Balita.org: Your Premier Source for Comprehensive Philippines News and Insights! We bring you the latest news, stories, and updates on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, economy, and more. Stay tuned to know everything you wish about your favorite stars 24/7.
CONSUMERS with excessive water consumption in Metro Manila and nearby provinces may receive warning notices from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) amid the El Niño dry spell.
With a solemn Holy Mass and gift-giving, family and friends remembered film icon Susan Roces on the second year of her death.
XG have added new dates to their 2024 ‘The First Howl’ world tour, featuring concerts in Asia, North America, Europe and more.In March, XG announced that they would be embarking on their first-ever world tour, title ‘The First Howl’. It kicked off with a two-date show at the Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan on May 18 and 19.
LOS ANGELES – The Minnesota Timberwolves erased a 20-point deficit to stun the Denver Nuggets, 98-90, on Sunday (Monday Manila time), knocking the defending champions out of the NBA playoffs.
ROME, Italy – Alexander Zverev is gunning for the French Open after winning his second Rome Open title on Sunday (Monday Manila time), but warned of the ever-present danger posed by defending Roland Garros champion, Novak Djokovic.
LOS ANGELES – The Indiana Pacers put on a shooting clinic to throttle the New York Knicks, 130-109, on Sunday (Monday Manila time) and book an NBA Eastern Conference finals showdown with the top-seeded Boston Celtics.
Ayala Corp [AC 620.00 ?1.3%; 131% avgVol] [link] disclosed that its subsidiaries, Michigan Holdings and Philwater Holdings, would sell their combined holdings in Manila Water Company [MWC 26.60 ?1.5%; 123% avgVol] to Trident Water Company Holdings (TWC), which is owned by MWC’s current owner, Enrique Razon. The combined value of the two sales to TWC is P14.5 billion. The block of shares coming to TWC through Michigan Holdings was already processed and paid for (~P12.9 billion), and the remaining P1.6 billion worth of shares from Philwater Holdings will be purchased in installments over the next five years. AC confirmed that it will have no post-transaction common share interest in MWC, and that its voting stake will be “nil”. MB BOTTOM-LINE: In a weird way, the transfer of ownership and control of MWC from the Zobel Family to the Razon Family is one of the few lasting “achievements” of the Duterte administration. I put “achievements” in quotation marks because it’s not clear how the President’s overreach into the public markets benefitted anyone other than the obvious (MWC’s current owner). As longtime readers of MB will know I have a deep respect for Mr. Razon’s business acumen and operational quality, but I don’t know that MWC customers have necessarily felt any change as a result of this transfer, and I don’t know that minority shareholders have felt any change either. So maybe it was just Mr. Razon in the right place at the right time while Duterte rode the media waves of threatening the Zobels with death and dismemberment? Yeah, it was a weird time.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Manila-based production outfit Parallax Studio and entertainment company Saga Film Studios have formed a joint venture that will distribute the two-part Western epic “Horizon: An American Saga” in the Philippines. The deal is the first of a number of acquisitions planned by the joint venture. The “Horizon: An American Saga” films are directed by and star Academy Award winner Kevin Costner.
