BIZ BUZZ: New year, new moves for Tys
It’s not as if things were ever looking down for the Ty siblings, Arthur and Alfred, but the prospects for the group seem to look especially bright in 2023 if the latest indications are accurate.
For one, Metrobank—led by its chair Arthur Ty and its president Fabian Dee—has shown solid earnings growth quarter after quarter, and looks set to continue this trend next year.
But the exciting prospects over the near term seem to lie with the other units of the GT Capital group, especially with Toyota Motors Philippines and Federal Land, both led by the younger Alfred.
Toyota, which currently has an order backlog of over a year for some of its more in-demand units like the Land Cruiser LC300 and the Alphard, expects more vehicles to be delivered to the local market next year, easing the waiting times of eager clients.
Of course, despite that, its clients continue to be incredibly loyal and the world’s biggest automaker is still the top selling brand in the country with a market share of around 50 percent.
Meanwhile, Federal Land also has some exciting projects up its sleeve. It will soon break ground on a new complex on the northern bank of the Pasig River along Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong, just behind the Robinsons complex by the Gualalupe bridge.
This five-hectare site will give Federal Land a new income stream and will put to good use the firm’s new partnership with Japanese property giant Nomura. Watch this space, folks.
—Daxim L. Lucas
Lance Gokongwei, the good brother
Today is game 2 of the UAAP Season 85 Men’s Basketball best-of-three finals and Lance Gokongwei, the head of the Gokongwei Group, is cheering for both teams on opposing sides of the Battle of Katipunan.
Gokongwei does not exactly have a choice lest he gets the ire of his two beloved sisters.
After all, big sister Robina is one of the longest and most steadfast supporters of the UP Fighting Maroons while younger sibling Lisa is on the Board of Trustees of the Ateneo de Manila University. He, on the other hand, went to another UP, the University of Pennsylvania.
So what can he do in this situation, especially tonight when either the UP Fighting Maroons will become back-to-back champions with another win or the Ateneo Blue Eagles will extend to a winner-take-all third game?
Just cheer on his sisters cheering on their teams.
— Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Maiden EV
The Energy Development Corp. (EDC) of the Lopez Group has unveiled its maiden electric vehicle powered by its geothermal plant in Leyte, which may be the first not only in the Philippines but also in Asia-Pacific.
EDC said the e-vehicle was fueled by steam energy from the charging station it built at its Tongonan Geothermal Power Plant in Kananga town, which happens to be the company’s first geothermal facility with the world’s largest wet steamfield.
This represents the first of three Rich6EV 4×2 pickup trucks already at the site while the other two will be made available in the first quarter of 2023 through its partner Hong Equipment and Development (Head) Corp.
The first EVs, which form part of EDC’s transport fleet from Head Corp., will be tested at the Leyte project site for six months to determine the number of units that should be added to its rented fleet not only in Leyte but also in all its facilities nationwide.
At present, the mentioned geothermal power plant supplies more than 30 percent of the country’s installed geothermal capacity.
Gloria Amboy, EDC’s supply chain head for indirect category and program manager for the company’s EV project, said EDC was exploring the rental of electric buses to shuttle its employees to its project sites and put up EV charging stations in its host city, starting off with Ormoc City, also in Leyte.
