Biz Buzz: ‘The Power List’

After bagging a $610-million deal to take over the downstream oil businesses of ExxonMobil in Malaysia, San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang has put the conglomerate in the radar of global investors as he landed on Wall Street Journal’s list of Asian business leaders making big headlines in select global and regional media.

“The Power List,” which appeared in the August 22 issue of WSJ, featured RSA in the company of Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, Japan Airlines president Masaru Onishi, Foster’s Group chief executive John Pollaers and HTC chief executive Peter Chou.

Cheers to more “power” deals for the Philippines.

(And based on what we hear, there is another “mega deal” on the way.)—Doris C. Dumlao

Boardroom bombshell

This local bank is trying to keep hush-hush a boardroom incident that recently sent shock waves to those on ground zero.

The institution has been having board-versus-management skirmishes that have been intensifying day by day (but lest you suspect, we’re not referring to that government bank that’s been hogging the headlines recently).

Previously, the top honcho was accused of favoring a close relative in the awarding of certain supplier’s contract which, his critics alleged, didn’t go through a proper bidding process.

But the boardroom brawl climaxed recently when the bank chief—in the course of being grilled by some board members for exorbitant legal fees incurred by the bank—admitted that one such extraordinary “cash out” had actually flowed to the pockets of some people in the judiciary.

Those within hearing distance shivered when the bank chief said something to the effect that “it’s how things are done in this country.”

It’s not known whether this bombshell admission was stricken off the minutes of the board meeting (which included many government representatives).

Documented or not, though, the incident is too juicy not to have leaked out. Sources familiar with that fateful meeting attested that this drama—now the subject of a naughty e-mail anecdote circulating in town—indeed happened.

Thus, it’s interesting to see what happens to the bank chief next, after inadvertently having given his critics bullets that can be used against him.—Doris C. Dumlao

Closing arguments

Things are clearly coming to a head between telecommunications giant PLDT and its smaller rival Globe Telecom ahead of the August 26 deadline imposed by the former’s head honcho, Manny Pangilinan, for the government to decide on the deal (or else he walks away).

Rumors abound that regulators and Malacañang may be inclined to rule in favor of Globe Telecom, including—possibly—removing at least one frequency from the merged PLDT-Digitel entity to level the playing field for the smaller Ayala-controlled telco.

In a text message to Biz Buzz, PLDT chief legal counsel Ray Espinosa said that there was “absolutely no legal basis” to strip the merged entity of its previously issued frequencies as a condition for the deal.

“Why will the government succumb to a highly illegal and highly irregular demand of Globe?” Espinosa asked, then pointed to Globe’s own supposed illegal use of the radio frequency of a firm called Altimax.

“Under the law, radio frequency can be recalled only if it is not being used, or related fees are not paid, or it has been reassigned for different use (like from broadcast use to telecom use),” Espinosa said.

Of course, Globe has its own set of convincing arguments here. And then again, there are unspoken political considerations involved that—based on what we hear—are immune to legal arguments. We’ll see.—Daxim L. Lucas

While Globe says…

Globe officials, meanwhile, sound quite relaxed in the days leading up to the expected decision by the National Telecommunications Commission.

A ranking official of the Ayala-controlled telco noted that the NTC has already approved the Altimax deal (“[PLDT] is good at bringing in extraneous issues”).

Instead, Globe is focusing its closing arguments on PLDT’s voracious appetite for frequencies, saying that no other telco in the world needs as many frequencies to deliver services for “just” 45 million subscribers (along with excess frequencies that they haven’t brought up yet, according to one official).

On Tuesday, Globe got an unexpected bonus when the Court of Appeals ruled against PLDT in the latter’s bid to prohibit other telecommunications firms from operating in Bonifacio Global City (ironically, a development once controlled by Manny Pangilinan’s group, but since sold to the Ayalas).

To recall, PLDT previously complained that the Ayalas were imposing an unfair prohibition on tenants at Ayala malls from subscribing to the former’s telco services.

“Weren’t they the one calling us out on mall exclusivity?” one Globe official said. “It turns out, they were suing to make sure they are the only ones who could operate in Global City.”—Daxim L. Lucas

He said, she said

At least two allies of the current DBP board called Biz Buzz Tuesday to insist that the bank had indeed filed a complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman against officers of the government financial institution and businessman Roberto Ongpin, contrary to claims that they had merely transmitted a Commission on Audit report to the office.

One even gave us two “case numbers” for the complaints that were supposedly signed by DBP chairman Jose Nuñez and president Francisco del Rosario.

“These are complaint-affidavits, and not just transmittal letters,” said DBP’s private counsel Zenaida Ongkiko-Acorda, who described the document to be 93 pages long.

What does the other side say?

“We’ll believe it when we see it,” said one officer included in the charge sheet, who pointed out that none of the respondents have so far received copies of the complaint filed more than two weeks ago.—Daxim L. Lucas

BHI’s large cap partner

Boulevard Holdings Inc. recently said that it might sign within the next few days, or weeks, a joint-venture agreement with a “large-cap publicly listed conglomerate” for a resort community project at Paniman Bay in Cavite. The partner will also undertake a 10-year joint-venture partnership in the Puerto Azul complex.

As BHI shares sizzled after the disclosure, we’re curious to find out which large-cap partner this is. So we asked the four large-cap groups with extensive property development interests. We checked with the Gokongwei, Ayala, Alliance Global and SM groups, but they told us that their respective groups were not BHI’s potential partner. Well, BHI didn’t say it’s a large-cap company with vast property interests.—Doris C. Dumlao

Game-changer

The plan of the Philippine Stock Exchange to roll out by 2012 a platform that will allow stock brokers to offer online trading services without heavily spending on infrastructure is seen as a potential catalyst that may attract more investors into equities.

Leading online stock brokerage CitisecOnline.com (COL), however, is unfazed by the prospect of cutthroat competition.

“On the contrary, I think it will be good for the retail industry. As more brokers promote investing in the stock market, the better for the industry. The penetration rate remains very low so there’s a lot of room for more online brokers in the market,” said COL president Conrado Bate.—Doris C. Dumlao

Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ON INQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert).