Biz Buzz: Delisting Alpha

Alphaland Corp., the property development arm of businessman Roberto V. Ongpin, now seems to have a small chance of avoiding the Philippine Stock Exchange’s delisting initiative. The dilemma now is whether to allow Alphaland to make a voluntary rather than involuntary exit from the local bourse.

Biz Buzz heard that key investor groups—including British fund Ashmore itself, which recently found a middle ground in its dispute with Ongpin’s group—are pleading for the softer sentence of voluntary delisting.

Voluntary delisting is likewise seen as the less bitter pill to swallow for other minority stockholders who had nothing to do with the violations (including the noncompliance with the listing agreement and repeated failure to make timely, adequate and accurate disclosures of information) for which the PSE is penalizing Alphaland.

Through a voluntary delisting, Alphaland can better plan an orderly timing of its exit from the local bourse and give minority stockholders a chance to exit through a tender offer, Biz Buzz sources said.

Ashmore, which has agreed to give back its shares in Alphaland in exchange for certain property assets, also needs to cross these shares through the local bourse. But if Alphaland is no longer a listed company by then, the capital gains tax can be hefty.

On the other hand, the consequences are dire in case of involuntary delisting. Among the penalties is that all directors of the involuntarily delisted company cannot hold a position in any listed company for five years afterwards. Now we know why San Miguel Corp. president Ramon S. Ang (and several others in the board) quit as directors of Alphaland (and Philweb Corp.) last March as soon as the PSE initiated the involuntary delisting process against Alphaland.

Asked whether the PSE was open to allowing a voluntary delisting for Alphaland, a source from the bourse said: “Hearings are ongoing but we’ll make the necessary announcements on our action.” The PSE hopes to complete the process as soon as possible. Doris C. Dumlao

Seiko lover

You won’t see his name on the annual Forbes list of the country’s richest, but few would argue that San Miguel Corp. head honcho Ramon Ang is a billionaire.

As such, one would be forgiven for assuming that the billionaire would have a billionaire-level watch on his wrist to complement the billionaire-level vintage car collection he has in his basement or the billionaire-level fleet of private jets in his hangar.

But people who have seen him up close can attest that Ang’s timepiece of choice for some years now is a Seiko Titanium model, which he says is worth about $200 (or roughly P9,000 under the prevailing exchange rate). And, as several people confirm, the San Miguel chief is always willing to part with his Seiko Titanium, to be given as a token of friendship with people he meets with, especially if they comment on his watch.

Ang has such a penchant for giving away his watches that the news had reached the very top of the Seiko watch conglomerate in Japan (in all likelihood, thanks to a Bloomberg article about him written last year).

Biz Buzz learned that no less than the Japanese chair of Seiko sought Ang out, going through their network of contacts in the Japanese media, and finally through the local office of a Japanese news organization.

After getting Ang’s contact details, the Seiko chief wrote him to thank him for his patronage of the Japanese watchmaker’s products and being, in effect, one of its ambassadors.

Incidentally, we hear that Ang used to enjoy wearing more expensive Swiss timepieces, but eventually realized that giving away million-peso watches right off his wrist was an expensive affair, even for a billionaire. Daxim L. Lucas

Almost visa-free

Filipino tourists clamoring for visa-free travel to Japan can hold on to a lifeline of hope from the Japanese Embassy. Ambassador Toshinao Urabe, at the sidelines of the Eiga Sai (Japanese Film Festival) 2014 opening ceremony at the Edsa Shangri-La Mall, said Japan’s government was “considering” further extending the visa term for Filipinos to five years as part of efforts to boost tourism.

Note that just on July 1, 2014, the Japanese Embassy in Manila had formally started giving out three-year, multiple-entry visas to Filipino e-passport holders.

The embassy already said on June 17 that multiple-entry visa requirements will be “substantially relaxed” while single-entry tourism visa requirements will be relaxed to a “quasi-exemption-equivalent” level when travelers apply through specified travel agencies.

Food tripping? Check. Anime and graphic novels shopping? Check. Gaming convention? Check. Fashion Week? Check.

All those promo fares to Japan just got more enticing. Riza T. Olchondra

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