Andy Murray in PSE?

Tennis superstar Andy Murray, who is visiting the Philippines for the first time, may drop by the Ayala trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. At the sidelines of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), the British tennis star who recently got engaged to long-time girlfriend Kim Sears may excite not just sports aficionados but the country’s financial hub as well. Barring last minute glitches, the former Wimbledon champ is scheduled to appear at the trading floor to ring the opening bell.

Based on his Twitter account, Murray is looking forward to this trip. “Off to the Philippines for the first time, should be a fun trip.” It’s certainly more fun to trade stocks with Murray opening the local equities market. Doris C. Dumlao

Dead in the water

NO less than President Aquino announced proudly, after his recent working visit to the United States, that resort and gaming operator Caesar’s Palace was raring to set up shop in the Philippines to take advantage of the country’s booming economy.

It was an exciting prospect, given that the Las Vegas-based casino giant had said that it would build a $1-billion complex near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Well and good.

Andy Murray. AP FILE PHOTO

But just a few days after this was announced, international wire agencies revealed that the firm had reported a stunning loss of more than $900 million in the third quarter of this year alone. The reports further suggested that the company—which is virtually a household name in the gaming industry—might file for bankruptcy protection if it could not find fresh funding from either equity or debt partners soon.

It was all hush hush locally, and an official of the gaming firm who was in town to give a string of media interviews quietly cancelled his media appointments, we’re told.

More importantly, Biz Buzz was told by several sources that the Caesar’s Palace proposal was difficult to justify in the first place. The gaming firm was supposedly eyeing the decrepit Philippine Village Hotel beside Naia Terminal 2 as its Philippine home. But one look at the site will immediately show that the structure and the land it stands on are too small for a $1-billion venture. And there is nowhere to expand because the adjacent Nayong Pilipino property has already been leased by Pagcor to Philippine Airlines. The former park will be converted into a concrete apron where large aircraft carrying heads of state will be parked during next year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

The question now among industry insiders is this: How did Caesar’s Palace manage to make that investment pitch to President Aquino? Was the firm’s proposal not vetted by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (which presumably knows the inside stories in the gaming business) before it was given access to the President? Was the proposal cleared with Pagcor? Last time we heard, the President’s men were supposed to shield him from embarrassment, not bring embarrassment upon him.

Who shepherded the company to the President past several layers of the Chief Executive’s ‘cordon sanitaire’? Perhaps that person is a member of one administration faction that dislikes Pagcor? Hmmm. Daxim L. Lucas

SM’s latest SMX

SMX debuted in the Visayas on Tuesday night with a big bang befitting the high-spending Negrense crowd. All 4,200 square meters (net meeting space) of SMX Bacolod—the fourth under the SM group’s growing chain of conference and events venue and located inside the SM City Bacolod—were divided into three halls, with one phase unveiled after another to display three different formats, each serving a teaser as to what can be done with this new venue.

The first hall was designed as a gallery to display local culture such as an array of traditional dresses, a karo (a float) used in religious processions and an old steam train used by one big sugar producer in the area, Victorias Milling, to transport sugarcane.

The last one is a tribute to Negros Occidental’s heritage as the “Sugar Bowl of the Philippines.” It was in this first hall that SMX officials held the opening ceremonies. SM Hotels and Convention president Elizabeth Sy was in town overnight to grace the occasion.

After the opening ceremonies, the divider was removed to reveal the second hall, which bore a concert-style format. It was here that a fashion show was held to feature creations by Filipino fashion designer Renee Salud, who is famous for designing costumes for beauty queens. The fashion show was top-billed by beauty queen Bea Rose Santiago, who won the Miss International 2013 title.

Finally, the third and last hall revealed a club-like ambience and featured the city’s famous MassKara evening dancers. SMX also brought one of Metro Manila’s hottest DJs, Brian Abat, to bring the house down with modern music. Doris C. Dumlao

MVP’s media consolidation

MORE consolidation in the rapidly changing media industry is happening—this time between businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan’s BusinessWorld newspaper and the online portal of his group’s TV5.

The latest change in particular has to do with BusinessWorld absorbing most of the veteran staff of the business section of TV5’s interaksyon.com in the coming weeks or months, our sources said.

That would make BusinessWorld, for the time being, the main source of business content for TV5, which continues to struggle financially.

The move was part of Pangilinan’s plan to extract more “synergies” within his media empire, which also includes a controlling stake in The Philippine Star and a minority stake in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Miguel R. Camus

Prepping the 2016 fleet

THERE’S this man who, for the longest time, used to play second fiddle to a big businessman involved heavily in the mining business. For many years, he was content to live and play in the shadows of his more high-profile patron.

But now it seems like this second fiddle guy is starting to come into his own. Not only has he become more aggressive in the business scene—gobbling up one mining concession after another—but his name has also become more prominent in the political scene (and associated with one particular faction of the Aquino administration, no less).

But nowhere is Mr. Ex Second Fiddle’s growing stature more prominent, perhaps, than in the aviation scene.

You see, he is now said to be the happy owner of not one…. not two… but three… yes, three Cessna Citation private jets. In addition to these expensive toys, he also has another three… yes, three Cessna Caravan turboprop aircraft in his growing fleet.

One can only assume that the Cessna Citation jets are for use by himself and his more affluent friends, political patrons and business associates while the Cessna Caravans are for the use of less important staffers for ’gofer’ duties.

But wait, there’s more. Mr. Ex Second Fiddle now also owns not one… not two… but three… yes, three Eurocopter helicopters to round out his airborne fleet. In fact, all these aviation assets have now been consolidated by him under one company (presumably to make their expensive management and upkeep easier). This company is ostensibly declared as an aircraft leasing firm whose name somewhat sounds like it was inspired by Cebu Pacific’s marketing slogan of “Now every Juan can fly.”

But hang on. Again, there’s more. Mr. Ex Second Fiddle has a close Chinese-Filipino associate who owns a heavy equipment business and is one of the local distributors of a famous Japanese manufacturer of heavy machinery.

Mr. Chinoy Friend—thanks to his contracts with several government agencies—also has his own Cessna Citation jet and three… yes, three of his own Eurocopter helicopters.

Together, the duo of Mr. Ex Second Fiddle and Mr. Chinoy Friend have done well in the mining and heavy equipment business, apparently.

But observers are wondering how it is possible to amass such resources from mining when the industry’s growth has long been capped under the policies of the present administration. Where did all the money used to buy these aircraft come from? And why so many aircraft?

At least one reliable Biz Buzz source has offered a plausible explanation: All these planes and helicopters will be used heavily for some kind of political exercise—most likely involving one particular candidate from one side of the Aquino administration—in 2016.

Well, if one is trailing the race for the highest office in the land, maybe being everywhere at once, with the help of all those aircraft, would work. Maybe. Daxim L. Lucas

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