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Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros. Discovery and Room to Read have partnered on “She Creates Change,” an animation and live-action film project to promote gender equality through the stories of young women around the world. Room to Read is a global education nonprofit aiming to creating a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality.
The Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) is set to apply for Associate Membership in the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) to strengthen transparency and good governance, after the proposal was approved during the fourth MIC board meeting presided by Finance Secretary and MIC Chairperson Ralph G. Recto on February 29, 2024.
SAKHIR, Bahrain -- Lewis Hamilton warned his Mercedes team not to "get ahead of ourselves" after unexpectedly topping the times ahead of team-mate George Russell in practice for this weekend's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Philippines, which currently sits as chair of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24) Board of Governors, led the G-24 Technical Group Meetings (TGMs) through the leadership of the Department of Finance (DOF) from February 21-22, 2024 in Manila to tackle global challenges.
Metrobank [MBT 62.00 ?1.5%] [link] revealed that it was able to sell twice the amount in medium-term notes on the international debt capital markets than it intended. MBT set out to raise $500 million through the sale of 5-year and 10-year US Dollar-denominated notes, but thanks to heavy interest, its “order book was more than 11 times oversubscribed”. MBT accepted an additional $500 million in debt sales out of the subscription applications to bring its total raised to $1 billion. Buyers applied to purchase up to $5.6 billion in debt from MBT on the terms offered. 86% of the investors are from the Asia Pacific region, and 14% are from Europe, Middle East, and Africa. MBT said that the proceeds of the issuance would “diversify the bank’s funding sources”, but also “establish a benchmark for Philippine bank credit in the international capital markets.”MB BOTTOM-LINE: You know a company is hyped up about what it’s done when it gives a two-page press release with seven bullet points about the sale of some notes. Normally, this kind of transaction is documented more clinically with little attempt made to frame it as anything beyond what it is, but here, MBT is clearly proud of this transaction. And with good reason: the notes were rated “at par with the Republic of the Philippines sovereign debt”; the 10-year note is the “longest senior dated note by a private sector bank in the Philippines”; and the issuance is the “largest non-sovereign note issuance in the Philippines. MBT’s executive team will be riding this high (and the high that came from its great FY23 results) for a while.
Bloomberry [BLOOM 11.22 ?3.4%] [link] issued a clarification to a Biz Buzz article to say that it is “open to the possibility of selling its interest in Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino”, but that there is “no imminent deal with respect to [its] sale”. BLOOM said that there have been “several expressions of interest and offers in the past” for the casino resort, and revealed that there’s currently a “growing interest on the property from potential buyers”. The original article said that BLOOM’s owner, Enrique Razon, is looking to sell its Korean assets to “concentrate on its expansion in the Philippines”, like the opening of Solaire Resort North and the development of its project in Ternate, Cavite. The article quoted a source as saying that the assets have “been for sale for a while now but there are still no compelling offers to date.”MB BOTTOM-LINE: Mr. Razon is no stranger to operating in foreign jurisdictions (International Container Terminal [ICT 289.00 ?1.4%] is a great example), so perhaps this move could be more of an opportunity cost issue for BLOOM. The government is leaning into developing its international reputation as a travel destination, and the growth of the international gaming segment is a significant component of that plan. I don’t have any special information about BLOOM’s process or the Korean property, except to say that if the Korean property has technically been on the market for quite some time, coming out to say that there’s actually “several expressions of interest” and “offers in the past” and “growing interest” from new buyers is a good bit of defensive play to both advertise the status of the property as “for sale” while making it sound like there’s a good deal of competition for the privilege of taking it off BLOOM’s hands. What qualifies as an expression of interest? How is it quantifying “growing interest”? It’s the same as when a website puts “10 other users looking at this now” next to an item in a shop. It gives a bit of social proof (other people value this property enough to show interest) and tries to add in a sense of urgency (I better act fast or it will be gone). Just part of the sales game.
MANILA, Philippines — Two lawmakers from different districts in Mindanao have urged Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo Quiboloy to comply with congressional subpoenas, if he really has nothing to hide.
MANILA, Philippines — With peace and stability in the region “under threat,” President Marcos has called on allies to “join forces” in stopping actions that “denigrate” the rule of law, as he vowed to resist any effort by foreign aggressors to seize even an inch of the country’s territory.