Philrealty: PSE has no naming rights

Remember the tiff between the Philippine Stock Exchange and Philippine Realty Holdings Corp. over the renaming of the auditorium at the PSE Tektite Tower in Pasig City?

Well, Philrealty—which donated the 4,000-square-meter space which PSE’s facilities now occupy—said the stock exchange had it all wrong.

Philrealty wrote Biz Buzz pointing out that PSE had no naming rights whatsoever over the PSE auditorium (which Philrealty renamed as the “Jose Antonio Lanuza auditorium” in ceremonies last Tuesday evening). Since the PSE had no naming rights, Philrealty said it was not obliged to ask for PSE’s permission before renaming the auditorium in favor of the late Lanuza, who it described as a patron of classical music and the performing arts. In fact, when the late Lanuza was vice chair of Philrealty, it was he who made it a point to have the building house the auditorium, the company said.

According to Philrealty, the PSE is probably confused as to true ownership of the auditorium where bourse activities with investors are often held.

“The reason why the PSE is confused is because it thinks that it owns the auditorium, because the PSE omits the word ‘centre’ when it mentions the auditorium,” the Lanuza-owned property developer said. “The complete former name of the auditorium was “Philippine Stock Exchange Centre Auditorium,” not the “Philippine Stock Exchange Auditorium.”

In other words, Philrealty said the facility was not an auditorium of the PSE, but an auditorium of the building dubbed the “PSE Centre.”

The company also said that it had no hand in the renaming of the auditorium since this was a unanimous decision made by the board of directors of the building’s condominium owners’ association, and “not the PSE chaired by Mr. [Jose] Pardo.”

Finally, Philrealty showed Biz Buzz a letter sent to it by PSE president Hans Sicat grudgingly acknowledging that the building management indeed had the right to rename the contentious auditorium.

“While the [stock] exchange recognizes the right of the [condominium owners’ association] to rename the PSE auditorium…” the letter read, and Philrealty said that this phrase showed that the PSE acknowledged that it had no naming rights.

The letter also said that—perhaps sensing that the winds of change are upon the Tektite Towers, in its name, at least—“in case [the condominium owners’ association] intends to change the present name of the building, we will appreciate if [it] can kindly give us prior notice and be made part of this discussion.”

So that settles that.

In any case, one source familiar with the Philrealty side told Biz Buzz that the entire brouhaha probably had its roots in the old rivalry between the Manila and Makati stock exchanges that simmered even after both groups merged to form a single bourse in the early 1990s. The former Makati Stock Exchange group, of course, is an influential part of the current bourse leadership while the Lanuzas were members of the Manila Stock Exchange group, we’re told. Interesting. Daxim L. Lucas

Enlisting ‘Jollijeeps’

From the “sari-sari” or mom-and-pop neighborhood stores under the “Aling Puring” membership program, the Lucio Co-led Puregold Price Club Inc. is going after another segment using a similar concept, but this time targeting the hotel, restaurant and caterer (Horeca) segment.

Since organizing the “KAINdustriya Convention” last October for this segment, Puregold’s Horeca membership program now has a core group of close to 3,000.

This segment has members as small as the neighborhood eateries or “carinderias,” canteen concessionaires and ‘jollijeep’ kiosks or mobile kitchen-type of food retailers. But it also handles institutional accounts like Gerry’s Grill, Pancake House and hotel establishments.

Across the country, there are about 100,000 registered as well as informal establishments that Puregold hopes to enlist under this new segment, which will be given similar perks enjoyed by Aling Puring members. For instance, Aling Puring members earn up to 3-percent rebate through points accumulation and may avail themselves of free delivery (with minimum purchase and distance requirement) plus a call-order-pick-up option.

Being a much older program introduced in 2002, Aling Puring now has about 370,000 members, according to Puregold president Leonardo Dayao. Doris C. Dumlao

X joke

From a naughty investment banker: Because Xurpas’ share price has now doubled since its stock trading debut, its ticker should now be XX instead of X. But if prices triple, it might be delisted because the PSE would not want anything XXX on its bourse. It will hurt its wholesome image. Doris C. Dumlao

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