Biz Buzz: 10 years in the making

It took 10 years to get to this point, but the Metrobank group’s flagship real estate project—the Bonifacio Global City development that includes the Grand Hyatt Hotel, residential towers and the Nomura/Mitsukoshi retail project —was finally unveiled to the public yesterday.

Of course, the event was graced by no less than President Duterte who led a host of other VIPs in touring the project, which was promised by the conglomerate’s property development arm Federal Land to be “unlike anything the local market has ever seen before.”

Never mind that the event is being held in the middle of the Chinese “ghost month,” which is said to be inauspicious for starting new endeavors. Anyway, the Ty family members—though dyed-in-the-wool Chinese-Filipinos—are more Japanese in their dealings and business practices, including being sticklers for punctuality.

At the same time that the new project is being inaugurated, President Duterte will also preside over the 55th anniversary celebrations of the Tys’ Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. to be held at the same venue.

No, Metrobank will not move its head office to the group’s sprawling BGC development in Taguig City, but Biz Buzz heard that the country’s second-largest financial institution will soon open its own flagship branch at the Grand Hyatt complex that will be its biggest and most modern facility (definitely more modern than the current head office branch along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati City that still has traces of 1970s-era furniture and interiors).

And just like in most of its other dealings, Metrobank is secretive about the details of this new branch, with a ranking official saying only that it will be “the best looking branch we will have befitting the building where it will be located.”

“We want it to be perfect before we make the official announcement,” the official said. (Sorry, you already heard it here on Biz Buzz.)

In any case, we also learned that the group has so far plunked in more than P21 billion in investments on the shiny new hotel, residential and office tower complex since plans were unveiled in 2007 (and delayed by the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis).

But all that cash outflow will soon be flowing back into Federal Land’s coffers, especially since the upscale residences have been all but sold out, prompting the acceleration of plans for the development’s second phase.

More importantly, there’s room to grow the complex since the Metrobank group owns a total of 10 hectares in one contiguous portion of BGC. And how much will this property be worth for the Metrobank group once it’s fully developed? Biz Buzz heard the magic number that company insiders are excited about, and it is this: A whopping P100 billion in investments.

At that level, who cares if the project was delayed by a decade? —DAXIM L. LUCAS

Encouraging the youth

Being young comes with the assumption that you can change the world. Such notion, which many may grow up to find misleading, is exactly the kind of assumption the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) wants you to believe during an Asean forum held solely for the youth yesterday.

It is not every day that you would find a top government official holding a light saber when he enters the stage. The Star Wars theme song, which in many ways felt like an anthem of a generation, played when he was being introduced. The mood was light and fun, even when he called the iconic Jedi weapon a “stick.”

Maybe you were thinking of a 2016 campaign candidate who dressed in a brown robe and greeted Star Wars fans, many of whom might have found the very greeting offensive to the Jedi code. But what we’re really talking about is Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez.

“It may sound corny, but I think we really just want to pass on the force to you,” he said during his keynote speech.

Jokes aside, DTI officials said that they were looking forward to getting “fresh inputs” from the forum yesterday, which was participated in by more than 2,000 attendees, exceeding expectations in terms of number of participants that the organizers had to look for a different venue to hold the event.

How these inputs translate to policies is a different matter. However, DTI officials sound eager to hear about what these young people have to say. “We didn’t have this during our time,” Lopez said, as he encouraged the audience to introduce the new Uber, the new AirBnB, and the like.

A lot of pop references were thrown into the mix during the forum yesterday. But while everything felt possible yesterday amid the youthful energy, there was this one official who just couldn’t resist but give everyone a dose of truth.

“I’m not saying all of you here could be successful entrepreneurs, but many of you here could become successful professionals,” this official said, pulling everyone back from cloud nine.

Anyway, back to reality. —ROY C. CANIVEL

Missing reserves

In the latest index review covering the July 2016 to June 2017 period, no change is forthcoming in the Philippine Stock Exchange index, the roster of 30 of the country’s most valuable and most liquid stocks (a.k.a. the list where every listed company would like to be).

What’s disappointing for some, however, is that the PSE has ceased publishing the PSEi reserve list “to avoid speculation on the index review results.” Reserves refer to the companies that narrowly missed the top 30 cut but could be the next in line if their ranking improves.

But market experts, of course, would have their own educated guesses on which companies were likely in the reserve list, given the metrics set by the PSE. To qualify, a company must have a free float of at least 12 percent, must be among the top 25 percent by median daily value per month for at least nine out of 12 months and must be among top 30 based on full market capitalization.

For Nicky Franco, head of research at Abacus Securities, the following are his top five bets as PSEi reserves albeit in no particular order of likelihood: DoubleDragon Properties Corp. (DD), Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI), D&L Industries (DNL), Bloomberry Resorts Corp. (BLOOM) and Vista Land & Lifescapes (VLL).

There’s at least one PSEi slot being freed soon, of course, with Energy Development Corp. possibly going back to private hands.

BLOOM had been part of the PSEi from 2013 till it was replaced by Security Bank last year. Recently, however, the integrated gaming developer is back as a market favorite given its strong earnings and an increase in its weight in MSCI by 0.35 percentage.

DD, for its part, has already declared its aspiration to be part of the PSEi, citing its inclusion in the reserve list the last time the PSE made such list available. With an upcoming P7.5 billion re-initial public offering (IPO) or follow-on offering targeting foreign institutional investors, DD—whose market cap already qualifies for the PSEi—intends to widen trading liquidity.

Meanwhile, the PSEi’s six sectoral indices will have changes in its constituents effective Sept. 11. The financials index will include Medco Holdings, replacing Philippine Business Bank. The industrial index will have two new members, Cemex Holdings Philippines and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum, while Da Vinci Capital Holdings will be removed. In the holding firm index, ATN Holdings and Lodestar Investment Holdings will replace Filinvest Development Corp. and Prime Orion Philippines. Arthaland Corp., Crown Equities Inc. and MRC Allied Corp. will soon join the property index. In the services index, Apollo Global Capital Inc., Golden Haven Memorial Park and Harbor Star Shipping Services will be included, while DFNN Inc. and ISM Communications will drop out.

Finally, three stocks will be removed from the mining and oil index: Abra Mining and Industrial Corp., Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development and Manila Mining. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA