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Pangilinan eyes listing of tollways unit, Maynilad

By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter

METRO Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is set to list at the stock market its tollways and water businesses once the listed holding firm completes its voluntary delisting plan, according to its top official. 

“After delisting, we will list our tollways. Maynilad has got to list by 2026. We will list our major subsidiaries,” MPIC Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said on the sidelines of a mining conference on Wednesday.

“Most probably, the tollways unit will be the first to list,” Mr. Pangilinan said, adding that the listing at the local bourse will be by next year. 

MPIC’s tollways unit is Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) while Maynilad Water Services, Inc. is managed by a joint venture among MPIC, DMCI Holdings, Inc., and Marubeni Corp.

Maynilad is a water and wastewater service provider for Metro Manila’s west zone and nearby areas while MPTC operates tollways such as North Luzon Expressway, Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway, Cavite-Laguna Expressway, Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, and the NLEX Connector Road. 

The water provider is mandated to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange under its franchise and the revised concession agreement signed with the government.      

Aside from toll operations and water, MPIC has business interests in sectors such as power via Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), rail through Light Rail Manila Corp., healthcare, logistics, and agribusiness. 

Sought for comment, China Bank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo E. Colet said that MPTC and Maynilad would be “very attractive initial public offering (IPO) candidates.”

“They are strong cash-generating businesses that have good room for long-term growth. I expect many investors will look at them as healthy dividend stocks as well as demographic plays,” Mr. Colet said.

“The tollways assets can actually be structured into and listed as a real estate investment trust, which would make it the first of its kind in the Philippines,” he added. 

COL Financial Group, Inc. Financial Analyst George Ching said the attractiveness of the two possible IPOs will depend on the valuation. 

“If they will sell it at a cheap price, then it will be good,” Mr. Ching said via mobile phone.

“Between the two though, toll roads have more expansion opportunities. Maynilad is more straightforward, it’s just the concession agreement,” he added.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message that the two planned listings would provide opportunities for local and foreign investors.

“These would provide local and foreign investors the opportunity to invest in infrastructure units that may also need large capital for capital expenditure for the coming years,” Mr. Ricafort said, adding that the units will also await “better market conditions alongside greater profitability to realize and maximize the highest possible selling price/valuations once they list at the stock market”

Meanwhile, MPIC said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday that the company’s tender offer is closed.

“The total of tendered shares, excluded shares and other non-public shares is equivalent to 97.22% of MPIC’s total issued and outstanding listed shares and has exceeded the threshold required to complete the voluntary delisting,” MPIC said. 

“The bidders stated that the tender offer is now closed,” it added. 

According to MPIC, the cross date is on Sept. 26 while the settlement date is on Sept. 28.

“When the tendered shares are accepted and crossed, the bidders expect MPIC’s public float to fall to 2.78% whilst the total of tendered shares, excluded shares and other non-public shares will be above the voluntary delisting threshold of at least 95% and the bidders anticipate MPIC’s voluntary delisting around October 2023,” the disclosure said. 

Mr. Pangilinan said that state-led Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) will be entitled to a board seat “post-delisting.” 

GSIS recently acquired an additional stake in MPIC, which resulted in an aggregate holding of about 3.44 billion common shares, equivalent to 12% of the company’s total issued and outstanding listed shares.   

“This is welcome news to the tendering shareholders as they can now look forward to the payment of their shares next week,” China Bank Capital’s Mr. Colet said on the closing of the tender offer. 

“The seat will allow GSIS to take a more active role in the corporate governance and business direction of MPIC. This is very important to protect the pension fund’s interests and sizable investment in the company,” Mr. Colet added.

On Wednesday, shares of MPIC at the local bourse closed unchanged at P5.11 apiece.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which has a majority stake in Maynilad, is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.

ACEN seeks P5.5-B loan from ADB to fund solar projects 

ACEN Corp. is eyeing a P5.5-billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to develop solar photovoltaic projects in the country.

In addition to the loan, the firm is also seeking a partial credit guarantee of P1.1 billion, according to documents on the ADB website.

The loan and guarantee will be a “sustainability-linked facility with performance indicators on environmental and social matters. The loan proceeds will be used to finance solar photovoltaic projects in the Philippines,” it added.

“The sustainability-linked note aims to boost the renewable energy capacity of the Philippines, which has traditionally relied on coal to meet its growing electricity needs,” it added.

The ADB said that ACEN’s proposal is consistent with its strategy of promoting private sector participation in infrastructure through corporate financing and expanding support for renewable energy, among others.

“The project will contribute to poverty reduction through the provision of clean and sustainable electricity to support productivity while being able to improve the quality of life through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and improving local air quality,” it added.

The proposal will be up for approval on Oct. 20.

ACEN has about 4,200 megawatts of attributable capacity spread across the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia.

It is targeting to expand its renewable energy portfolio to 20 gigawatts by 2030.

On Wednesday, ACEN shares declined by 0.21% or P0.01 to finish at P4.70 apiece. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson

Making the old new again

MAYOR MARCY TEODORO, McDonald’s executives, and San Roque Elementary School officials ready the McDonald’s ReClassified chairs made entirely from decommissioned seats, tables, plastic, wood, and steel from renovated McDonald’s stores. For the launch, over 150 of these chairs were donated to public schools in Marikina.

McDo’s seats go to schools

WHAT happens to the old furniture when a restaurant gets refurbished, as all have to do to keep up with the times? Sometimes the old equipment is sold, sometimes it is tossed into the dump. And this time, it is transformed into classroom chairs.

By the count of Adi Hernandez, McDonald’s Philippines AVP for Corporate Relations, the fast-food giant has about 700 stores in the Philippines. “Every year, we open at least 50,” she said. McDonald’s branches are also constantly renovated and opened, and “We will always have equipment that will be unused, and therefore can be repurposed,” Ms. Hernandez added.

On Sept. 8, guests were invited to see these old chairs from McDonald’s restaurants made new as desks at Marikina’s San Roque Elementary School in a project called ReClassified.

McDonald’s partnered with social enterprise Junk Not to design and fabricate the desks. Junk Not, founded by

Dr. Willie Garcia who is also its principal designer, upcycles plastic materials into new furnishings. Junk Not used the old restaurant furniture to make chairs and tables, including an arm desk for schools. The transformation from worn out restaurant furniture to school desks included everything from prototyping to production of the final products, which they assure come up to global standards.

“I’m sure you’ve sat on these chairs,” said Ms. Hernandez during the project launch at the school’s basketball court, referring to their former lives. “It’s all about strengthening it and adding the table. Definitely it has all the safety requirements, as we prioritize also in the stores,” she said.

To date, the partnership has created 200 desks, with 100 already installed in San Roque Elementary School, and 100 in another Marikina location. Ms. Hernandez said that they have worked closely with the Marikina local government on other projects, such as the Ronald McDonald House Charities. And, “To be very honest, they raised their hand, and they were interested,” in this seats-for-schools project.

In a statement, Marikina mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro (a San Roque Elementary graduate, according to a release), said, “We, in government, are at the helm of ensuring quality education for all, but we cannot do it alone. Sabi nga (they say), education is everyone’s responsibility. Creative solutions through strategic partnerships with various sectors amplify positive outcomes. No matter the scale, collaborations such as this ReClassified project contribute to our shared goals for Filipino learners. Kaya’t salamat (and so thanks) McDonald’s for choosing Marikina and my alma mater, San Roque Elementary School, as your first beneficiary.”

Other corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects that the fast-food giant has had include McClassroom, where they used the party spaces (vacant during the pandemic) in restaurants as classrooms for needy schools. Now that parties are back in, the party spaces are still used as classrooms, but only in the evenings. They’ve also just concluded a partnership with Brigada Eskwela to help prepare public schools for the opening of the school year, giving cleaning materials and providing manpower through their employees. “It’s really about supporting education and the youth,” McDonald’s Ms. Hernandez said.

McDonald’s concentration on the educational sector for their corporate social responsibility projects is a choice of its employees. Ms. Hernandez said when asked, “We checked from within our crew.” By her count, they have 60,000 employees nationwide — “All of them directly hired; no contractual (employees) at McDonald’s” — a large chunk of whom are working students.

“We believe that there’s an opportunity for us to help these working students. They’re able to go to school while having work. We provide them with flexible working hours,” she said. According to her, their enrolled employees can show their class schedules to their managers, and shifts can be adjusted to their school schedules.

“I don’t even want to call it CSR. Corporate social responsibility has always been associated with charity or one-off donations. It should be part of every business model, and it should really have value to a business life cycle,” she said. — JLG

Philex targets nickel mining amid rising demand for electric vehicles

PHILEX MINING Corp. is planning to expand into nickel mining to meet the increasing demand for the mineral by electric vehicle makers, company officials said on Wednesday.

“We are prospecting for nickel resources to developing this country because the future for [electric] vehicles is bright… so we have to be in the correct position,” Philex Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters on the sidelines of a forum led by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.

“I think we should be a major nickel supplier to the world. At the moment, we’re not. Our mining industry has absolutely no impact on mining prices globally because we’re so small,” Mr. Pangilinan added.

Philex President and Chief Executive Officer Eulalio B. Austin, Jr. likewise said that the company is now conducting studies into nickel mining “considering the transition into green energy is a global issue right now.”

“It’s our first time to enter into the nickel space, we have been into the copper and gold business for so long,” Mr. Austin added.

He added that the company is currently conducting exploratory studies with a site in Zambales.

“We have now started groundworks, trying to do sampling and after some evaluations, that’s the only time we could say when to mine,” he said.

The company is also eyeing a possible partner in the nickel mining endeavor, he said, without giving details.

“We will be asking [for] some guidance or having a partner to develop that property since we are not experts,” he said. “the direction is to get partners that will teach us to mine nickel.”

During the first half of the year, nickel production reached 16.87 million dry metric tons, a 40% increase from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Austin said that the company is planning to start commercial operation of its Silangan copper-gold mine by 2025.

He added that the company is planning to produce the first ton of ore by the first quarter of 2025.

“We have raised the necessary funding and we have started the actual works underground,” he said.

The Silangan project is the company’s $224-million copper-gold mining project located in Surigao del Norte. It is said to have 571 tons worth of mineral resources.

Philex is one of three Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and 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.

On Wednesday, shares in Philex went up by 0.73% or two centavos to close at P2.75 apiece. — Adrian H. Halili

Megaworld to build two-tower residential condo in Bacolod

LISTED property developer Megaworld Corp. is set to build a two-tower residential condominium development in Bacolod City as part of its portfolio expansion.

The company said the development, called Kensington Sky Garden, will be a 26-storey two-tower residential condo development within its Upper East township in Bacolod.

“Megaworld is expecting to generate around P5 billion in sales from this new property, which is scheduled for completion in 2029,” the company said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday. 

Kensington Sky Garden, located at the corner of Upper East Ave. and Bentley St., will offer 643 “smart home” units. The company said the Kensington Sky Garden will be its tallest residential condo in the Visayas to date.

Megaworld said units at Kensington Sky Garden start from a studio and executive studio of up to 40 square meters (sq.m.), one bedroom of up to 56 sq.m., two bedrooms of up to 90 sq.m., and three bedrooms of up to 110 sq.m. All unit sizes will have either a balcony or a lanai.

Each unit will be equipped with a wireless smart home system and devices with Wi-Fi routers that can be accessed remotely via a dedicated phone app. The technology allows residents to control several unit features such as lighting fixtures and other smart appliances in the living, kitchen, and dining areas as well as the bedroom.

The amenities at Kensington Sky Garden include an adult pool and kiddie pool, pool bar, landscaped areas, outdoor fitness area and children’s play area, gazebo, reading nooks, fitness center, daycare center, and game and entertainment room.

The ground-level exterior will also feature several retail spaces, while two basement levels will be allocated for parking.

Kensington Sky Garden will also have features such as a private dining hall, a function room, skydecks at the 14th and 26th levels of each tower, a shared outdoor sitting lounge on the fifth floor, and an electric vehicle charging facility at the basement parking area. 

Meanwhile, the sustainability features of the development include low flow rate fixtures for water conservation, occupancy sensors in hallways and parking floors to conserve energy, LED lights for units and common areas, a rainwater harvesting system, and a materials recovery facility.

Aside from Kensington Sky Garden, Megaworld’s 34-hectare Upper East township also houses four other residential developments such as One Regis, Two Regis, One Manhattan, and Herald Parksuites, which have a combined total of 1,028 units.

The company is also expected to begin the construction of the 300-room Kingsford Hotel and the Upper East Mall by next year.

Megaworld recorded P7.9 billion in attributable net income in the first six months, a 34% improvement from P5.9 billion a year ago, due to surging demand in the property sector.  

On Wednesday, shares of Megaworld at the local bourse closed unchanged at P1.98 each. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

The not so new kid on the block

L to R: Elderton Barossan Shiraz, Domaine la Fonte Notre Dame Lirac, Jules Taylor Marlborough Chardonnay and Pebble Lane Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Being in the domestic imported liquor business is really a huge challenge for new players. It is a very oligopolistic market where there are just a handful of huge importers that dominate the importation of wines, beers, and spirits presently sold in the country. So, when a new company joins the competition, the new company needs to create its own niche to survive.

Like any good businessman this was what JoJo Vega and his partners at Don Revy did.

THE BACK STORY
Don Revy Philippines, Inc. is a collaboration between partners Jojo Vega, Piers Kinloch, the late Robbie Ferguson. The three partners met at a Singapore Telecom (Singtel)-sponsored Global System for Mobile Communications Conference, way back in 2003.

Jojo Vega is the only Filipino among the three, while both Piers and Robbie are Brisbane, Australia-based since the late 1990s but were both originally from Scotland. Jojo, who started his career in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) as a truck salesman fresh out of college, had just left SMC after 15 long years during which time he rose through the ranks to become its Assistant Vice-President of Sales at the time of his departure. Jojo then worked for Globe Telecom. Globe is partly owned by Singtel, while both Piers and Robbie had business interest with Optus, one of the biggest telecom companies in Australia, and also a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel.

Robbie back then was married to a Filipina from Bacolod, so when he would come visit the Philippines, he would hang out with Jojo for a few days first in Manila. That was how the friendship was cemented, and by the late 2000s, the trio already spoke about doing business together in the Philippines, and since all of them enjoy drinking alcohol (we know the Scottish do), and with Jojo’s background in SMC, the decision to import and distribute liquor came to fruition. Thus, the birth of Don Revy.

As Jojo pointed out to me, the Don Revy logo has three bottles which symbolize each of the three partners.

THE WHITE WINE OPPORTUNITY
The company started with wines — as we know the spirits market is very brand-driven and had a more difficult level of entry. In Jojo’s research of the wine industry, he realized that white wines are not that big, and most importers compete in the red wine category. Based on import numbers, white wines are just around 25% of the total wine market, so Jojo saw this number as an opportunity to introduce better white wines into the market.

And where else to go for internationally renowned whites than to go bring in the Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand’s Marlborough region?

While Marlborough and NZ whites have been around for ages, NZ wines were never priorities here in our market, because NZ is better known for white wines, for Sauvignon Blanc, than reds, and Philippines is a majority red-wine drinking country like most of our Asian counterparts.

So not only was it the whites that Don Revy was looking at, but wines from NZ as a country in general as their niche to enter this competitive industry.

Their first wine imports came in 2013, and all were from NZ. They covered three wine regions of New Zealand — Marlborough, Gisborne, and Hawkes Bay — under three different brands: Pebble Lane (a proprietary label), Jules Taylor, and Mills Reef.

BUSINESS INTEGRATION
Like every new importer, the first order of business was to get distribution, so Don Revy did that immediately. The targets primarily were on-premises establishments — restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels.

Retail has always been challenging because of the expensive listing fees that are involved. During the early stages of Don Revy, among the three partners, Robbie Ferguson, who had moved to Manila by then, was the most involved, as Piers was still Brisbane-based, and Jojo was employed as a high-ranking executive in MNCs Samsung, and then Huawei. But in 2017 Jojo left his corporate life to become a full-fledged partner at Don Revy and teamed-up with Robbie to further cement the foundation of the company.

Unfortunately, in 2018 tragedy struck Don Revy when one of the founding partners, Robbie, passed away untimely. Jojo then took over the entire day-to-day operations of the company, while Piers remained a loyal supporter remotely from Australia.

Soon, following the vision of the three partners, Don Revy embarked on their “brick and mortar” strategy. First, they wanted a place of their own to showcase their products. This was when Bevvy came to existence. Bevvy, which is a colloquial term for booze or alcoholic beverages in Australia, seemed like a perfect name. Don Revy had an office and depot in Pasong Tamo in Makati City, and the partners thought it would be cool to forward-integrate and have their own restaurant-bar. After all, they were growing, and more principals were visiting Manila than ever, so, a place of their own seemed ideal — even economical — to not only host their foreign visitors but also do events.

To their credit, Bevvy grew to be more than a Don Revy extension. With its good food and cozy ambience, Bevvy became a secret resto-bar for appreciative customers who needed a place to unwind and recharge.

Aside from Bevvy, Jojo saw an opportunity to go into retail, and joined the bidding process to be the liquor concessionaire of the Mitsukoshi department store in BGC. Don Revy won this bidding fair and square. With Mitsukoshi, Don Revy now has another outlet to showcase their products. Over the course of time, Don Revy added beers (Jojo Vega’s expertise from his SMC background) to their portfolio, with four brand imports from three countries, including the world’s first and original pilsner, Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic. They also tried their hands with spirits — scotch whiskies in particular, since both Piers and Robbie were originally from Scotland.

BEVVY
Bevvy is literally a hole in the wall as this resto-bar is as inconspicuous as they come. There is no sign, nor indication of where it is located. And even if you get the address from Google and use Waze, you still need a bit of help from the security guard in the compound to locate this place. But once you overcome that obstacle, believe me, this resto-bar is worth going to.

I recently visited Bevvy and met up with Jojo Vega and chef Bheng Velarde, Bevvy’s consultant. The menu is not only wine-friendly, but reasonably priced. And the liquor selection is priced at retail prices, which makes it like Terry’s Selection, Barcino, and other importer-cum-restaurateurs that deal directly with end-consumers.

A good dinner for two can be only P3,000++ and this already comes with a decent bottle of wine — this is hard to beat.

Bevvy top-sellers tasted:

• Lemongrass Calamari — deep fried to a crisp perfection and served with ranch dressing. Menu price: P425

• Fish & Chips — thankfully NOT made from brittle, structure-less dory but made with cod, it comes with homemade potato wedges, and is served with ranch dressing. Menu price: P550

• Barbequed Glazed Beef Ribs — a five-hour oven-baked chuck ribs glazed with homemade BBQ sauce. Menu price: P1,180

• Herb Roasted Chicken — a five-hour oven-roasted half-size chicken seasoned with special herbs and spices. Menu price: P680

TASTING NOTES OF WINES TASTED AT BEVVY

• Pebble Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough, NZ: “I have tried several vintages of this wine and it has always been consistent, lovely notes of quince, lychee, though more subtle nose than most Marlborough Sauvies, this wine is clean, crisp, delectable and super quaffable even on its own.” Bevvy price: P910.

• Jules Taylor Chardonnay 2022, Marlborough, NZ: “a more sophisticated Chardonnay with nice balance of cream, oak, and acidity, the wine has notes apricot and walnuts and has enough weight and acid backbone to go with a lot of dishes, nice long lime rind finish.” Bevvy price: P1,270.

• Domaine la Font de Notre Dame Lirac 2019, Southern Rhone, France: “I rarely had a chance to taste Lirac as its not a normal Rhone Valley go-to wine, but this one made with usual Southern Rhone varietal-mix dominated by Grenache is very decent, with red cherry flavors, noticeable acids, friendly tannins, mineral and herbaceous notes, and juicy all the way.” Bevvy price: P1,090.

• Elderton Shiraz 2019, Barossa, South Australia: “This wine captures the typicity of the Barossan Shiraz, fruit forward, alluring aromatics, flavors of ripe sweet berries, peppercorn and cassis, and ends with lingering bitter-sweet finish.” Bevvy price: P1,630.

Don Revy just reached their milestone 10th anniversary and already passed the prescription period of a newbie in this industry. They are no longer the new kids on the block and are here to stay and contribute to this industry.

Don Revy products can be purchased online, at on-premises establishments, and retailers which range from Rustans to 7-Eleven, and in Mitsukoshi, and, of course, in Bevvy.

For more information, including reservations at Bevvy, contact them at 8556-3312, or e-mail drink@donrevy.com.

The author is the first Filipino wine writer member of both the Bordeaux-based Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV) and the UK-based Circle of Wine Writers (CWW). For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, wine consultancy and other wine related concerns, e-mail the author at wineprotege@gmail.com, or check his wine training website https://thewinetrainingcamp.wordpress.com/services

Dining In/Out (09/21/23)

MAO MATSUMOTO (c) with The Peninsula Manila Team

Peter: The Bar takes over The Peninsula Manila

TOKYO isn’t just a culinary hub. It’s also one of the world’s classiest cocktail capitals, where mixologists can mix a classic Manhattan that will knock your socks off. That’s exactly what guest bartender Mao Matsumoto of The Peninsula Tokyo’s Peter: The Bar aims to accomplish this Saturday, Sept. 23, when she takes up her spot at The Bar of The Peninsula Manila during her takeover. For the one-night-only event, Ms. Matsumoto will take her passion for cocktails from her skybar home on the 24th floor of The Pen Tokyo to The Pen Manila where she will shake up gin-, vodka-, and whiskey-based cocktails from Peter: The Bar’s menu, as well as serve unique drinks crafted especially for the occasion like Mao’s Charm, Tokyo Joe, and Edo Palace. For inquiries on Peter: The Bar Takeover At The Peninsula Manila, call 887-2888, extensions 6691 and 6694 (Restaurant Reservations), e-mail diningpmn@peninsula.com or visit peninsula.com.

Coke collaborates with gaming company on new flavor

COCA-COLA has launched a new limited-edition flavor from Coca-Cola Creations, done in collaboration with Riot Games, the publisher and developer of League of Legends. The result is Coca-Cola Ultimate Zero Sugar which is the first collaboration with a gaming company on a Coca-Cola flavor. Accompanying the product’s release are in-game and digital experiences for players across the globe.  For an interactive experience, players will be transported to the Coca-Cola Creations Hub, the home for unique Coca-Cola Creations digital experiences, by scanning the QR code on a Coca-Cola Ultimate Zero Sugar bottle or can. One offer available now on the Creations Hub is the Ultimate Emote Generator, an Instagram filter allowing players to view themselves in the style of League of Legends emotes for social sharing. “Coca-Cola Ultimate boasts a striking design, delivers a unique taste of +XP for gamers during their adventures, and elevates their gaming experience by giving them a refreshing drink,” said Adrian Manlapig, Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Philippines, in a statement. Coca-Cola Ultimate Zero Sugar fuses the two iconic brands with a packaging design that features black and various shades of gold. The familiar Coca-Cola Creations logo is complemented by a bespoke “Ultimate” crest and features a blue Hextech glow. The design showcases a Coca-Cola Spencerian Script font, inspired by the Nexus Crystals in League of Legends. Coca-Cola Ultimate Zero Sugaris now available nationwide in the Philippines. For more information, visit www.coca-cola.com/creations.

Nespresso introduces its smallest machine yet

NESPRESSO’s latest innovation in its machine line is the Vertuo Pop, its smallest yet most impactful Vertuo machine to date. It can brew four cup sizes, whether hot or iced, without sacrificing valuable counter space. The Vertuo Pop machine line — which is partly made with recycled materials, both the machine and its packaging — comes in Liquorice Black, Spicy Red, Coconut White, Pacific Blue, and Mango Yellow. A new sixth color, Aquamint, will be available in the Philippines by November. Like other Vertuo machines, the Vertuo Pop uses Nespresso’s Centrifusion Technology through which the machine can read the unique barcode of every Nespresso Vertuo blend and utilize the exact water volume required for optimal brewing. This allows users to explore four varying cup sizes based on their preferred cup at any time of the day: Espresso (40 ml), a Double Espresso (80 ml), a Gran Lungo (150 ml), or a Mug (230 ml). Meanwhile, Nespresso will be opening its seventh boutique this month, this time at the SM Mall of Asia. It will carry a wide selection of premium coffees, simple-to-use machines, and coffee accessories. There will also be interactive displays. One can find the Vertuo Pop and other Nespresso machines online via www.nespresso.ph, and at the boutiques in Power Plant Mall, Podium Mall, Robinsons Magnolia, One Bonifacio High Street Mall, Mitsukoshi BGC, Ayala Center Cebu, and soon at SM Mall of Asia, and in pop-up stores in Greenbelt 5, Shangri-La Plaza, TriNoma, and Alabang Town Center.

Krispy Kreme is giving away a trip to Korea

TO MARK the brand’s 86th anniversary, Krispy Kreme Philippines will be giving a lucky customer a trip to Korea via the 86 OG® Holiday Giveaways. The winner will explore the land of K-pop, K-drama and anything K-culture in a four-days-three-nights sponsored tour which includes an exclusive visit to the Krispy Kreme South Korea factory store. Also up for grabs in the promo are an iPhone 14 128gb and an iPad 10th generation for the 2nd and 3rd prize, respectively. Eighty-three winners will receive a one-month supply of a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts and Signature Brewed Coffee. The promo is open to all OG Card members who purchase a dozen of any of the participating combo products from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15: a dozen Original Glazed doughnuts plus any of the Pepsi products (Pepsi Regular, Pepsi Black, 7Up, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Mug, Gatorade, or Premiere Bottled Water); a dozen Mixed Doughnuts plus any of the Pepsi products; a dozen Assorted Doughnuts plus any of the Pepsi products; and, a dozen Premium Assorted Doughnuts plus any of the Pepsi products. OG Cards are available for P195 in all Krispy Kreme store or through delivery via now.krispykreme.com.ph, GrabFood, foodpanda, Pick.A.Roo and Groover.

Red Ribbon now offers new Caramel Delight Cake

RED RIBBON has just come out with the new Caramel Delight Cake. The cake has soft chiffon layers with cream-colored ice cream in between, caramel icing, cream drops as toppings, and caramel syrup at the center. Prices start at P479 for the Junior size and P669 for the Regular size. It is available at all Red Ribbon outlets and can also be ordered via Red Ribbon’s delivery website, the Red Ribbon app, via delivery hotline at #87777, or through the Grab Food and Foodpanda apps.

McDonald’s Twister Fries are back

MCDONALD’S Twister Fries have made their way back to McDonald’s stores. The McDonald’s Big Mac and Twister Fries Meal is available for a limited time only. The Twister Fries can also be enjoyed as a solo item or as a free upgrade to any McDonald’s Large Meal with Fries, and are now available via dine-in, take-out, drive-through, and McDelivery, in Regular and Sharing sizes. They may also be purchased via channels such as GrabFood, foodpanda, PickARoo, and SM Online.

Low liquidity levels setting back local corporate bond market, say investors

THE PHILIPPINE corporate bond market is still suffering from low liquidity levels, resulting in a low amount of issuances compared with government bonds and leaving it behind Southeast Asian counterparts, investors said.

“For the bond market, I think the Philippines needs to be more competitive compared to those in the region. In terms of size, we are lagging [behind] our ASEAN peers,” said Maria Cristina B. Gabaldon, deputy head of Metrobank’s investment management division.

“I guess it has to do with the number of issuances. We need more supply of bonds. We need to deepen the capital market,” she added in a panel discussion at the Advancing the Philippines Bond Market Conference on Wednesday.

Compared with regional peers, the Philippine government remains dominating the bond market, said BPI Wealth Head of Investment Solutions Gladys Buenaventura.

“In other countries, it’s relatively equal. Here, we still see limited corporate issuers,” she said.

According to the Asian Development Bank’s Bond Monitor, corporate bonds comprised only 13.6% of the outstanding local currency bonds in the second quarter.

Ms. Gabaldon said demand exists for corporate bonds, but the country lacks issuers.

“We need more supply of bonds. We need to deepen the capital market. I think demand is there. It depends on the tenor. Some retail investors are asking for the short-term tenors while some companies want longer tenors. So I think corporates and BTr (Bureau of the Treasury) should take advantage of this demand,” she said.

Ms. Buenaventura likewise said increasing market makers could solve the liquidity issue on the corporate side.

She added that bond literacy in schools could help drive the demand for bonds, and thus increase the liquidity in the market as well as accessibility of the market to the public.

“As we know, most Filipinos are very familiar with stocks. It’s so easy for them. But once we start talking about bonds, it’ll take time for us to actually explain to them how the whole instrument works,” Ms. Buenaventura said.

She noted that a more “curricular” rating system for the issuances could help investors assess what they are investing in and compensate them for the risk they are taking.

BDO Unibank Vice-President and Fixed Income Manager Jason Samson L. Clemente, Jr. added that transparency is also lacking, and improving it could help in expanding the market. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

Champagne demand softens after post-COVID boom years, LVMH says

IHOR N-UNSPLASH

DEMAND for LVMH’s Champagne brands is moderating this year after the boom that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, according to a top executive at the luxury conglomerate.

There was a “general sense of revenge pleasure,” in 2021 and 2022 after consumers were stuck at home, Moët Hennessy Chief Executive Officer Philippe Schaus said in an interview. The drinks and wines division he oversees generated about 7.5% of first-half revenue at parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE.

“2023 is a bit more complicated, because this effect of COVID is fading out, and there’s a lot of inflation in all countries,” Mr. Schaus said. “So we see that we are going back to normal.”

Mr. Schaus pointed to a drop in Champagne consumption at home. But other markets are holding up well.

“We have seen this summer that there was no abating of the demand for high-end Champagne” in beach and nightclubs across the Greek island of Mykonos and the Italian Riviera, as well as top restaurants in Paris, Mr. Schaus said. The division’s brands include Dom Pérignon, whose Plénitude 2 vintage 2004 bottle costs €495 ($528) in France.

Organic sales at the drinks unit fell 3% in the first half, hurt by a slowdown in Cognac consumption in the US.

LVMH’s wines and spirits division has been acquisitive in the recent past, with deals including an investment in the pricey Champagne label Armand de Brignac, co-owned with rapper Jay-Z. Earlier this year, LVMH bought a majority stake in rosé wine maker Château Minuty.

Mr. Schaus said LVMH isn’t looking at buying more alcohol brands, describing its portfolio as strong. But the executive expects more consolidation in the Champagne region.

“There are about 300 Champagne maisons so I can imagine that there will be mergers, for sure, because 300 is a lot,” he said. “It’s super fragmented.”

The Luxembourg-born executive spoke at Château de Saran, which is surrounded by vineyards belonging to Moët & Chandon near the town of Epernay in northern France. The interview took place during the harvesting period, known as les vendanges.

Mr. Schaus said volumes are plentiful. Rising temperatures have made yields more erratic, but the industry has been resourceful and has adapted to climate change over the past few centuries, Mr. Schaus said. “Champagne will continue to evolve. But I promise you, in 100 years, people will still be doing Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon.”

LVMH is the biggest maker of Champagne since it also owns the Krug, Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, and Mercier labels.

Comité Champagne, the industry trade group, in July said it expects its producers to ship 314 million bottles this year, down 3.7% from last year. — Bloomberg

Cebu Landmasters, NTTUDA tie up to develop residential towers

LISTED property developer Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) and NTT UD Asia Pte. Ltd. (NTTUDA) will create a new joint venture (JV) company as the two companies partnered to develop residential towers in Cebu City.

“This is also to disclose to the exchange that both companies are now preparing formal notifications to the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) and intend to secure PCC clearance for the new JV company which shall be known as CLI NUD Ventures, Inc.,” CLI said in a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday.

The new company comes as the partners signed an agreement to develop premium-grade residential towers in Cebu City.

CLI is a real estate developer with over 116 development projects across 16 major locations in Visayas and Mindanao. It currently has a residential portfolio consisting of more than 37,000 units valued at P122 billion.

Its portfolio includes the Premier Masters, Garden-Series, Casa Mira, and Villa Casita Residential offerings.

Meanwhile, NTTUDA is an international developer of commercial properties such as office buildings, residences, and other mixed-use developments in Southeast Asia.

In the first half of the year, CLI’s consolidated net income rose 32% to P2.1 billion versus the P1.6 billion posted a year ago.

On Wednesday, shares of CLI at the local bourse closed unchanged at P2.55 apiece. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

Keeping the old and adding the new

JUST in time for the runup to its fifth anniversary, Sheraton Manila is keeping some of the old but is also introducing the new — particularly a new executive chef and several new executives.

Earlier this week, Sheraton Manila showed off the Sheraton Club, an exclusive venue for Marriott Bonvoy members (the Sheraton chain was acquired by Marriott International in 2016 after purchasing its parent, Starwood). There, they introduced their new Italian Executive Chef, Andrea Burzio.

Mr. Burzio is installing a “prenza e cena (lunch and dinner)” Italian spread at the hotel’s S Kitchen restaurant. For that, he teased guests with a one-meter-long lasagna, which is set to enter S Kitchen in October.

General Manager Anna Vergara said in a speech that they began operations in January 2019 — its return to the Philippines after three decades — and we know what happened a year later.

“The past five years were not a walk in the park,” she said. She told BusinessWorld that in those five years, the hotel had been used as a quarantine facility, while they bolstered their food and beverage operations so they could offer takeout and delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the pandemic, we obviously had to cut down on a lot of things. We wanted to make sure that we survived. Because of that, we discovered a lot of efficiencies,” she told BusinessWorld. “We realized that these efficiencies can be applied in the ‘real’ world.” These include the same stringent hygiene standards enforced during the height of the pandemic, but also making more use of their online capabilities — including within the management board, where they continue holding online meetings.

Aside from Ms. Burzio, Ms. Vergara introduced a new Director of Sales and Marketing for the hotel, Ria Galvez. She introduced us as well to the Director of Food and Beverage, Czats Lopez. Feminism looks strong in this workplace, and Ms. Vergara mentioned that seven out of nine members of the executive board were women. Ms. Vergara, who had been General Manager since the Sheraton’s 2019 opening (it must be noted that Ms. Vergara’s status as a General Manager of an international hotel chain is also a rarity in the city), spoke about the difference of a woman’s touch. “I don’t want to be very biased against our male counterparts. But for us, for women, I think the biggest advantage is the nurturing talent that we have that comes out naturally,” she said. “A majority of our women leaders, we are actually mothers, so they use that as an advantage in taking care of our associates (and guests).”

The countdown to the January anniversary — the celebrations for the fifth anniversary will kick off on Jan. 14, 2024 — kicks off with holiday room packages and even a wedding campaign (10% off food and beverage for a 2024 Sheraton Manila Grand Ballroom wedding). — JLG

TDF yields drop before Fed, BSP policy decisions

BW FILE PHOTO

YIELDS on the central bank’s term deposits dropped on Wednesday as both tenors were oversubscribed on expectations of a rate pause this week.

The term deposit facility (TDF) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) fetched bids amounting to P434.066 billion on Wednesday, well above the P300-billion offering but a tad lower than P446.698 billion for a P340-billion offer seen a week ago.

Broken down, tenders for the seven-day papers reached P263.423 billion, higher than the P180 billion auctioned off by the central bank and the P248.137 billion in bids for a P200-billion offering seen the previous week.

Banks asked for yields ranging from 6.3% to 6.515%, lower than the 6.33% to 6.575% band seen a week ago. This caused the average rate of the one-week deposits to decrease by 6.15 basis points (bps) to 6.4576% from 6.5191% previously.

Meanwhile, bids for the 14-day term deposits amounted to P170.643 billion, beyond the P120-billion offering but failing to beat the P198.561 billion in tenders for a P140-billion offer seen on Sept. 13.

Accepted rates for the tenor were from 6.3275% to 6.525%, also lower than the 6.34% to 6.58% margin seen a week ago. With this, the average rate for the two-week deposits fell by 3.64 bps to 6.4863% from 6.5227% logged in the prior auction.

The BSP bank has not auctioned 28-day term deposits for more than two years to give way to its weekly offerings of securities with the same tenor.

The term deposits and the 28-day bills are used by the BSP to mop up excess liquidity in the financial system and to better guide market rates.

Term deposit yields went down ahead of the widely expected pause from both the US Federal Reserve and the BSP at their meetings this week, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

The US Federal Reserve was set to announce overnight its policy decision after a two-day meeting.

The Fed hiked borrowing costs by 25 bps at its July meeting, bringing its target rate to 5.25-5.5%, the highest level in 22 years.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Board will hold its own review on Thursday, where it is likely to keep rates steady for a fourth straight meeting, according to 14 of 17 analysts in a BusinessWorld poll last week.

Mr. Ricafort said headline inflation could fall within the 2-4% target by the fourth quarter or in the first quarter of 2024 due to a high base, which would be a key factor in the BSP’s decision making.

The country’s headline inflation rose to 5.3% in August from 4.7% in July. It marked the 17th straight month inflation breached the central bank’s 2-4% target.

For the first eight months, inflation averaged 6.6%, still above the BSP’s 5.6% forecast. — K.B. Ta-asan

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