business The ˜Manila Times THURSDAY BY KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE REPORTER finery Holdings Inc.


AN Miguel Corp. (SMC) is looking to further increase its ownership of Petron Corp., fortifying its control of


the Philippines’ largest oil refiner. In a briefing, Ramon Ang, SMC president and chief operating of- ficer, said the food and beverage gi- ant may secure up to 90 percent of Petron after the conglomerate exer- cises the option to acquire as much as 68 percent of the refiner. “We will want to buy more and


maybe we can buy up to 90 percent within the next two months,” Ang said on the sidelines of the conglom- erate’s listing of its preferred shares. Ang claims SMC has a 38-percent stake in Petron.


Eton eyes more cities for low-cost housing


ETON Properties Philippines Inc. is keen on building more homes in cities in Metro Manila under its low-cost unit.


The property arm of the Lucio Tan Group of Companies has rolled out First Homes Makati, a 34-story resi- dential condominium situated at the corner of Chino Roces Avenue and Malugay Streets. “We have high hopes on First


Homes. In terms of expansion, we have identified properties in Quezon City, Pasig and Manila that will be ideal for First Homes,” Danilo Ignacio, Eton Properties president and chief operating of- ficer, said in a briefing.


First Homes Makati is a follow-


up to Aurora Heights Residences in Quezon City, which is already 40 percent sold since its launch last July. Aurora Heights is a transited- oriented development of two 20- storey mid-rise buildings featuring compact home units.


Master planned for three towers,


Tower 1 of First Homes Makati will feature a clubhouse with receiving areas for guests, landscaped gardens and a set of retail outlets at the ground floor. The first tower will offer 1,260 fully furnished and move-in ready units. Amortization starts at P10,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit and P17,000 a month for the three- bedroom unit.


Prices range from P1.5 million for


the two-bedroom units and P2.5 million for the three-bedroom units. Turnover of the first tower is set on December 2014. “We are helping first-time home


buyers, hardworking employees, and young couples achieve their dreams of owning a home through First Homes Inc.,” Ignacio said. First Homes aims to address the in-city housing needs of Filipinos in strategic areas near the country’s major central business districts and establish a strong presence in the broad affordable market segment, which accounts for a huge number of households in the country. On Wednesday, Eton Properties also broke ground on three projects, namely 8 Adriatico in Padre Faura, Manila; its second office building in Eton Centris along Quezon Avenue and 68 Roces in Quezon City. Eton Properties’ nine-month net income surged to P530 mil- lion, almost a seven-fold increase from the previous year’s P67 mil- lion, making to the company on track to meet profit target of P700 million this year.


Its shares fell from P3.70 on Tues-


day on P3.63 on Wednesday. KRISTA ANGELA M. MONTEALEGRE


Once SMC exercises the option to acquire 60 percent of the out- standing shares held by Sea Refin- ery Corp., the conglomerate will have up to 67 percent equity in- terest in Petron.


D e cember 9, 2010


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SMC poised to secure bigger Petron stake S


Increasing its stake is a “good opportunity” since the conglomer- ate will invest billions of dollars in the oil firm, he said. “We intend to invest a minimum of $2 billion in the next three years and so we see a lot of opportunity in that company,” he said. “If there are shares out there, we will be very interested,” he added. Late August, the food and bev- erage giant firmed up its control of Petron, acquiring P10.92-bil- lion worth of shares from Sea Re-


The option to acquire up to 100 percent of Sea Refinery is contained in an agreement dated December 24, 2008 between SMC and Sea Re- finery Holdings BV, the parent com- pany of Sea Refinery and a unit of the Ashmore Group represented by former Philippine Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin.


The Ashmore Group ended with


90.6 percent of Petron after buy- ing the government’s 40-percent interest for P25.6 billion in 2008. The year before, the Ashmore Group had acquired a 40-percent


stake in Petron from Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Overseas Co. Following its acquisition of a majority in Petron, the Ashmore Group made a tender offer, which allowed the UK firm to secure a fur- ther 10.1 percent from other hold- ers of the oil refiner’s stock. SMC paid the Ashmore Group about $10 million for the option to gain control over Petron.


One billion common shares


SMC will also sell a billion worth of common shares in the first quar- ter next year to comply with the minimum public float requirement of the local bourse. “Now that there’s appetite in the market, we can easily place that out,” Ang said.


Last month, SMC announced that


it would offer at least 30 percent of its outstanding common shares to the public.


After listing P65 billion worth of series “1” preferred shares on Wednesday, the company is contem- plating on offering more preferred shares because of strong investor appetite, Ang said.


SMC listed 873.173 million pre- ferred shares, representing 27.6 percent of the company’s out- standing stock. Its preferred shares rose 50 percent to P112.50 from the issue price of P75.


Proceeds from the preferred share offering will be used for acquisitions and new investments, Ang said, add- ing that, “It’s always good if you have more cash than required.” The peso-denominated preferred


Pepsi in joint venture to ship coconut water to US next year


A JOINT venture involving Pepsi Cola may export coconut water to the US next year, according to the United Coconut Association of the Philip- pines Inc. (UCAP). Yvonne Agustin, UCAP executive


direcdtor, said a recent joint venture between Pepsi Cola and Peter Paul Philippines may push through in January. “If schedule does not miscarry, the


venture will have its first export January next year. Also, virgin coconut


oil exporter Prosource is marketing powder coconut water in sachets, which is dissolved in a glass of water and ready for consumption,” Agustin told reporters. The official said there has been


increasing interest in coconut water as a sports drink, not necessarily from green coconuts. She said Coca-Cola and Pepsi have joined the bandwagon and have acquired coconut water companies if


not controlling stakes in the latter to increase their exposure in fast-growing non-carbonated drink. “They have good reason to do so. Although we already knew about this based on the findings of our research- ers, no less than the United States Department of Agriculture – National Nutrient Database found out in 2006 that coconut water contains an array of nutrients,” Agustin said. Pepsi has already put up a plant in


Globe appoints technical advisers


GLOBE Telecom Inc. on Wednesday appointed new telecom experts to provide strategic advice on the development of its network and technology. In a disclosure to the Philippine


Stock Exchange, Globe appointed Robert Tan as chief technical adviser effective today (December 9). Tan will provide Globe senior leaders


strategic advice and technical expertise for the development of the company’s network and technology initiatives in support of business imperatives. He has over three decades of


professional and executive-level experience in the telecommunications industry within the Asia Pacific region. Prior to this appointment, Tan spent


seven years in Singtel Optus as head of the Transmission and Facilities Engineering group. He also managed the Mobile Deployment and Support Services group, which played a critical role in supporting the growth of the wireless broadband business. He joined Singtel in 1975 where he built his expertise in Transmission and


Acess Engineering, including extensive experience in technical due diligence work that involves the operational and engineering assessment of companies for acquisition and strategic programs of JV partners. The Ayala-led telco also ap-


pointed Rodell Garcia as head of Technical Transmission. He will lead the technical service


improvement initiatives of Globe. Globe is currently testing the


long-term evolution (LTE) technol- ogy or 4G (fourth generation), a high-performance air interface for cellular mobile technology. It addresses the demand for higher data rates and increased quality of service and enables users to experience fast mobile broadband service up to 100 Mbps. After 2G and 3G, LTE is the next


frontier in radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. In May, Globe appointed George


Peter Bithos as advisor for the Customer Facing Unit.


Bithos provides strategic guidance to


the consumer sales and marketing groups and will report directly to Globe president, Ernest Cu. In a separate statement, Globe said it has offered affordable data plans for BlackBerry devices. The company launched two BlackBerry® data plans for its postpaid and prepaid subscribers—BlackBerry Messaging, which gives subscribers unlimited push email on Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Outlook Web Access for corporate emails or other email services, as well as instant messaging via BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, and Google Talk; and BlackBerry Social, which gives unlimited access to Twitter, Facebook and MySpace as well as instant messaging via BBM, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messen- ger, and Google Talk. BlackBerry Messaging and BlackBerry


Social are priced at P300 each for 30 days, which is equivalent to just P10 a day. DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


Double-digit growth seen for SkyCable


THE cable unit of ABS-CBN Corp. expects its subscribers would grow by double digits next year mainly because of its “affordable subscription charges” and new offerings. “We expect to sustain our subscriber


growth in 2011,” Rodrigo Montinola, SkyCable Inc. vice-president for market- ing, told reporters during a briefing. Montinola projected a 10-percent


growth in subscribers next year from the 5-percent this year. Last year, revenues climbed to P3.72 billion from P2.67 billion in 2008. “In terms of profits, we expect a double- digit growth this year,” Montinola said. SkyCable’s net income amounted to P164 million last year from P81 million in 2008. The SkyCable executive said 80 percent of its subscribers in Metro Manila have digital boxes. The company has about 550,000 subscribers nationwide, of which 250,000 are in Metro Manila. In the next two years, Montinola expects the rollout of its digital boxes to be com- pleted nationwide.


Digibox addresses the problem of cable signal theft through the use of encrypting


technology and offers digital quality signal, including features such as electronic program guides that allow viewers to find out ahead of time programs for the rest of the week. The technology also provides parental locks for non-child friendly programming and interactive video games.


Besides digitalization, SkyCable will also offer the personal video recorder (PVR) system, a device that records TV shows onto a hard drive in digital format. Unlike video and DVD re- corders, there is no need for tapes or disks. The device gives the subscribers the abil- ity to pause live TV, instantly replay scenes just watched while continuing to record. It is similar to TiVO, the world’s first digital video recorder which has a very large fol- lowing in the US. The SkyCable PVR service is currently on trial and will be commercially available by the first quarter of next year. At present, SkyCable offers eight HD Channels like Discovery HD World, His- tory HD, National Geographic Channel HD, HBO HD, NBA Premium HD, Star Movies HD, Fox Crime HD and ESPN HD. DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


TV5 seeks to bar judge from ‘Willing Willie’ case


THE owner of TV5 wants the Court of Appeals to bar a Makati judge from hear- ing the copyright infringement case filed by ABS-CBN Corp. against the host of Willing Willie.


In a petition for certiorari and prohi- bition filed on December 6 before the appellate court, ABC Development Corp. said Joselito Villarosa, presiding judge of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 66, should be prohibited from assuming ju- risdiction over the copyright case. The network said the judge commit-


ted “grave abuse of discretion amount- ing to lack of jurisdiction for denying their motion to defer proceedings on ABS-CBN’s petition for a temporary re-


straining order (TRO) to stop the fur- ther airing of Willing Willie.


TV5 said Villarosa failed to state the reasons for the denial and dis- played his “utter bias to favor re- spondent ABS-CBN.” The network argued that while ABS- CBN made it appear that the com- plaint with Villarosa was for infringe- ment of copyright, in reality it was an action to enforce the agreement be- tween the Lopez-owned network and Revillame. This would then stop the showing of Willing Willie and that “threshold issues” are already pending before the Quezon City court, the net- work claimed.


“This is a blatant violation of the


Rules of Court against forum shopping . . . The obvious objective of ABS CBN is to stop Revillame from hosting any kind of game or variety show in all tel- evision networks,” TV5 said. On the copyright infringement case


filed by ABS-CBN against Revillame, TV5 said that ABS-CBN “does not have a clear and unmistakable right, if it has any. It has already been es- tablished in Joaquin, et al. vs. Drilon, et al., that the format of a show is not copyrightable and is not one of the protected works enumerated under the Intellectual Property Code.” DARWIN G. AMOJELAR


ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES


OFFICE OF THE PAF BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base, Pasay City


Invitation to Bid


The Armed Forces of the Philippines, through the PAF Bids and Awards Committee (PAFBAC), invites suppliers/manufacturers/ distributors to apply for eligibility and to bid for the hereunder project/s:


Nomenclature/Activity PB-PAFBAC-164-10 Procurement Micro Switch MLG Up &


64 Other Line Items for the Maintenance of S-211 Aircraft PB-PAFBAC-165-10 Procurement of Generator Control Unit &


4 Other Line Items for the Maintenance of F-27 Aircraft #620 PB-PAFBAC-166-10 Procurement of Synchrophaser Assy &


22 Other Line Items for the Maintenance of C-130 Aircraft PB-PAFBAC-167-10 Procurement of Motor AC Acft & 17 Other


Line Items for the Maintenance of C-130 Aircraft PB-PAFBAC-168-10 Procurement of BDU


(with Name Cloth & Cap) and Hat, Lousy PB-PAFBAC-169-10 Procurement of Boots, Combat (Tropical)


and Shoes, Dress Low Cut PB-PAFBAC-170-10 Procurement of Slipper, Rubber


and Shoes, Rubber Blue PB-PAFBAC-171-10 Procurement of Bathrobe and


16 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-172-10 Procurement of GOU (Tailored Fit)


and 3 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-173-10 Procurement of Bag, Deployment Blue


and 4 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-174-10 Procurement of Bed Sheet White


and 13 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-175-10 Procurement of Can, Meat Stainless


and 9 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-176-10 Procurement of Pack Jungle OD and


5 Other Line Items PB-PAFBAC-177-10 Procurement of Socks Cotton Athletic White and 8 Other Line Items


Approved Budget for Price of Bid Documents the Contract (ABC) Php8,281,581.00


(non-refundable) Php3,000.00


Php2,272,000.00 Php13,996,541.00 Php8,501,042.20 Php2,522,928.00 Php3,162,000.00 Php1,335,300.00 Php3,127,962.00 Php729,300.00 Php1,597,200.00 Php2,516,400.00 Php1,535,130.00 Php2,430,000.00 Php1,238,040.00


Php3,000.00 Php6,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php1,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php1,000.00 Php1,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php1,000.00 Php3,000.00 Php1,000.00


Pre-Bid Conference: December 16, 2010 at 9:00 AM PAF Procurement Center Conference Room, Villamor Air Base, Pasay City Submission/Opening of Bids: January 4, 2011 at 9:00 AM PAF Procurement Center Conference Room, Villamor Air Base, Pasay City


Issuance of Bid Documents: December 17-27, 2010 at 8:00AM-12:00NN & 1:00PM-5:00PM, Monday to Friday, PAFBAC Secretariat, PAF Procurement Center Bldg., Villamor Air Base, Pasay City: Tel Nr: 8546701 Local 6051 & 6057


Prospective bidders should have an experience in similar project within the last 5 years in an amount at least 50% of the ABC of the project.


The Pre-bidding Conference shall be open to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents. All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference/


s, Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).


(SGD.) COL EDGAR R FALLORINA PAF (GSC) Chairman, PAF BAC


MT –Dec. 9, 2010


Quezon to tap the coconut water that used to be just thrown as waste by desiccated coconut producer Peter Paul, which cracks 600,000 nuts per day. Pepsi plans to turn the coconut water


into a more natural isotonic drink that can substitute its hydrant Gatorade. As carbonated sodas fall out of


favor, soft drink companies are looking to expand their offerings and focus more on things like teas, sports drinks, energy drinks and


vitamin waters. Coconut water is a popular option in


many Asian and Latin American countries, and it’s slowly gaining attention in the US. It’s found within young, green


coconuts and is different from coconut milk, which is squeezed from the meat of the fruit. Complete with electro- lytes and carbs, coconut water has been hailed as a natural sports drink. JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ


stocks were offered by the diversify- ing conglomerate to existing common shareholders last year at an exchange ratio of one preferred share for every one common share with a dividend rate of 8 percent per annum. On Tuesday, San Miguel Pure


Foods Co. Inc.’s board of directors approved the issuance of 25 billion preferred shares.


Besides its stable food, beverage, and packaging businesses, SMC also has interests in power, fuels, infra- structure, telecoms and mining. SMC is also expected to wrap up negotiations in the next 30 days for its investments in coal projects in Indonesia.


SMC shares increased from P122


on Tuesday to P129 each on Wednesday, while Petron shares rose from P11.32 to P11.48.


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