BIZ BUZZ: Breaking Angkas’ dominance
With more and more Filipino commuters appreciating the value of motorcycle taxi services as an efficient mode of public transportation, calls are growing to open the sector to local industry players.
Late last month, Congress’ Committee on Metro Manila Development held a hearing where it listened to complaints about the acquisition by Grab Philippines of shares in Move It. It was eventually revealed that other motorcycle taxi players also received investments or already went through changes in their ownership structures.
Upon checking its general information sheet filings with regulators, it seems that Angkas, operating under the corporate name of Dbdoyc Inc., has also received a hefty investment.
Based on documents submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company suddenly saw its assets surge more than five times from only P89 million in 2020 to P588 million in 2021.
This was largely due to a capital infusion of more than P500 million—presumably by Malaysian private equity firm Creador—while a certain Omar Mahmoud is now listed as a director of Dbdoyc Inc. Mahmoud is the managing director of Creador Capital Group.
The documents showed that late last year, the company received a deposit for future stock subscriptions from another stockholder of P503.87 million for subscription of preferred shares.
Article continues after this advertisementAngkas was initially opposed to the entry of other players such as JoyRide and Move It, but the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board prevailed and allowed the two other players to break the monopoly.
Article continues after this advertisementInterestingly, the same group questioning the Grab-Move It acquisition also backed Angkas in opposing the entry of Joyride and Move It in 2019.
Despite the entry of these players, Angkas still controls more than 50 percent of the market to this day, with 27,000 drivers, clearly a “dominant” position.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista earlier said he saw no legal issues with the acquisition of Move It by Grab Philippines.
The question now is … will other regulators and policymakers act for the interests of commuters or protect the status quo? Abangan!
—Daxim L. Lucas
Returning to the fold
A big-time garments and textile company, whose brands are closely linked to a yellow tropical fruit and a naval force, is reportedly asking to be admitted back to the Philippines’ longest surviving export trade association via an express lane.
Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (Fobap) president Robert Young—whose 45-year-old trade group are buyers and exporters of garments and hard goods—said this clothing firm was having none of their re-admission procedures after leaving them years ago.
“They would like to rejoin but they do not want to go through the process from scratch,” Young told the Inquirer, citing that some paperwork and a series of director interviews are needed for the readmission.
“For rejoiners, we are just following Fobap’s constitution. We just have to follow the rules. I hope they will understand,” the Fobap official said, saying there were four other garments and apparel companies who wanted to rejoin them.
The big-time firm used to export $2 billion worth of apparel and other wearables, according to Young, which back in the 1990s accounted for two-thirds of the country’s entire garments and textile exports.
Question now is, will they eventually follow procedures or insist on a shortcut?
