Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – The government wants to know the circumstances behind the recent purchase by business tycoon Antonio Cabangon-Chua – who served as ambassador to Laos during the time of former president Gloria Arroyo – of a majority stake in partly-sequestered RPN-9 network.  “RPN-9 is one of the agencies under the supervision of our office, pursuant to Executive Order 4, series of 2010,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. of the Presidential Communications Operations Office wrote in an email to Palace reporters.  “This office, together with the PCGG, had requested the board of directors of RPN-9 and its corporate secretary to submit all the requisite documents regarding the sale of the shares by Solar (television network),” he added. The National Government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government, is a stockholder of RPN-9, owning 20.80 percent of the total shares. It is thus a “minority” in the board, Coloma acknowledged. Radio Philippines Network-9 was bought by Solar Entertainment Corp. who owns 34.16 percent of the formerly sequestered TV network that started its operations during the time of then President Ferdinand Marcos. Another substantial shareholder is Far East Managers and Investors, Inc. (FEMII), the group of former ambassador and Marcos crony Roberto Benedicto who owns 32 percent of RPN-9. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The remaining shares comprising of 13.04 percent of total shares are owned by private individual stockholders. Last Thursday, The STAR reported that media mogul Cabangon-Chua – who owns Aliw Broadcasting Corp. that operates radio Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) of tycoon Andrew L. Tan plans to bolster its hotel business in the Philippines in the next six years, making it the largest in the country by 2020. Tan, chairman and chief executive officer of AGI, said during the Philippines Property Awards 2014 in Makati City that the group intends to bring its total number of hotel rooms all over the country to 12,000 by 2020. The conglomerate to date has 1,900 rooms under its portfolio through seven existing hotels. These are Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Marriott Hotel, Maxims Hotel and Remington Hotel in Newport City, and Fairways and Bluewater in Boracay Newcoast. “By the year 2020, we envision our group to be the largest hotel developer in the Philippines, with a total portfolio of around 12,000 hotel rooms. These hotel rooms will be offered under 12 different local and global hotel brands. The global brands include Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Westin, Okura and Maxims,” Tan said. Under its aggressive hotel business expansion plan, AGI will build more than 10,000 new hotel rooms in the next six years. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 AGI said all of the new hotel rooms will be built in Megaworld townships across the country. The group said the expansion will likely include 2,000 new rooms in Newport City; 2,800 rooms in Resorts World Bayshore City; 1,900 rooms in Boracay Newcoast; 2,700 rooms in The Mactan Newtown in Cebu; around 400 rooms Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp., a unit of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is planning to undertake a stock rights offering after it completes its stock market debut.  The company expects to raise roughly P500 million from the rights offering. On the company’s planned listing by way of introduction on Aug. 28 – which involves no immediate sale of shares unlike an initial public offering – Trans-Asia Oil president Francisco Viray said it’s a good opportunity. “There will always be oil.  Oil will always be needed,” Viray  said. Trans-Asia Petroleum will carry the symbol “TAPET.” During the briefing, officials said that some 250 million shares will be listed at P4.60 a piece, for a total of P1.15 billion. This represents 100 percent of the issued and outstanding shares of TAPET. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Trans-Asia is on the look out for new opportunities that would give back imminent revenue such as Service Contract 50, which covers the Calauit oil field in offshore Palawan. The Calauit field in SC 50 is estimated to contain 10 million to 13.2 million barrels of oil. Trans-Asia also holds interests in SC 51 in Leyte, SC 52 in Cagayan Valley in Northern Luzon; SC 55 in West Palawan; SC 69 in the Camotes Sea; and in SC No. 6 Block A and Block B in offshore northwest Palawan. In the first half of the year, the company reported a net income of P216 million or 27 percent lower Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – A slowdown in its liquor and fastfood businesses pulled down the six-month profit of Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI) of tycoon Andrew L. Tan by nearly a 10th. In a statement, AGI said its net profit in the first half of the year tumbled nine percent to P7.49 billion from P8.24 billion a year ago. Property giant Megaworld Corp. remained the group’s top income contributor, accounting for 44 percent of AGI’s net income and 34 percent of total revenues. Megaworld posted a record net profit of P16.44 billion in the first semester, which included P11.69-billion non-recurring gains from acquisition and sale of shares in subsidiaries and in an associate. Minus these one-time gains, Megaworld’s net profit still grew 12.24 percent to P4.75 billion in the first six months of the year from P4.23 billion a year ago. Liquor firm Emperador Inc. was AGI’s second biggest income contributor for the first six months, but the unit’s net profit dropped to P3.06 billion from P3.17  billion during the same period last year on the back of lower revenues. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Emperador’s revenues declined to P13.25 billion this year as compared to P13.99 billion a year ago. The liquor unit contributed 27 percent to AGI’s net profit and 22 percent to consolidated revenues in the first half. Meanwhile, cost management initiatives buoyed Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.’s first half earnings 24.73 percent to P2.88 billion from P2.31 billion last year. Travellers operates Resorts Read More …

WASHINGTON — Foreign buyers of US Treasury securities increased their holdings in June, topping $6 trillion for the first time. Total foreign holdings rose 0.6 percent to $6.01 trillion, up from $5.98 trillion in May, the Treasury Department said Friday in its monthly report. The increase came despite the fact that the two biggest foreign owners of Treasury securities reduced their holdings slightly. China, the top foreign buyer of US Treasury debt, trimmed its holdings by 0.2 percent to $1.27 trillion after a 0.6 percent increase in May. Japan, the second-biggest foreign buyer, saw its holdings slip a slight $600 million to $1.22 trillion. Belgium, Brazil and Taiwan were among the countries increasing their holdings. Foreign central banks are big holders of US Treasuries, which are viewed as one of the world’s safest investments. In June, foreign government holdings of Treasury debt totaled $4.1 trillion, two-thirds of the total foreign holdings. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Foreign demand for Treasury debt is expected to remain strong this year, helped by a congressional agreement to avoid a new fight over the US debt ceiling until March 2015.