The Minimum Public Ownership (MPO) rule has passed through various debates across the terms of various boards of directors of the PSE until 2005 when the rule was revoked as a continuing listing requirement and instead imposed as a requirement only for initial listing and backdoor listing applications.

The MPO rule is in line with the Capital Market Development Plan Action which aims to provide a fair and efficient facility for price discovery and to ensure that sufficient liquidity exists.

The proposed new rule will be disseminated to the public through the PSE website (www.pse.com.ph) for public comments before it is transmitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval. (mb.com.ph)

Phoenix Petroleum president and chief executive officer Dennis A. Uy said they are scouting for either local or foreign partner which shares the company’s vision of beefing up capital for expansion prospects.

While the oil firm executive indicated that they are now in talks with several parties, he sought media’s indulgence to keep their identities for now.

The company has just unveiled investment plans that will further build up its retail network in Luzon and Mindanao. It must be noted that Phoenix Petroleum first established its business base in Mindanao; and it only started moving to Luzon after acquisition of its depot facility in Batangas.

The investments for retail expansion, the company executive added, “will be a mix of Luzon and Mindanao where we have our terminal facilities.”

On top of the plan to bring in financial partner, the company is similarly working on prospects for a follow-on offering at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the next three years.

“We are planning to have follow-on offering in the next three years… the shares to be offered will be up to 20 percent,” Uy said.

Even prospects of mergers and consolidation among players are in the company’s radar for future acquisition opportunities, still as a part of its portfolio-shoring up opportunities.

“We will also be looking at people or players who are open for mergers and acquisitions so long as this is aligned with our objectives,” Uy noted.

The company just recently sealed agreement with Social Security System (SSS) on the latter’s capital stock subscription wherein it was given the option for an aggregate 10 percent equity take in the oil company. (mb.com.ph)

The region’s currencies are under increasing pressure to rise as a result of their faster economic turnaround, it said.

“In both nominal and real terms, several currencies have gained significant value against their trading partners since March this year, while some others have effectively depreciated as they have tracked US dollar movements,” the ADB said in the December issue of its semiannual publication Asia Economic Monitor.

“A coordinated regional exchange rate strategy should be explored,” the ADB said. It added that this would bolster intraregional trade and lower the fear of losing export competitiveness between neighbors.

The Manila-based multilateral lender, however, doesn’t have a specific recommendation on how countries can achieve such a coordinated policy.

“This is more a political, than economic, decision,” Lei Lei Song, an economist at the ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration, told Dow Jones Newswires in a telephone interview.

“This is a very difficult issue and it may need some countries to take the initiative to discuss these issues.”

“The Chinese economy is the biggest in the region after Japan. If China could take the initiative to discuss at least at the policy makers’ level, then it would be much easier for regional cooperation to go forward to the next level,” Song said. (mb.com.ph)

Trade and Industry Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Elmer C. Hernandez , who met with top executives of the Japanese firm during a Japan mission, told reporters this would be the first time that Sojitz would be investing directly in the country.

Hernandez said that Sojitz’s investments in the mining sector in the country are normally done mostly with other Japanese investors.

“The long term goal is to put up an equity on a copper mine project but it has yet to be identified,” he said.

At present, Sojitz has an 18 percent stake in the Coral Bay Nickel Corp. in Surigao del Norte. It has also a 1.5 percent stake in the Taganito Mining Corp., another nickel mine and 4 percent of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. These projects are spearheaded by the Zamora Group.

Sojitz also owns a natural resources (nickel chrome) machinery, food chemicals and plastics as well as investments in power plants in Mindanao.

Other than its mining exposure, Sojitz has 100 percent ownership in AFC Fertilizer and Chemicals Corp. and 49 percent in Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Hernandez said that the rest of his Japan mission involved a meeting with the Japanese Ministery of Economy and Japan Oil, Gas and Metal National.

Other meetings were held with Japanese business leaders including mining, automotive and software sectors to discuss possible tie-ups in the country. (mb.com.ph)

..

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index rose by one percent or 30.69 points to close at 3,083.30 on Thursday, while the all share index rallied by 0.67 percent or 12.91 points to 1, 919.19.

Trading on Philex and Meralco, which accounted for 19 percent of the market’s transaction, pushed the local market to hit a 20- month high.

Trading was within average where some 2.36 billion shares valued at 3.06 billion pesos (65.5 million U.S. dollars) changed hands. Foreign investors remain consistent at the buying side with 142 million pesos (3.040 million U.S. dollars).

All six counters climbed, led by mining and oil shares which again went up by 4.91 percent or 519.40 points to 11,082.63. The issue was again pulled up by Philex which climbed by 8.19 percent to 16.50 pesos (0.35 U.S. dollar).

Market breadth, however, remains negative where 60 issues declined, 55 gained and 60 shares did not move.

This is according to SMIC and SMPHI chief finance officer Jose Sio yesterday who talked to reporters after he was named CFO of the Year by the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines.

Sio said the they are still trying to decide whether to list the unit in Shanghai, Hong Kong or Singapore noting that while they do not have operations in Singapore, they have a bigger equities market there.

Currently Mega Make Enterprises Limited (BVI) holds SM’s Xiamen and Chengdu malls, Affluent Capital Enterprises Limited (BVI) holds the mall in Jin Jiang, SM Land (China) Limited (HK) holds mall properties in Chongqing, Suzhou, Zibo.

However, SM Prime intends to eventually restructure its China investments and consolidate all assets in SM Land in preparation for its eventual initial public offering and listing overseas.

HDMF, popularly known as the Pag-IBIG Fund, may forego a public sale of the bond “to simplify the process”, said Tan. A private placement usually involves no more than 20 financial institutions.

Pag-IBIG will use part of the proceeds to settle some of the state’s home mortgage financing agency debts. Tan said if Pag-IBIG decides later to use the facilities of the National Treasury to auction the bond, the authorities will help facilitate the process, he added.

The report said however that talks had bogged down because Lepanto was only offering a 20 percent stake. First Pacific reportedly wants to acquire all the assets of Lepanto, including its subsidiary Manila Mining Corp.

First Pacific controls the Philippines’ most valuable firm, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Through these units and allies, it also controsl 48 percent of power Utility Manil Electric Co.

Lepanto’s A and B shares both closed two percent down on Wednesday, underperforming the overall market which closed 0.68 percent up.

Assistant Corporate Secretary Renan Osero, in a letter addressed to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange, revealed that the Board of Directors of the said companies have approved the declaration and payment of cash dividends to all outstanding shares of the Company as of record date December 1, 2009 payable on December 22, 2009.

The Stock and Transfer Books of the two companies will be closed for the transfer of shares from 25 November 2009 to 01 December 2009.

Trades registered 10,474 with a total value of P4.137 billion. HOlding firms remain active as it tallied growth of .6487% while property recorded .3578.

Gainers:

1 FEDERAL RESOURCES INVESTMENT GROUP, INC. (FED)
2 CITYLAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (CDC)
3 ISLAND INFORMATION AND TECHNOLOGY, INC. (IS)
4 ATOK-BIG WEDGE COMPANY, INC. “B” (ABB)
5 LODESTAR INVESTMENT HOLDINGS CORPORATION (LIHC)
6 AgriNurture, Inc. (ANI)
7 THE PHILODRILL CORPORATION (OV)
8 Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. (PIP)
9 PAXYS, INC. (PAX)
10 GINEBRA SAN MIGUEL, INC. (GSMI)

Losers:

1 REPUBLIC GLASS HOLDINGS CORPORATION (REG)
2 PHILEX MINING CORPORATION (PX)
3 INTERPORT RESOURCES CORPORATION “B” (IRCB)
4 NiHao Mineral Resources International, Inc. (NI)
5 METRO PACIFIC TOLLWAYS CORPORATION (TOL)
6 PHILIPPINE BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS (PBC)
7 TKC STEEL CORPORATION (T)
8 CENTRO ESCOLAR UNIVERSITY (CEU)
9 APEX MINING COMPANY, INC. “B” (APXB)
10 ALCORN GOLD RESOURCES CORPORATION (APM)