DON’T go looking for Colgate toothpaste in SM Supermarkets. Don’t go shopping there for Palmolive soap or shampoo either, because chances are, you won’t find any. That’s because the SM group and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive recently got into a tussle over billing issues, according to our sources.

According to the Colgate-Palmolive camp, the disagreement came about after SM insisted on a payment period beyond what is normal for FMCG items (a longer period would have positive and negative implications for either party, since “time is money”).

The SM camp, meanwhile, says the terms are static, and that a new Colgate-Palmolive manager who is “unaccustomed to the way business has always been done” has been pushing for better terms (that are clearly not better for SM).

Thus, Colgate-Palmolive’s products and merchandisers are no longer a fixture in SM Supermarket premises, prompting a high-stakes stand off between the two corporate giants.

Both firms rely on each other for a significant amount of their revenues. SM—the country’s biggest supermarket chain—is easily Colgate-Palmolive’s largest vendor. Colgate-Palmolive products, meanwhile, are some of the best-selling products of the chain, with daily sales estimated in the millions of pesos.

Yesterday, several SM Supermarkets showed thinning stocks of Colgate toothpaste, while Palmolive bath products were “out of stock,” according to the staff.

Neither side seems keen on prolonging the agony, however, and a source from the SM group said that they are “looking forward to resolving any differences.”

Of course, the question really is who will blink first? Daxim L. Lucas

Deal or no deal?

Oil refiner Petron Corp. sees synergies between retail banking and its network of more than 1,500 service stations. It also wants to go into electronic banking, which is why two of its financial services subsidiaries (but with names that sound like property development firms) hatched a deal to acquire EIB Savings Bank from Export Bank.

But a Petron official said the two subsidiaries—New Ventures Realty Corp. and Las Lucas Development Corp.—are having a tough time convincing the central bank to approve their acquisition, which is not part of the core business.

“There’s a chance that it won’t push through,” the official said.

Whether it pushes through or not, Petron will soon be controlled by food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp., which has its own banking unit in Bank of Commerce. Doris C. Dumlao

Swine flu scare

The A(H1N1) scare has gripped even the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Staffers are talking about a colleague at the BSP’s main five-story building who had gone on a voluntary self-quarantine on the seventh day when flu-like symptoms manifested themselves. The sick staffer had recently come from a foreign trip and was thus suspected of swine flu infection.

Meanwhile, the country’s most valuable company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., has joined the drive against a swine flu epidemic by giving attendees during yesterday’s stockholders’ meeting free surgical masks. It likewise installed dispensers of hand sanitizers right at the entrance of the grand ballroom at Dusit Hotel. Doris C. Dumlao

Turning tables

This mid-sized bank has often been rumored to be an acquisition target of its larger peers. One such rumor last year even prompted its CEO to circulate a bank-wide memo to reassure jittery staff that the rumors were just that.

Recently, however, this bank has been trying to turn the tide by actually scouting for acquisition prospects. According to our source, one potential target is a Filipino-Chinese-owned commercial bank.

It was actually looking at another prospect recently, but decided not to pursue its bid after the target was “dismembered.” Daxim L. Lucas

Notes of discord

The business community was thrown into a tizzy last week after San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang told reporters that businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan offered to swap the controlling stakes of Metro Pacific in Maynilad and the North Luzon Tollway in exchange for SMC’s 43-percent stake in Meralco, ahead of the power distributor’s stockholders’ meeting last month.

It was headline-grabbing news, especially since it indicated that MVP was serious in trying to build up a dominant stake in Meralco (as it stands, “RSA” can derail any board initiative courtesy of the veto power he wields).

While detailing the supposed offer, RSA even twisted the knife a bit, saying anything that is offered on the table must be commensurate to the value of the asset being swapped (hinting that Maynilad and NLEx combined is less than the value of his Meralco stake).

Within a few hours of the revelation, however, the MVP camp was already denying the swap proposal, and formal denials were made a day later to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Clearly, only one of them is telling the truth. Whichever side that is, the incident could be another crack in the carefully choreographed three-way “harmonious” relationship on Meralco’s board. Daxim L. Lucas