11.29.06
Taipanic proxy fight
IT looks like the competitive heat betweeen taipan Lucio Tan and Manila Hotel-newspaper publisher Emilio Yap has been re-ignited and is now being slowly fanned by their proxies.
According to the grapevine, the Luys have written the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. questioning the legality of the planned sale by the Nubla and Chung families of their PBCom stake to Yap, saying it goes against the Luy-Nubla-Chung shareholders’ agreement forged in 2004 as a precondition to a PDIC bailout package.
11.27.06
From Juan pocket to another
THE $4.4-million letter of credit ordered by the Supreme Court to be deposited in Land Bank pending resolution of the ownership claim of lawyer Vicente Chuidian will be funded by the government’s Trade Investment Corporation of the Philippines, not by the L/C issuer Philippine National Bank.
PNB said the L/C, a surety from Tidcorp predecessor Philguarantee, was one of the liabilities absorbed by the national government when PNB was privatized in 1987.
Unilab’s U-turn
THE UNILAB plan to delist its Indonesian subsidiary has been scuttled, following disagreement with the Jakarta Stock Exchange over the offer price. United Laboratories subdidiary Darya-Varia balked at the JSX plan to base the premium pricing for the privatization ex-dividend, instead of Darya-Varia’s proposal to factor in the 1:4 stock split it had executed following a capital restructuring in 1995.
PAL ads grounded
PHILIPPINE AIRLINES has been ordered by the AdBoard to stop its ongoing print ad campaign claiming that the flag carrier has the youngest fleet in the country.
“Based on the data and argument presented to the panel, Philippine Airlines has not yet acquired the 20 units of Airbus 319/320, hence the copy, ‘The newest domestic fleet of 20 Airbus 320/319 aircraft’ was seen to be misleading as it connotes an existing number of planes that make up the ‘fleet’,” the Advertising Board of the Philippines ruled.
11.24.06
Cash gets more Carry
CASH AND CARRY is building a residential condominium at the other end of its property now being leased to a used car dealer.
According to the grapevine, the row of PX shops beside what is now the Osmena Highway will also be demolished and converted into a parking lot, because of the projected increased traffic into the complex.
Cosmos loses fizz
EVEN absent the allegation of improperly front-loading its sales figures, Cosmos has been on a steady decline ever since San Miguel Corp. acquired the country’s pioneering soft drinks company from the Concepcion family in early 2002.
>From P858 million profit in 2002, Cosmos’s bottom line has skidded down to P542.9 million in 2003 and P215.7 million in 2004.
11.22.06
Architectural turnabout
DETAINED Chinoy architect Gilbert Yu is set to finally return to Manila, perhaps as early as this weekend, after being detained in China over two botched condominium projects in his native homeland.
According to the grapevine, Yu had sought a meeting this weekend with Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, who was in Xiamen over the weekend, to thank him for quietly interceding with Chinese authorities to release Yu from detention and allow the top architect to settle whatever outstanding tax liabilities his Xiamen projects may have incurred.
Emilio Yap outdraws Lucio Tan
MANILA HOTEL owner Emilio Yap surprised the market yesterday when his conservative Philtrust Bank announced that it had reached an agreement with the Chungs and the Nublas to acquire their combined 58 percent block in the Philippine Bank of Communications for slightly over P3 billion, or P30/share.
11.17.06
Brisk condo sales
THE SHANGRI-LA/KUOK GROUP threw an “Early Merry Christmas” cocktails Wednesday to celebrate the first tower of The St. Francis having been “almost sold out,” as well as the sales launch of its twin tower.
Towering at 60 storeys, St. Francis would become the country’s tallest building when the first tower is completed in 2009.
Bel-Air’s happy problem
THE Bel-Air Village Association has postponed to December 12 the referendum on the proposed 25-year extension on the homeowners’ deed of restrictions.
The referendum was scheduled for tomorrow, but BAVA president Antonio Guerrero admitted that lack of quorum among Bel-Air’s 950 homeowners has prompted the postponement.
