the review and revision of several policies to address issues raised by EMSA after its inspection last March.
“Based on our schedule, we are on track (to meet the deadline). Our next milestone is on Oct. 31, when we will present the evidence of what we’ve submitted. We submitted to them last April 27 the things we will do and the things we have done. In October they will be back here to check. So that’s what we have to work on,” he told BusinessWorld in an interview.
EMSA is the regulatory arm of the European Commission, which ensures that countries involved in seafaring comply with the policies of the European Union on maritime safety. Mr. Guerrero told reporters that the EMSA assessment found several deficiencies with regard to SCTW compliance.
“There are some provisions we have to comply with, especially when it comes to assessment, issuance of certificates, and program implementation,” he said.
He said the findings are being addressed via the update of some MARINA circulars and the correction of deficiencies in maritime school facilities.
Mr. Guerrero said the agency has been in close coordination with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to remedy the issues, and has given training schools six months to adopt the revised curriculum.
He also noted that the circulars that EMSA flagged are undergoing legal review, some of which are what he expects to be done within the month.
Mr. Guerrero said failure to comply with EMSA standards will be a big blow to the Philippines’ perceived competitiveness in the maritime industry.
“We’re working closely with European Union member countries because they’re also interested to help,” he said.
Philippine Transmarine Carriers founder Carlos C. Salinas told BusinessWorld he is “optimistic” that MARINA will be able to complete its compliance program by October. “We are doing all our best and I’m very confident and optimistic that we are going be able to reply and to take action,” he said. — Denise A. Valdez
NEW YORK — The story of Bob Marley, the Jamaican superstar who in his short life brought reggae into the global mainstream, is set to become a Hollywood biopic. A representative for Paramount Pictures confirmed Wednesday that the studio was developing a film on the life on Marley, who died in 1981 at age 36. The studio did not offer further details but news site Deadline Hollywood said that the reggae legend’s son Ziggy Marley, himself a successful reggae musician, was leading production plans. The late legend has already been featured extensively in concert movies and documentaries, notably the 2012 film Marley by Scottish director Kevin Macdonald which brought together archival footage and interviews. Any Hollywood biopic is likely to be scrutinized in Jamaica and abroad over what it chooses to emphasize. Marley has become loved by global audiences for hits such as “No Woman, No Cry” and “Redemption Song,” but diehard fans often question whether casual listeners appreciate his Afrocentrism, his Rastafarian faith or his major influence as a peacemaker within Jamaica. Marley’s fame has only grown since his death, which was triggered by cancer in a toe. — AFP
By Melissa Luz T. Lopez, Senior Reporter
BIG BANKS are well-positioned to meet new liquidity rules from the central bank, but will have to boost deposit taking and long-term loans to beef up funding, Moody’s Investors Service said.
The credit watcher said the net stable funding ratio (NSFR) requirement announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) stands “credit positive” for Philippine banks, as the new tool would bolster funding profiles and improve the stability of the banking sector.
“The banks’ adherence to NSFR rules will limit their reliance on less stable funding sources, reducing their sensitivity to tightening market liquidity in times of stress,” Moody’s said in a statement sent yesterday.
The NSFR will require universal and commercial banks to hold enough liquidity or “reliable” sources of funding to match their expected funding needs for one year. These will require big players to hold enough money supply to meet “expected and unexpected cash flows and collateral needs” during day-to-day operations.
The central bank set July-December as the observation period to facilitate a smooth transition and “allow prompt assessment and calibration” of the new requirement. By Jan. 1, 2019, banks unable to meet full coverage will face sanctions from the BSP.
Moody’s said the new rule will strengthen “funding resilience” among big banks by ensuring ample liquidity. In particular, 10 players rated by Moody’s are expected to comfortably meet the NSFR “without challenges.”
These are BDO Unibank, Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, China Banking Corp., Land Bank of the Philippines, Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Security Bank Corp., Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., UnionBank of the Philippines and the United Coconut Planters Bank.
“These banks currently have strong capital profiles and large bases of current and savings account (CASA) deposits, which are among the most favorable funding sources under NSFR rules, and low reliance on short-term confidence-sensitive wholesale funding,” Moody’s said, noting that these players have been largely reliant on customer deposits.
“We expect the new rule to raise the industry’s demand for CASA and term deposits, and long-term borrowings as banks seek to expand their stable funding base to support future asset growth.”
However, Moody’s noted that mid-sized lenders Security Bank Corp. and UnionBank may incur higher compliance costs as they have smaller deposit bases.
Deposits held by big lenders totalled P10.861 trillion as of end-March which have supported P7.997-trillion outstanding loans, according to BSP data.
The central bank wants lenders to hold enough cash and liquid assets at all times as their inability to service withdrawals or process transactions could bear “unacceptable costs” and affect the financial footing of these firms. This will also bolster safeguards against a repeat of a widespread financial crisis, which is the main goal of the international Basel 3 framework adhered to by central banks.
Moody’s gave a “stable” outlook for the Philippine banking sector for 2018, saying that local players will benefit from “synchronized global recovery and moderate credit growth.”
Photo by Victor V. Saulon
AN intervenor in the seven power supply agreements (PSA) being sought for approval by distribution utility Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to dismiss outright the applications without the required environmental compliance certificates (ECC).
In a statement, Romeo L. Junia, who represents the consumer group Power for People coalition, said he had filed with the ERC a motion to dismiss what he called “defective” applications.
Mr. Junia, a consumer intervenor opposing the seven Meralco PSAs, said he made the filing after he obtained a copy of the March 20, 2018 order of the ERC, which its chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera earlier disclosed to reporters. She said the ERC had ordered about three PSAs without the required ECC to submit the document. The deadline falls due on the third week of June, she added.
Mr. Junia identified the three PSAs as those forged by Meralco with Central Luzon Premier Power Corp. (CLPPC), Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC) and Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. (GLEDC) In all, they cover a total of 1,600 megawatts (MW).
“The lack of ECC is fatal because the rules require as supporting document the [ECC] issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the generation company,” he said.
Meralco had sought approval for the PSAs ahead of an expected increase in power demand while existing contracts are set to expire.
Ms. Devanadera earlier said that she had inhibited from the deliberation on the PSA with Atimonan One Energy, Inc. (A1E), the project company developing a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in Atimonan, Quezon province.
She said the reason for her decision was because she hails from that province. She had served as mayor of one of its towns.
“Plus may consultancy akonoon, napakaliit naman (I have a consultancy firm before, but it’s very small),” she said about a possible conflict of interest. She did not say which Meralco entity had been her client.
The vote on the Atimonan plant’s PSA comes at a time when two of the ERC’s four commissioners are scheduled to retire on July 10, 2018.
“Remember, even if there’s a quorum there should be three approving the rate,” Ms. Devanadera said.
Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation arm of Meralco and the parent firm of A1E, is building the P107.5-billion power plant. The plant will be financed through a loan that could not be closed because of a PSA requiring ERC approval.
Meralco previously warned of the escalating cost on the distribution utility should the delay in the PSA approval stretch beyond what is acceptable to the plant’s contractors. For lenders, a PSA is an assurance that a power plant project will bring in a steady stream of revenues to guarantee loan repayment.
Meralco had agreed to buy 1,200 MW of the electrical output of A1E, which previously expected the 600-MW first unit of the project to reach testing and commissioning in December 2020. The second 600-MW unit is set to go through the same process in May 2021. Their respective commercial operation is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2025.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Victor V. Saulon
By Noel Vera Video Review
•Manhunt
Directed by John Woo
•Sky on Fire
Directed by Ringo Lam
•Three
Directed by Johnnie To
•Wild City
Directed by Ringo Lam
PLAYING CATCHUP: In the ever-changing landscape of World Cinema, what happened to Hong Kong’s “heroic bloodshed” movement — those action filmmakers who featured slow motion, balletic action sequences, guns pointed at each others’ faces?
Eaten up by China, is the short answer. John Woo (whose A Better Tomorrow — the most conscientiously scripted of the early films — started the trend, or at least planted the trend firmly on the international map) went Hollywood and did interesting if not superior work there (Hard Target, the most stylish of the Mission Impossible flicks, Face/Off [my second favorite], and his epic and epically underrated take on World War 2, Windtalkers). Johnnie To has kept steadily working, straying into politics (the Election movies), fantasy noir (Mad Detective), and the odd blood-drenched character piece (Vengeance). Ringo Lam has had the oddest career curve: after doing a series of dark low-budget Van Damme ventures (Replicant, In Hell) he collaborates with Tsui Hark and To on a feature (Triangle) and then — silence for eight years.
Which is how matters lay far as I knew, until I happened to stumble upon four films (all found on Netflix) from these three different filmmakers, giving me some insight on how they’re faring nowadays.
Woo’s Manhunt is his unembarrassed remake of Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive with the speed limiter removed. Wrongly accused Attorney Du Qiu (Zhang Hanyu) is pursued by relentlessly cool Detective Yamura (Masaharu Fukuyama) through the teeming streets and choppy waterways of Tokyo, both portrayed by a pair of effortlessly charismatic physically eloquent actors (Harrison who? Tommy Lee what?). They’re surrounded by mostly disposable beautiful women (one of which is disposed at film’s start, hence Attorney Qiu’s predicament), but really, the relationship that matters (as in all Woo films) is the one between the two male leads — we even have the required fight sequence where the two men bond, staged with bruising intensity (a length of lumber and a strategically located rock are at one point involved).
The picture is a trip; can’t really call it a good film — there’s a line between faintly absurd and downright ridiculous that Woo likes to skip across and back (a meta form of suspense the filmmaker tossed in without charge) that unfortunately he stumbles over and faceplants on big time for his gleaming corporate laboratory finale — but even then you can’t help feeling a guilty sense of approval. Plot and logic may have been flung out a window but you can be sure Woo captures the gesture in a single balletic shot, in glorious slow motion.
Near the beginning Du Qiu helps out a young woman being harassed — actually an assassin named Rain (Ha Ji-won) waiting for him to walk away before she starts her deadly work — and they talk old movies. That’s the moment the director betrays his hand: Du and Rain — and Woo himself — are wanderers in an alien land, dreaming of a better world they once saw on the big screen. With sentiments like that presented without irony onscreen it’s hard to hold a grudge. Manhunt’s plot revolves around the MacGuffin of a specially developed drug used to create supersoldiers (Shades of Captain America but with considerably more fun); Ringo Lam’s Sky on Fire — his first after eight years’ silence — is about a specially developed drug that can fight cancer. The plot is, if anything, every bit as complicated as Woo’s pharma thriller but Lam is, if anything, even more old-school than Woo: the car chases and fistfights are done with gritty CGI-free realism, sans slow motion and glamor; Lam of course was director of City on Fire — the great crime thriller ripped off by Quentin Tarantino to start his own more commercially successful if less artistically fruitful career.
A subplot involves a trucker (Joseph Chang) trying to obtain the drug for his dying sister (Amber Kuo) and in their scenes together you remember Lam is also skilled at understated human drama. That said, Chang is also involved in one of the film’s best action sequences, suddenly stealing the truck holding magical “ex-stem cells” (Former stem cells?) and slamming and smashing his way to freedom.
Towards the end, Lam is forced to up the ante, and finally the (poorly funded) CGI effects come into play. A dizzyingly tall superscraper named Sky One explodes (hence the title) and all loose plot ends are wrapped up in the required ball of fire (at least I assumed they were; not really keeping track). If I prefer this to Woo’s latest it’s partly because Woo may talk the talk about old-school filmmaking, but Lam for the most part walks the walk (till, say, that “explosive” climax), and does so more deftly.
Johnnie To’s Three, like the previous two, is set in the medical industry (What’s up in Asia anyway — is there some simmering health-care crisis we don’t know about?) in the ward of a large (fictional) hospital; unlike the previous two, this film has a crackerjack premise: gang boss Shun (Wallace Chung) is accidentally shot in the head; Dr. Tong Quian (Zhao Wei) wants to operate but Shun refuses — he knows the bullet buried in his head is evidence of Detective Ken’s (Louis Koo) wrongdoing. Three is aptly named. The main characters — gang boss Shun, Detective Ken, Dr. Quian — are three oversized egos and masters of their particular domains. When their worlds collide the result is a three-way deadlock: Quian wants the bullet out, Shun doesn’t, Ken wants evidence of his misstep to somehow go away. When Shun’s gang arrives, the result is a jawdropping, eyepopping shootout where the camera swirls around the hospital ward in a single take, bullets flying, patients dropping, police officers and gangsters firing to the strain of a moody pop ballad (with bits of Mozart thrown in).
Quian’s character is the best-written of the three leads — actor Zhao seems genuinely concerned in her sleep-deprived way, and genuinely unsure when her professional standards end and her egotism begins. She’s so good, her performance so compelling, the climactic shootout actually feels like a letdown, dramatically if not visually: all that moral ambiguity swept aside like so many chess pieces; all that’s left is nabbing the bad guy.
Which I supposed was all — only I happened to chance upon Ringo Lam’s first film after his eight-year hiatus, the mysteriously forgotten Wild City. Ex-cop now bar-owner T-Man (Louis Koo) and his cab-driving, towtruck-racing half-brother Chung (Shawn Yue) stumble into heavy-drinking solicitor Yun (Tong Liya), who’s being hunted by a Taiwanese gang under orders of a ruthless businessman (Ma Yuke).
And here you see the mainland influence. The villains are a Taiwanese gang and a billionaire tycoon; in both Manhunt and Sky on Fire it’s Big Pharma operated by billionaire tycoons — all easy uncontroversial targets that even the Chinese government can hate. Law enforcement — the authoritarian face of government — is seen as relatively uncorrupt, if at times weak or ineffective (if weak they usually turn in their badges, as T-Man does at the start of Wild City). Interestingly Johnnie To’s Detective Ken stands out for using questionable tactics to cover up his mistakes — but then his character operates under the subtly subversive theme of Great Egos That Can Do No Wrong (In Circumstances Where Everything Does).
Right away Wild City stands out from the other films as being more leisurely paced, more willing to fill in its characters’ outlines. T-Man has a subdued presence, partly because (we learn later) of the reason he turns in his badge. Chung is something of a wild card, but likeable; the two share a father but T-Man was raised and learns to love Chung’s mother Mona (Yuen Qiu). Yun starts out as a trophy girlfriend, but when you learn her story (turns out she is a trophy girlfriend with all the advantages — and horrors — that status implies) you start warming to her.
What’s surprising is the time Lam also takes to fill in the blanks on the villains’ side. Blackie (Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan) treats his members as family; when one member dies the gang — in a surprisingly moving funeral scene — mourns their own, vows not just revenge but to carry on the terms of their original assignment. Which complicates matters no end.
This feels more like the old Ringo Lam: character-driven dramas that just happen to be thrillers. And because the film takes care to develop its characters first (the way Blackie nurtures his fellow gang members) you care what happens to them when bad things happen — the first rule of thrillers, or should be; goodness knows it’s the first rule to be forgotten nowadays.
As for the action setpieces: the action is realistically enough staged to make even the most stolid viewer flinch, with at least one outrageously violent act to make jaws drop (you’ll know it when you see it). Of the classic Hong Kong action filmmakers I feel Lam does the best car chases, high-revved action setpieces with small cars hurtling down narrow streets a la John Frankenheimer’s Ronin (to be fair, Frankenheimer made his film at the tail end of Hong Kong’s “heroic bloodshed” period). There’s little digital enhancement that I can see, save for the final chase — and that’s done so swiftly and furiously it’s hard to notice if you aren’t looking.
What happened to three of Hong Kong’s best action filmmakers? They’re still doing good work out there — in the case of Lam, still working under the radar — and impressing us along the way.
EAST WEST Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) has raised P2.45 billion from the first tranche of its long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD) program, which will support its funding needs.
At the ceremonial listing of the investment instruments at the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp. on Thursday, the Gotianun-led EastWest Bank said it raised P2.45 billion in fresh funds from the first tranche of its P15-billion LTNCD program.
The notes will mature in 5.5 years and carry an interest rate of 4.625% to be paid quarterly until Dec. 7, 2023.
Like regular time deposits offered by banks, LTNCDs offer higher interest rates. However, LTNCDs cannot be pre-terminated but can be sold on the secondary market, making them “negotiable.”
In a phone interview, EastWest Bank Senior Executive Vice-President Rafael S. Algarra, Jr. said the listing of the long-term notes was just a “rollover.”
“The LTNCD is a replacement of the maturity we had last May 23. In effect, we just actually rolled over our LTNCD that we already issued five years ago,” Mr. Algarra told BusinessWorld on Thursday.
EastWest Bank said in a disclosure that the LTNCDs will be used “to expand EastWest’s long-term deposit base, as well as support major funding needs of the bank.”
“What we try to do when we issue LTNCD is to make sure that there’s prudent balance sheet management practice. We’re trying to match our long-term assets with our long-term liabilities in order that the balance sheet is properly structured,” Mr. Algarra added.
He also noted the number and the date of the next tranches are dependent on the situation of the market, as well as the bank.
“The timing will be dependent on how our business continues to evolve and how the current market situation evolves,” Mr. Algarra said. “If ever we see our balance sheet requires additional LTNCD, then we have to check what proper timing on when there is a demand in the market for these kinds of instruments.”
Unicapital, Inc. served as the sole issue manager, while EastWest Bank acted as the selling agent for the long-term notes.
EastWest Bank’s LTNCDs bring the total volume of outstanding listings at the PDEx to P875.33 billion.
Meanwhile, the Filinvest group’s cumulative listed outstanding securities stand at P56.25 billion or 6.4% of the total volume of listed issues.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved EastWest Bank’s P15-billion LTNCD program on May 16.
Apart from EastWest Bank, UnionBank of the Philippines, Inc., BDO Unibank, Inc. and Security Bank Corp. have also rolled out LTNCD offerings this year, raising P3 billion, P8.2 billion and P5.78 billion, respectively.
EastWest Bank, the twelfth-biggest commercial bank in the country in asset terms as of end-2017, saw its net income drop in the first quarter by 22% year-on-year to P945.4 million.
EastWest Bank shares went down 0.54% or eight centavos to P14.80 apiece on Thursday. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal
MAX’S GROUP, Inc. (MGI) secured the green light from the corporate regulator to merge two subsidiaries as part of its reorganization.
In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, the country’s largest casual dining restaurant operator said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the merger of Teriyaki Boy Group, Inc. (TBGI) and Yellow Cab Food Corp., with TBGI as the surviving entity.
“The resulting transaction is part of the continuing corporate reorganization activities to derive operational efficiencies and does not cause any adverse impact to existing shareholders,” MGI said.
Before undertaking the merger, MGI inked definitive agreements last year to secure the remaining 30% equity interest of minority shareholders in TBGI, allowing the listed company to fully consolidate operations of the Teriyaki Boy and Sizzlin’ Steak restaurant systems under MGI.
TBGI owns and operates Teriyaki Boy and Sizzlin’ Steak.
Max’s Group has been reorganizing the company since taking over Pancake House, Inc. in 2014. Since then, the company has shut down underperforming stores and folded franchising units in North America and Middle East into the company.
MGI operates 673 outlets across the country, North America, the Middle East, and Asia under different brands namely Max’s Restaurant, Pancake House, Yellow Cab Pizza, Krispy Kreme, Jamba Juice, Max’s Corner Bakery, Teriyaki Boy, Dencio’s, among others.
MGI’s net profit fell by nearly a third to P123.7 million in the first quarter of 2018 from P176.0 million in the same period a year ago on the back of escalating raw material prices and larger manpower costs due to new labor policies.
Systemwide sales, on the other hand, increased 13% to P4.4 billion in January to March from P3.9 billion last year.
The company is pivoting to franchising as the preferred mode of expansion, both at home and overseas, leveraging on brand equity, operational expertise, and scale to propel store network expansion and boost fee-based collections, which generally equate to better profit translation.
Shares in MGI added two centavos or 0.16% to close at P12.28 apiece on Thursday. — Krista Angela M. Montealegre
