Top Business News

EDC to bid for Palinpinon-Tongonan plant package

[ABS-CBNNEWS]MANILA - Lopez-led electricity producer Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has announced that it will participate in the bidding for the Palinpinon-Tongonan geothermal plant package next month.
EDC President Paul Aquino said the company has been looking at possible sources of financing should it win the bidding on August 12.
"We will participate in the bidding on August 12 and we have to have money for that," Aquino said.
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the state agency tasked to privatize government assets, has decided to bid out the 192.5-megawatt Palinpinon and 112.5-megawatt Tongonan geothermal plants as one package.

San Miguel Properties may raise stake in BoC to 40%
[ABS-CBNNEWS]MANILA - The real estate unit of diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. is eyeing to raise its stake in the Bank of Commerce (BoC) to 40%.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, San Miguel Properties Inc., which already has 30% in BoC, said its board of directors have approved the exercise of the company's pre-emptive rights on the additional share issuance of BoC.
Under the plan, San Miguel Properties will subscribe to 4 million BoC shares at P173.54 apiece for a total subscription price of about P694 million.
"The Board also authorized the company to increase its equity share in BoC up to 40% in the event that the other BoC shareholders will not exercise their pre-emptive rights," the company said.
At present, the San Miguel group holds a 51% interest in the bank. Aside from San Miguel Properties's current 30%, San Miguel Retirement Fund has the remaining 21%.
Prior to the entry of the San Miguel group, the BoC is controlled by Antonio "Tonyboy" Cojuangco, the nephew of San Miguel Chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.

Robinsons Land to tap bonds anew; may raise up to P5B
[BUSINESSWORLD]GOKONGWEI-LED property company Robinsons Land Corp. will tap the debt market again after the success of its first offering this year, announcing yesterday a plan to sell up to P5 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds.
In a disclosure, Robinsons Land said it intends to issue additional fixed-rate bonds worth P3 billion with an oversubscription option of an additional P2 billion subject to the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission. "The proceeds from the bond issuance shall be utilized for capital expenditures," Robinsons Land said.
The property has tapped The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. and SB Capital Investment Corp. as joint issue managers.
The P5-billion issue is the second bond offering of the company this year, a move which analysts have said would be the trend among firms for the rest of the year given difficulties in raising cash from the bearish stock market.

SM Prime to put up 2 more IMAX theaters, malls in rail stations
[BUSINESSMIRROR]IT looks like the penchant of Filipinos for movies has gone widescreen.
SM Prime Holdings Inc., the listed mall developer of the SM Group, is planning to add two more IMAX theaters in its malls over the next two years in an effort to tap higher-end consumers, said a top company official. Edgar Tejerero, senior vice president of West Avenue Theatre Corp., SM Prime’s cinema arm, said the developer will add the specialized theater to the upcoming SM Taguig, which will start construction this year, and another for SM City Cebu,which will also set to break ground late this year.
Tejerero said while the group’s theater operations deliver “some” profit, these serve the primary purpose of attracting people to the SM malls.
Last year cinema sales of the Sy-controlled SM Prime accounted for less than 10 percent of the P18.55 billion in total revenues booked by the listed holdings firm.