BIZ BUZZ: Painful lessons
Davao-based tycoon Dennis A. Uy’s telco holding company DITO CME Holdings is not about to have any stock market copycats anytime soon.
We are referring to the manner by which DITO CME aborted its P8-billion stock right offering last January—after investors paid for their shares.
The decision shocked the buyers, who eventually got their money back but were probably upset about missing other opportunities in that period. More importantly, the DITO CME incident forced a rewrite of future deal prospectuses to include added safeguards.
The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), led by its president, Ramon Monzon, did not stop there as the bourse recently imposed unspecified penalties against DITO CME and its underwriter, China Bank Capital Corp.
Market insiders told us the deal suffered from very low demand. This is always a risk in any fundraising exercise. But this is also why the group raising money and underwriters undertake commitments and obligations to buy unsold shares to avoid an embarrassing pullout.
This did not happen in the case of DITO CME as the parties simply agreed to withdraw the offer, which the fine print in the old standard prospectus language allowed.
While more transparency on the PSE punishment is welcome, we’re certain it was not an easy move for the PSE to impose such penalties.
Changes have also been made to protect minority investors. The stock rights offer terms of Union Bank of the Philippines already featured stricter withdrawal provisions.
The event was a lesson to all and even for DITO CME and its executives led by president Ernesto “Eric” Alberto. Among the shareholders affected by rights offer debacle, Alberto was seen buying even more shares above the rights offer price of P4.88 each.
On March 24, he bought a million DITO CME shares at P5.29 apiece, increasing his holdings by over 50 percent. The price has been trading lower as of late but Alberto had repeatedly told Biz Buzz he remains a believer in the company’s mission to challenge the status quo.
—Miguel R. Camus
Makati Shang revival?
A lot of tears were shed early last year when the Shangri-La Group of Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok announced that it would be closing down its local flagship hotel property, the Makati Shangri-La, because of the crippling effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
At that time, the hotel announced that the closure would only be temporary (starting Feb. 1, 2021), but many feared that what was touted as “temporary” would soon become “permanent” given all the uncertainty that surrounded the move.
For one, hundreds of the hotel’s staff were laid off during the move. In addition, no timeline was given by management as to how long this temporary closure would last. Finally, there were rumors that the Kuok group’s lease on the prime piece of property at the corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues was about to end, and that it didn’t make economic sense for either party to renew what was essentially a joint venture deal.
Well, it appears that all isn’t lost.
Biz Buzz learned recently that plans are actually afoot to reopen the Makati Shangri-La, now that the pandemic is on the wane.
According to one insider with knowledge of the matter, management decided to close the hotel primarily because international business and leisure travelers fell to zero at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
But that seems to be changing with travel restrictions across the region now being eased.
More importantly, it appears that the hotel chain still has a few more years left in its lease agreement with the Ayala group that owns the property.
This could mean that we will soon see the revival of Makati’s top hotel which has served as a landmark in the central business district since 1993.
Hopefully, its 1990s-era interiors will be given a refresh, too. Abangan!
—Daxim L. Lucas
Max Mara opens in PH
The country’s retail sector still has some way to go before it gets its prepandemic sexy back. But this has not stopped the retail group of Johnlu and Alou Koa from investing in the first Max Mara store in Greenbelt, Makati, that opened last April 17, Easter Sunday.
The opening concludes the on-again and off-again talks to bring the Italian luxury brand to the Philippines that started as early as 1998. But perhaps the husband-and-wife team were meant to be together with Max Mara as they were able to finalize the deal to bring in the brand just shortly before the lockdowns to contain the COVID-19 virus were imposed in March 2020.
The succeeding months were devoted to further negotiations and sprucing up the maiden store to make sure it befits the status of Max Mara, the giant global fashion house founded in 1951 by Achille Maramotti.
Today, Max Mara in the newly renovated Greenbelt 3 features around 100 square meters of show space, with one window on the inside of the mall and a glass facade with lightbox on the external side.
Existing architectural elements of the building, such as vaulted ceilings and a skylight, naturally embellish the rooms and interact with the Max Mara’s Italian heritage and contemporary spirit, the group said.
In keeping with its luxury status and to get people in the mood to shop, the Max Mara branch has brass, metal, marble and wood accents that together provide a welcoming atmosphere for potential buyers.
Finally, sophisticated furnishings from leading Italian design brands make the new store evoke Max Mara’s fundamental brand values of Italian craftsmanship and construction, the group’s statement said.
Max Mara, known the world over primarily for its timeless and elegant coats, is but one of the retail brands of the Koa couple, which also handles the Escada and Van Laack brands. Indeed, the group is looking forward to soon operating a bigger and better store devoted to the Escada luxury brand from Germany, hopefully also in Greenbelt where it long had a home.
—Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Hold departure order
The fight for control of the country’s largest bus transport company began in mid-2019, but there seems to be no end in sight for the dispute despite the side of Leo Rey Yanson— the original people at the helm —having regained and consolidated control since then.
Biz Buzz learned that a Bacolod regional trial court recently ordered the Bureau of Immigration to issue a hold departure order against members of the so-called Yanson Four— Roy Yanson, Ricardo Yanson Jr., Ma. Celina Yanson-Lopez and Emily Yanson—to prevent them from leaving the country.
That’s in connection with complaints of qualified theft filed against the four siblings by the youngest of the brood of the Bacolod-based billionaire family after the four initiated a boardroom coup at Vallacar Transit Inc. in 2019.
That takeover attempt was later repulsed and physical control of the bus company (and its fleet of almost 4,000 buses nationwide) a few months after the failed rebellion. Soon after, it was found that various office equipment, documents, records, titles and computers were missing from the offices that were under the control of the Yanson Four for a few months.
The four, however, could not be found by the authorities and are rumored to have fled the country since last year.
Both factions of the family continue to hold simultaneous board meetings for the various firms under the bus transport group on their designated dates, but the camp of Leo Rey, his sister Ginnette Yanson Dumancas and family matriarch Olivia Yanson, hold their meetings in person. The Yanson Four side, on the other hand, conduct in absentia, with their representatives taking care of running the meetings.
In any case, sources tell Biz Buzz than the Yanson Four are not likely to make an appearance soon because the Bacolod court has ordered law enforcers to arrest them for qualified theft. The court also ordered that arresting officers wear at least one body camera and at least one alternative recording device when serving the arrest warrant.
But since the court also recommended no bail for the accused, it’s unlikely that they will surrender soon. That is, if they’re in the country at all.
