BIZ BUZZ: Stock market picker upper

How can policymakers perk up the local stock market, which is currently caught in the doldrums caused by local economic challenges and global issues beyond their control?

For Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, the answer is simple: state-owned assets that are set to be privatized should be done through the stock market, just like what the government did in the privatization of Petron Corp. in 1994.

“That Petron initial public offering doubled the number of retail investors in the stock market overnight,” he said during a Philippine Stock Exchange forum yesterday.

And what government assets are ripe for greater retail investor participation?

Salceda lists three that would make great additions to the local stock market universe: the casino business of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Land Bank of the Philippines and the Maharlika Investment Fund.

Salceda knows whence he speaks. He was one of the country’s top stock market analysts in the 1990s when the market was on a massive, multiyear bull run.

The privatization of Petron was a major event for the market then, and he believes that taking these three state assets to the stock market today would help replicate and surpass the heady performance of the 1990s.

The question now is … will the Marcos administration heed the economist-lawmaker’s advice? Abangan!

—Daxim L. Lucas

Solaire buzzer beater

For several weeks now, construction work for the new ballroom of Solaire Resorts and Casino in Pagcor Entertainment City has been proceeding at a frenetic pace.

That’s because the old ballroom of the pioneer gaming business of billionaire Enrique Razon Jr. located on the property’s second floor was converted into an expanded gaming floor for VIP players during the height of the pandemic.

Where the ballroom once was now stands gaming tables for high rollers and a Filipino fusion restaurant called Acacia for the exclusive use of Solaire’s upper tier VIP club members.

But the hotel still needed a real ballroom, so the decision was made earlier this year to build a permanent structure where the temporary tent function hall was located (adjacent to the main building).

The ambitious target is for the structure to be completed in time for the annual Oktoberfest celebration, which will happen next weekend, Friday the 13th.8 Biz Buzz heard the final fitout of the facility was ongoing and the sold-out event would proceed, come hell or high water.

So don’t be surprised to see frenetic construction in the area over the next few days.

—Daxim L. Lucas