Maniolas

MANILA, Philippines – Twelve firms from New Zealand are visiting the country next week to explore business opportunities, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.      In a statement yesterday, the PCCI said New Zealand’s Trade Minister Tim Groser would visit the country next week with 12 companies which   are interested in business opportunities.      PCCI president Alfredo Yao said the companies are engaged in the following sectors: information and communications technology, logistics, transport, manufacturing, infrastructure and logistics, as well as food and beverage.      The visiting firms include: Airways New Zealand (air traffic control and management services), BCS Group (logistics hardware and   infrastructure support), New Zealand Technology Industry Association   (capacity building), Orion Corp. (software exporter), Fonterra (dairy   products), Prime Foods New Zealand (seafood processor), Westland  Cooperative Dairy Company (dairy products), Mainfreight International (logistics solutions), Patton (refrigeration and air-conditioning), and GNS Science (earth geoscience and isotope research and consultancy).      The PCCI is hosting a seminar and networking session for the visiting delegation.      The group said Philippine companies interested in exploring opportunities could attend the sessions on June 5 at the PCCI’s office in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.      Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 The PCCI is working with its partner organizations in other parts of the world in organizing and hosting business missions here.      The PCCI wants to encourage partnerships between local and foreign firms, as well as to have more foreign companies   making investments here to create jobs.      Yao said earlier the PCCI is promoting the Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – The investment firm of the Gotianun family is raising its capital spending this year to support property development projects and its foray into the power generation business. Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) expects its large investments in various sectors would allow the company to post higher earnings in the coming years, its top executive said yesterday. The listed holding firm said it would invest P38 billion across all its businesses this year, higher than the earlier announced P33 billion and almost double the P20 billion it spent last year. “With the continuing strength of the Philippine economy and the recent ratings upgrade, we are optimistic that these investments will sustain the growth of FDC,” said FDC president and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap. “These investments will, in turn, drive earnings growth for the next five years,” she added. Specifically, FDC allocated around P25 billion for the real estate business composed of subsidiary Filinvest Land Inc. and Filinvest Alabang Inc., the developer of the 244-hectare Filinvest City in Alabang. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “A more significant portion of the capital expenditures will be used for recurring income investment properties while the balance will be for trading assets with a portion to be used for landbanking,” FDC said. The listed investment firm allotted P9 billion for the construction of FDC Utilities Inc.’s 405-megawatt (MW) power plant in Misamis Oriental that is scheduled to start operations in 2016. The remainder of the capital allotment would be poured into Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is carefully studying the viability of the proposed P35.4-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway scheduled to be auctioned by the Aquino administration on Monday. SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said the company, through Optimal Infrastructure Development Inc., is still running the numbers to ensure the viability of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project.  “If the project is viable we will submit. If not, we might again back out in the last minute. Most likely we will try our best to make it work,” he stressed. SMC, through SMC Infra Resources Inc., backed out in the last minute during Wednesday’s bidding for the P65-billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT 1) Cavite extension project. Ang said earlier SMC was all set to submit a bid for the Aquino administration’s largest PPP project last Wednesday but decided on the last minute to back out.  “We were really serious in joining. In the last minute, while running the computation, the figures did not pass our hurdle rate,” he pointed out. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Aside from  SMC, other companies that did not submit their bids last Wednesday to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) included Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp., Spanish-owned Globalvia Inversiones SAU, Eco Rail Services Inc. of businessman Reghis Romero II, and Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Inc. The DOTC pushed through with the bidding Wednesday despite receiving a lone bid from the tandem of infrastructure giant Metro Pacific Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Listed San Miguel Corp. (SMC) yesterday said the deal breaker in the decision of the diversified conglomerate to withdraw from the bidding of the P65 billion Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT 1) Cavite extension was the viability of the public private partnership (PPP) project. SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said the company was all set to submit a bid for the Aquino administration’s largest PPP project last Wednesday but decided on the last minute to back out. “We were really serious in joining. In the last minute while running the computation, the figures did not pass our hurdle rate,” Ang said. According to Ang, the documents of SMC were complete including the insurance as well as cash bonds together with the technical and financial proposals. Based on the company’s computations, Ang pointed out that the return on investments would likely be after the 20th year even with the P5-billion subsidy to be extended by the government. SMC representative brought five big boxes to the venue of the bidding but instead decided to submit a letter informing the DOTC that it regrets not joining the bidding process. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1  Aside from SMC’s SMC Infrastructure Resources Inc., other companies that did not submit their bids last Wednesday to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) included Filipino-owned Megawide Construction Corp., Spanish-owned Globalvia Inversiones SAU, Eco Rail Services Inc. of businessman Reghis Romero II, and Malaysian-owned MTD Philippines Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – Two South Korean companies that have already been sourcing corn silage from the Philippines are interested in building feed mills in the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said. Alcala said the companies are encouraged to build feed manufacturing facilities in the country because of the availability of various feed ingredients in local farms. “They are willing to invest in a location and machinery so they can mix feeds here. We have also copra meal, coconut oil and fish meal. This will enable them to save in the manufacturing process and they would also earn income from that,” he said. Alcala declined to identify the companies pending the finalization of talks for the investment. In April last year, the Philippines sent an initial shipment of 24 metric tons (MT) of corn silage for cattle to Busan, South Korea, which was part of the 15,000 of silage shipment valued at P75 million for export until December  2013. Exporting corn silage is seen to increase farmers’ income by 20 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Silage is made by harvesting forage crops such as corn, legumes and various kinds of grass at early maturity. These are then chopped finely and stored in silos to ferment. The resulting product is a sour-smelling, succulent feed for cattle. Silage is a preferred cattle feed because it is highly digestible and has good nutritional value. The preparation is also easily mechanized and ingredients are easily to source.