Biz Buzz: Senior lovebirds

Philippine high society is abuzz over the wedding this week of two “de buena familia” types whose lives have been full of twists and turns enough to provide material for a telenovela season.

A wedding, per se, is no big deal. What makes this interesting are the circumstances in which both parties find themselves.

The groom is a wealthy nonagenarian (Biz Buzz saw him at a public event recently, walking about with some assistance from an aide). Here’s the thing: His wife passed away only this year. Only five months ago, in fact.

According to our high society sources, while Mr. Nonagenarian is wealthy in his own right, it was his late wife who actually had the real money. And when we say “real” money, we mean money in the billions of pesos, thanks to the family’s vast real estate holdings in the south of Metro Manila.

So whom is Mr. Nonagenarian with now? He’s marrying Ms Salon Owner in a private ceremony to be attended by only 40 guests.

How did that union happen so fast? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that both senior lovebirds live in the same upscale condo building in Makati?

Here’s the clincher which sent the heads of our high society friends spinning: No prenuptial agreement. We’re talking of billions of pesos here, people.

But hey … as long as they’re happy, right? <wink>Daxim L. Lucas

Out with the old, in with the new

CHANGES are coming for TV5, as basketball coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes assumes the CEO post starting next month.

TV5 trails rivals ABS-CBN Corp. and GMA Network in the ratings game. With the shift in management comes changes that would see TV5 halting—for now—the production of teleseryes and place greater focus on its strengths such as news and, of course, sports.

That also means no more high profile and expensive poaching of big name celebrities from ABS-CBN or GMA. The strategic direction was no longer to compete directly with the bigger networks, it is to find its niche among a younger audience.

For entertainment, TV5 plans to run more Filipino-dubbed shows of foreign television franchises like “The Walking Dead.”

Basically, that’s an overhaul of its strategy.

The new direction suits Reyes’ particular interests and talent in sports. Another skill set of Reyes is that he is apparently a very digital savvy individual.  That was the assessment of no less than his boss, PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Will that be enough to turn the network’s fortunes around, just as Reyes had done with the teams he coached? Profitability has been elusive to TV5, the target was to achieve this by 2019. Reyes said he was still shooting for that. Miguel R. Camus

‘Buena mano’

THE AYALA group, which has debuted into the motorcycle business through a partnership with Austria-based KTM AG, has sold its very first KTM motorcycle.  The buyer of the KTM 1190—which is designed for adventurers who like offroad traveling—is Tjader Regis, a businessman from Davao City and proprietor of Davao UAS Photography, which specializes in unmanned aerial systems technology.

Regis bought the KTM unit for P1.19 million in cash, bringing home the new bike from the KTM showroom on opening day.  No less than Ayala Corp. chair and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala handed over the bike to Regis, an avid biker for more than 15 years now.  This is his third KTM bike purchase.

The newly-sold KTM bike, however, is not yet one that is made in the Philippines. Ayala’s deal with KTM to manufacture these bikes under Integrated Micro-Electronic Inc.’s production house in Laguna would start only by the first quarter of next year.  But the partnership with KTM comes with a distribution capability so the Ayala group has started introducing the brand here this year. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla

The price of Liberty

A LOT in this world remains unexplained, including Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc.’s share price movement.

For those watching this space, Liberty is currently trading above its tender offer price of P2.20 per share—which the minority shareholders say should be much higher (P5 says a brokerage house).

Of course, that has to do with the Securities and Exchange Commission stepping in, asking Liberty’s new owners, PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom, to defer the Sept. 21 deadline to next month.

The market likes to think ahead and some speculated the SEC would eventually require Globe and PLDT to increase their offer. The SEC hasn’t so far, and both telcos haven’t budged on the price. They said Thursday the offer stood at P2.20 per share.

This is where it all gets interesting. Liberty touched a high of P2.64 per share Tuesday, and closed at P2.32 per share—after it was disclosed the tender offer price would be the same.

That’s interesting because there really is no reason to buy above the offer price, unless one’s objective is to lose money. Why, then, are some investors doing so?

A number of theories have emerged. Perhaps some people are still hoping the SEC will require a higher price, or they haven’t seen the announcement yet.

Another possible scenarios is a bit more unusual, but not unexpected. Maybe an individual, or group, is snapping up shares in the open market to help the telcos along. One sinister scenario:  some players know something the rest of us don’t.

A market veteran said investors should just watch the share price movement.  If it continues to hold above the offer price, it certainly does bolster the case for the other possibilities we cited. Miguel R. Camus

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