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MANILA, Philippines — Optimax Communications Group (Optimax) has won the coveted BYD electric vehicles (EVs) account, and is now the global brand's integrated marketing communications (IMC) agency in the Philippines. The new account was won through a pitch where Optimax competed with some of the industry's biggest agencies.
Thank you to the 100+ readers who participated in the first Free Stuff Friday survey to share with the group an important lesson they learned about trading or investing in 2023. Thank you also to Plentitude Chocolates for sponsoring the survey and introducing us to its award-winning chocolates.
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.
MANILA, Philippines — This is the best time for flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) to sell a portion of the company, as investors are attracted to buy into it with travel and tourism picking up momentum, according to analysts.
During the awarding ceremony and distribution of allowances for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) students at the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu City on Friday, February 23, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go emphasized the critical need to keep the country's workforce competitive and well-equipped amid the rapidly evolving global digital economy, which is significantly transforming labor markets around the world.
The British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) remains concerned of the reported delay of quota distribution to meat importers–noting it may cause inflationary pressures in the country which echoed the sentiments of the Meat Importers & Traders Association (MITA), in a letter addressed to Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday.
MerryMart [MM 1.02, down 1.0%] [link], the grocery and consumer products chain founded by Injap Sia, said in a press release that it has updated its 2030 VISION goal from P120 billion in annual consolidated systemwide sales revenue to P150 billion. This is a 25% increase from the previous target, and 560% larger than MM’s annualized Q3 consolidated systemwide sales figure (P5.68 billion annualized to P22.7 billion). MM didn’t specify the reasons for increasing the goal but did provide various operational updates that seemed positive, such as hitting 200,000 registered members for MerryMart Wholesale. MM also said that it is nearing completion of its new two-hectare distribution center in Laguna. MM said that its goal is to make the MM Wholesale ECommerce platform available “in all 82 provinces of the Philippines”, with a consumer market coverage goal of 99%.
EXCLUSIVE: The news when Deadline speaks to Lisa Kramer is the launch of a Paramount+ branded hub with African pay-TV giant MultiChoice. But a conversation with the President, International TV Licensing at Paramount Global Content Distribution (PGCD), offers a much wider insight into the world of TV in 2024.