B 2


BY KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE REPORTER


business The Manila Times TUESDAY December 7, 2010


Alliance Global to expand tourism venture A


LLIANCE Global Group Inc. (AGI) is set to expand its tourism portfolio by pursuing projects outside


Metro Manila.


In a statement, the holding firm of Andrew Tan said it would ear- mark P7 billion for new tourism- related projects outside the Philip- pine capital to show its strong com- mitment and confidence in the country’s tourism industry.


“Tourism is poised to become the


country’s next sunshine industry,” Kingson Sian, AGI president, said. “By strengthening its public-pri-


vate partnership program, the Aquino administration is opening the country to more infrastructure


Philex production jumps on higher metal prices


THE country’s largest listed mining firm reported on Monday that both production and shipment value of gold and copper ore jumped at end- November on bigger output, higher ore grades, and rising metal prices. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex Mining Corp. said the estimated value of ore produced from its Padcal mine rose 35 percent to P11.75 billion in the first 11 months compared with P8.7 billion in the same period in 2009. Philex also reported that output during the period was up by 13.6 percent at 8.53 million dry metric tons (DMT) from 7.5 million DMT in the same period last year. “Barring unforeseen circum-


stances, we are confident that we will be able to keep the production level that we have achieved up to the end of the year,” Jose Ernesto Villaluna Jr, Philex president and chief operating officer, said. “We may continue to see good if not better ore grades as well,” he added.


The estimated value of gold and copper concentrates shipped in the January to November period rose 23 percent to P10.57 billion from P8.6 billion a year ago even though 12 shipments were made last year as against 11 this year.


Villaluna said the company last


year produced 14,055 ounces of gold, 3.24 million pounds of cop- per and 13,115 ounces of silver. During the same period, the


Padcal mine delivered 826,549 DMT of ore, resulting in 5,976 DMT of concentrates containing 72.63


grams of gold per DMT, 24.63 per- cent copper, and 68.23 grams of sil- ver per DMT.


The estimated value of last


month’s production was P1.42 bil- lion, consisting of P858 million worth of gold, P546 million of cop- per and P16 million of silver. This valuation is based on provi- sional metal prices of $1,379 per ounce of gold, $3.80 per pound of copper, and $27.13 per ounce of sil- ver, at the exchange rate of P44.255 to the dollar.


Villaluna said Philex effected


two shipments last month, both for Pan Pacific, containing 23,707 ounces of gold, 5.39 million pounds of copper and 23,211 ounces of silver from 10,112 DMT of concentrates. The two shipments have a com- bined estimated gross value of P2.36 billion, consisting of P1.42 billion in gold, P912 million in copper and P26 million in silver.


This is based on provisional metal prices of $1,371 per ounce of gold, $3.87 per pound of copper, and $25.60 per ounce of silver. Manuel Pangilinan, Philex chair- man, said the company is “quite focused” on getting the Silangan Project closer to completion of its pre-feasibility study by the first quarter of next year.


The Silangan copper-gold mine in Surigao del Sur Province is esti- mated to hold significantly more resources than the Padcal Mine, which has been in operation for a little more than half a century. JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ


Phoenix eyes partners for expansion in 2011


PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines Inc. is keen on drawing in new part- ners to help in its expansion activi- ties next year. “In pursuit of the planned expan- sion next year, proper disclosures shall be made at the appropriate time,” the company told the Philip- pine Stock Exchange. The company allocated P1.5 bil- lion for its capital expenditures next year, excluding additional invest- ments in its retail network and de- pot facilities.


Besides potential partners, Phoe- nix is looking at selling additional shares to interested investors to raise the fresh money.


The company operates in the


downstream oil industry, particu- larly in wholesale trading of refined petroleum products, lubricants and other chemical products.


It also operates oil depots and storage facilities and allied services in the Southern Philippines. Phoenix today has 153 retail sta- tions across the country, and is aim- ing for at least 160 stations by year- end. It has 119 stations in Mindanao, four in the Visayas, and 30 in Luzon. The company’s shares rose on


Monday to P8.7 apiece from its pre- vious close of P8.6. EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO


Seair plans to add international flights next year


SOUTH East Asian Airlines (Seair) on Monday said it plans to add interna- tional flights next year as the travel industry recovers. In a telephone interview, Avelino


Zapanta, Seair president and chief executive, said the company will start flying from Clark to Singapore by December 16 using Airbus A320s. “The industry has picked up and it’s the right to come in,” Zapanta said.


Seair had entered a lease


agreement with Tiger Airways for two Airbus aircraft that will be used for the former’s regional flights. The new aircraft will also serve


Bangkok, Hong Kong and Macau. At present, Seair has 11 aircraft, four of which are Dornier 328s and seven Let 410 UVP-Es. Earlier, Seair signed a marketing arrangement with Tiger Airways that


Alphaland to develop high-end resort near Boracay


ALPHALAND Corp. has partnered with an affiliate of the Prudentialife Group for the development of a re- sort community near Boracay. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Ongpin-led property firm said it has entered into a development agreement with Akean Resorts Corp. (ARC) to build a high-end resort community called Alphaland Boracay Gateway. Alphaland will develop 500 hec- tares of land owned by ARC, an af- filiate of the Prudentialife Group of Companies.


The property is located in the municipalities of Nabas and Malay


■ STANCHART FROM B1 StanChart, GlobalSource expects rates to remain low


nomenon with banks positioning for the New Year. Private players are less definite but emphasize the ‘need’ for an adjustment hoping that a fresh batch of T-bills after a planned bond swap by the govern- ment would do the trick,” GlobalSource said. “Oddly, the sharp downward ad- justment of short-term Treasury


yields in mid-November had been attributed by some bank treasurers to the surprise choice of the [BSP] not to roll over [foreign exchange] swap transactions, an instrument used for sterilized currency interven- tion, at a time when the domestic currency was already depreciating on its own in response to global events, creating an excess of pesos


in the system,” the group said. “We had always expected Philip-


pine growth to eventually normalize with the disappearance of one-offs [i.e. election-related demand and gov- ernment frontloading], weaker pub- lic spending to contain the national deficit, and the natural slowing of ex- ports as the effect of fiscal stimulus especially in advanced economies


faded,” GlobalSource said. For this year, the firm maintained its Philippine growth forecast of 6.5 to 7 percent on continued robust growth of remittances from Filipino expatriate workers, a strong corpo- rate earnings outlook, a benign mac- roeconomic environment, and high business confidence and trust in the new administration.


in the province of Aklan, adjacent to the Caticlan airport. Alphaland will also provide the necessary funding, equipment, ma- terials, supplies, development works expertise, management, labor and supervision to transform the prop- erty into a resort complex consist- ing of residential and commercial components.


If required, Alphaland may also acquire additional parcels of land in the area, the company said. Anchored by a Polo and Country


Club, the project is designed to be a fully integrated leisure township development with a wide range of


components including hotel and other accommodations, as well as water sports and other recreational facilities and large top-of-the-line homesteads.


In a separate disclosure, Alphaland said its board of directors authorized the issuance of 8.897 million com- mon shares to Noble Care Manage- ment Corp. at P10 each from the unissued portion of its authorized capital stock.


This is in connection with the consolidation of the company’s ownership in Alphaland Makati Place Inc. through Alphaland Devel- opment Inc.


The share sale resulted in an in- crease in the issued and outstand- ing shares of Alphaland from 1.42 billion at end-October to 1.43 bil- lion shares at end-November. Early this year, the property firm announced that it would also de- velop Alphaland Bay City, a self-con- tained mixed-use development with a marina and yacht club.


Other projects in the pipeline are the Alphaland Balesin Country and the mixed-use Alphaland Shangri-La in Bonifacio Global City.


Alphaland shares were last traded on Friday at P62.75 each.


KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


will allow the Singapore carrier to sell Philippine airline’s flights to passengers. Zapanta said the collaboration


with Tiger Airways will allow Seair to serve more international visitors to the Philippines by offering more destinations “with great value, low fares.” In the first nine months, Seair recorded an increase in passengers


business inbrief


■ THE Department of Finance is urging the lawmakers to prioritize the Aquino administration’s fiscal responsibility bill when their session resumes next year. The proposed law would be the “bible” for the enactment of laws affecting the government’s income and its corresponding expenditures. KATRINA MENNEN A. VALDEZ


■ GRAND Titan Capital Holdings Inc., the investment holding company of George S.K. Ty, said it has raised P5 billion from its issuance of three- and five-year fixed rate corporate notes. Proceeds from the fund raising will be used for the company’s general corporate requirements.


LAILANY P. GOMEZ


■ NICKEL Asia Corp. will exercise its option to sell 45.675 million additional shares to the public to raise more funds for its mining projects. The new shares to be sold are valued at P730.8 million based on the company’s share price of P16 each on Monday. KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


flown at 159,086 from last year’s 127,600. Seair flies 18 routes, including


tourist destinations such as Caticlan (Boracay) and Cebu in the Visayas; Clark in Northern Luzon; Busuanga, Cuyo, El Nido, Puerto Princesa and Rodriguez in Palawan Province; and Camiguin, Cotobato, Zamboanga, Jolo, Tawi-Tawi in Mindanao. DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


■ CITYLAND Development Corp. said the Securities and Exchange Commission resolved to render effective the registration of the company’s short-term commercial papers worth P1 billion. The property developer earlier said the proceeds would finance two condominium projects and pay maturing loans. KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


■ MANULIFE Philippines said its sales went up 121 percent in weighted sales over the same period last year. Year-to-date, weighted insurance sales grew by 90 percent over the same period in 2009, while total premiums and deposits increased by 55 percent and total assets under management rose by 41 percent. LAILANY P. GOMEZ


■ DMCI Holdings Inc said it will acquire Semirara’s shares in DMCI Mining Corp. and DMCI Power Corp. subject to the terms and conditions to be finalized. The holdings firm owns 56 percent of Semirara, while DMCI Mining and DMCI Power are wholly owned subsidiaries of DMCI Holdings. KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


Generali Pilipinas Life Assurance Co. was recently appointed by PhilPlans First Inc. (formerly Philam Plans Inc.), to cover its new plan holders’credit group life and term insurance


coverage. Signing the contract are (second from left) Jaime Dizon, PhilPlans executive vice president and chief operating officer; and (third from left) Ma. Sharon Maranan, Generali Pilipinas senior executive vice president for Group Insurance Business.


GMA TV ratings climb in November


GMA Network Inc. on Monday said television ratings in Luzon and Mega Manila rose in November despite the program changes made by its rivals to snatch audience share. In a statement, GMA said ABS- CBN brought back veteran anchors to its primetime newscast while TV-5 launched its “much-hyped” variety show in the early primetime slot. Citing Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, GMA claimed both rivals failed to overcome its primetime newscast 24 Oras in TV ratings in Luzon and Mega Manila last month. The company also said its


audience share in Mega Manila was 8 percentage points to 35.4 percent higher than ABS-CBN’s 27.4 percent.


Mega Manila comprises 55 percent of the total urban TV household population in the country. In addition, GMA kept its lead


in TV ratings in Urban Luzon, which makes up 77 percent of the total TV households nationwide. The network posted an


average total day audience share of 33.6 percent, up by 3.8 percentage points against ABS- CBN’s 29.8 percent.


In the first nine months of the year, GMA posted a net income


of P2.27 billion, 6 percent higher than in the same period last year. Its consolidated revenues amounted to P10.876 billion in the same period, eight percent higher than the P10.025 billion in 2009. In the July to September


period, its net income dropped to P583 million from last year’s P788 million. The company blamed the disappointing third-quarter earnings on the absence of political advertisements, a drop in program ratings and the implementation of new advertising rates.


DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


investments and making Philippine tourist destinations more accessi- ble,” he said.


The new tourism projects would


create synergies with its integrated tourism estate Resorts World Manila at Newport City in Pasay City. Resorts World Manila features the


country’s largest casino, the 172 all- suite Maxims Hotel, the 342-room five-star Marriott Hotel and a budget hotel called Remington. AGI will also build the four-star Hamilton Hotel, which will bring its total rooms to 1,800.


Travellers International, a joint


venture between AGI and Genting Hong Kong, is expected to make “substantial” contribution to the Philippine holding firm’s revenues this year following the first full-year operations of Resorts World. Since opening in September last


year, the entertainment facility has attracted 2.5 million tourists, mostly from Korea, China and other South- east Asian countries. AGI expects its net income attribut- able to shareholders to increase by at least 38 percent this year to P6.62 from


last year’s P4.8 billion with its tourism ventures accounting for the growth. Next year, the firm expects to grow at the same pace on the strength of its tourism, property, hard liquor and fast-food chain businesses. Its board of directors authorized the re-issuance of its treasury shares, which will increase its shares avail- able in the market. At end-September, the company had P4.13 billion worth of treasury shares, which include those accumulated by AGI under its buy-back program and those held by certain subsidiaries.


Generali covers PhilPlans’ planholders


The shares are reported at cost so that fair value gains or losses on the shares held by subsidiaries were eliminated in full and were not rec- ognized in the consolidated finan- cial statements, the company said. In 2008, AGI launched a P2-billion share buy-back program, which was implemented until January 10 this year. In the first nine months, AGI’s net income attributable to shareholders rose 63 percent to P5.39 billion from last year’s P3.31 billion. Its shares fell from P12.96 on Fri- day to P12.64 each on Monday.


Marcventures unit sells nickel to Noble Group


THE mining unit of Marcventures Holdings Inc. will sell its nickel ore to a member of the Noble Group. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock


Exchange, Marcventures said its wholly owned subsidiary, Marcventures Mining & Development Corp. (MMDC), entered into a memorandum of agreement with Noble Resources Pte. Ltd., a Singapore- listed commodity firm. The Noble Group is a global


commodities trading and supply chain manager of agricultural, industrial and energy products. Under the accord, Noble will buy


from MMDC 250,000 wet metric tons (WMT) of saprolite nickel ore for delivery from June to December 2011. This includes the present stockpile of 45,000 WMT of saprolite nickel ore, which will be shipped next year. The transaction is subject to


agreement by MMDC and Noble on pricing and other terms. In October, Marcventures completed


its borrowing to finance its operational expenses and to develop its nickel mine in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur. The company said 13 lenders have


taken up P100-million worth of convertible loans. The one-year loans carry a 12-percent interest. The mining firm earlier said that it


was investing P474 million in its nickel project, which is projected to produce up to 800,000 WMT of the said mineral a year. Marcventures shares fell from P1.98


on Friday to P1.96 each on Monday. KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16