The real estate subsidiary of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SM) is planning to launch soon, the country’s first “underwater hotel.” The said project is part of the four new developments of San Miguel Properties Inc. (SMP) which will start next year, as the company’s foray into the tourism segment begins.

Convergys Corp., the largest private employer in the Philippines, is planning to hire additional 3,600 new employees as it expands its five existing sites in the country to bring their total number of workforce to 25,000 by the end of 2010. Marife Zamora, country manager of Convergys Philippines, said the expansion is meant to meet [...]

The country’s power sector, including renewable energy projects, is likely to get a big boos from the World Bank (WB). WB’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corp. (IFC), is looking at pouring in more than $300 million in investment to the said industry in the Philippines.
IFC resident representatives to the Philippines, Jesse Ang, said [...]

La Filipina Uy Gongco Corp., a relatively unknown local company owned by businessman Alfonso Uy, seems to be just a short step away from clinching the deal to acquire the Mariveles Grains Terminal of Asian Terminal Inc. (ATI).  La Filipina has beaten conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) in its bid for the purchase of ATI’s [...]

The country’s biggest homegrown fastfood company, Jollibee Foods Corp., is expanding its operations in China this year as it plans to open 60 more new stores, which accounts for the bulk of its international expansion program. Jollibee Foods Chairman and Chief Executive Tony Tan Caktiong said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, “Our foregoing expansion [...]

Up to P10 billion worth of stocks in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) will be purchased by the Ayala Corp. Chief finance officer Delfin C. Gonzales Jr. of Ayala Corp., in a disclosure to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the board has approved the subscription “to our pro-rata share in the [...]

Clenergen Philippines Corp. a company who is into renewable energy, is planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 18 months.
Mark Quinn, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said they are looking at the IPO as an venue to raise funds which it will be using for its renewable energy development projects. [...]

The Naga power plant in complex Cebu. The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) opened the bidding process for the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contract to manage the output of the said power facility.
The state-run agency said it already issued the invitation to bid (ITB) to parties who might be interested to [...]

Manila Water Co. will be part of a consortium that will be formed to buy United Utilities Plc.’s wholly owned subsidiary, United Utilities Australia Pty Ltd. (UUA) and its affiliates for A$225 million. Others that will be part of the consortium are Mitsubishi Corp., Innovation Network of Japan and JGC Corp.

National Power Corp. (Napocor) president Froilan Tampinco that they will be offering about P15 billion worth of peso-denominated bonds and want it to be in place within the month. The proceeds for the bond offerings would be used to fund the company’s budget requirement for the rest of the year and up to the first [...]

Homegrown fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. continues to extend its presence in China as it recently acquired one of the local beef noodle there. In its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Jollibee said it will be investing RMB30 million ($4.39 million) to secure 55 percent stake on the San Pin Wang restaurant chain.
Another RMB20 [...]

The Metro Pacific Group is confident that it has won the bidding for the concession to operate the country’s longest expressway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx). Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) believed it virtually clinched the hotly contested concession after it has submitted an “improved” bid package to the government. “We have submitted a final improved [...]

The Ayala Land Corp. is earmarking P3 billion to funds its new development project in the Makati central business district (MCBD) North, The Lerato. The new project consists of three tower residential development and retail area.
Alveo Land President Dante M. Abando said during their pre-selling and launching that they have already sold 115 of the [...]

Philippine top company and business conglomerate San Miguel Corporation now plans to acquire a significant stake in Petron Corp. The announcement of interest in the oil refiner immediately sent Petron’s share to its highest since November 2007.
San Miguel has an option to acquire 40% of the Sea Refinery Corp., a firm which owns about 50.1% [...]

A new and enhanced tax program is being prepared by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), but this the revenue agency is conducting talks with taipans and conglomerates for the said program. BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres hopes that the agency would be able to collect more from the conglomerates through the enhanced tax measures.
Under the [...]

The Philippine government received offers from five companies to import sugar at a state auction held recently to complete the below 45,100 tons volume it required. The offers submitted totaled to about 33,400 tons, however the government may only award up to 22,400 tons for sugar imports from the auction due to the restrictions related [...]

The San Miguel Corp. (SMC) formalizes its entry into the airport business with its acquisition of a majority stake in consortium operating the Caticlan Airport in Aklan province, which is the gateway to the popular Boracay Island. The diversifying conglomerate said in the acquisition was executed through its wholly owned subsidiary San Miguel Holdings Corp. [...]

The sale of $500 million in retail treasury bonds (RTBs) has been launched by the government. This investment instruments are intended for overseas Filipino workers. They are the Fixed Rate Multicurrency Retail Bonds and they will be auctioned on April 20 and will be offered to investors on the same day until April 27, according [...]

The chairman of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), Enrique Razon Jr., is venturing into the gaming business. After selling his interest in the Philippines’ power transmission monopoly, Razon was able to acquire license to operate at the country’s up-and-coming gamboling hub.
Razon announced recently that he acquired Bloombury Investments Holdings Inc. from businessman Jose Alvarez, [...]

In less than three years, TV5 would be doing international.
At least that’s the plan of Mediaquest Holdings Inc. for its newly-acquired television network – to launch it as an international business.
Mediaquest and TV5 president and chief executive Ray Espinosa said that the international business was part of the company’s plant to make the TV network [...]