Author: Business News Asia

PHILIPPINES – Local construction firm Datem Inc. has deferred its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) to a later date, the company said in a letter to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday. Target listing of the company’s shares at the stock exchange was originally set on end November 2015. “The company will advise the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange of the revised timetable as soon as possible,” the letter, signed by Datem Vice President Mariano S. Agoncillo stated. Last August, Datem Inc. has formally filed with the Securities and Exchange (SEC) an application for an IPO…

PHILIPPINES – Off-grid electricity supplier DMCI Power Corporation (DPC) is looking to expand its energy portfolio to include renewable energy (RE), DMCI Holdings Inc (PSE:DMC) said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. “We are closely studying hydropower and biomass because we think they have the strongest potential in terms of output reliability and commercial viability among the available RE technologies,” said DPC President Nestor D. Dadivas. DPC currently operates diesel and bunker power plants in Masbate, Palawan and Oriental Mindoro. Another diesel plant is set to operate in Sultan Kudarat by year-end. The company is in the initial…

Philippine stocks rallied on Friday after being closed for two days for holidays, gaining 1.57 percent, the most rise among developing shares, as the APEC 2015 in Manila comes to a close. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) gained 1.57 percent, or 107.43 points, to close at 6,932.81 points, joining other Asian indexes that gained after the US Federal Reserve signaled that the pace of tightening will be slow. Among the blue chip stocks, shares of International Container Terminal Services Inc (PSE:ICT) gained the most at 5.65 percent to trade at Php71 apiece at the close. The wider All Shares…

SYDNEY – Medigo.com today announces the opening of its Australasian base, allowing the German company to be closer to its growing number of Australian and New Zealand medical travel patients. The Australian medical tourism market has been strongest for Medigo.com, with the volume of patient enquiries stacking up higher against the UK, Europe and the US. Medigo.com is determined to increase its presence in the Australasian region and provide a larger number of patient care advisors. “Medigo.com patient enquiries have been doubling quarter over quarter since March 2014, and we expect to see this growth continue as we open our…

AUSTRALIA – Leading big data solutions company Invigor Group Limited (ASX:IVO) has announced that Berlin-based Condat AG, which Invigor proposes to acquire, is a member of a consortium that has won a major contract with a major German public service television broadcaster. In a disclosure to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Invigor said the project will generate EUR1 million (AUD1.5 million) revenue for Condat over 14 months with the opportunity to supply further solutions in due course. Software solutions business Condat is the major provider of smart media solutions to public broadcasters in Germany and has projected revenue of approximately…

After several sessions of ending in the red, Philippine stock gathered momentum on Tuesday, as heads of states started arriving in Manila for the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) Senior Officials’ Meetings. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) gained 0.78 percent Tuesday to end the trading day at 6,825.38 points, or 52.46 points more than the previous close. The wider All Shares index also gained 0.84 percent in today’s trading, to close at 3,947.44 points. Stocks of Mining & Oil companies posted the most gains today with a 1.27 percent change to close at 10,990.37 points. The blue chip stocks also…

The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE) has recently approved the initial public offering (IPO) applications of real estate developer Italpinas Development Corporation, and construction firms Datem, Inc. and D.M. Wenceslao & Associates, Incorporated. The three companies will be joining the roster of IPOs in 2015, following Crown Asia Chemicals Corporation and SBS Philippines Corporation which listed in April and August, respectively. “We are pleased that three more companies are set to be listed on the Exchange before the year ends, bringing us around the P200 billion capital raising level this year,” said PSE President and CEO Hans B. Sicat. Based…

Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo Nazario has announced his plan to open 30 soccer schools in China to help the country realize its football dream. The official Xinhua news agency has reported that Ronaldo, who has been in retirement for four years, plans to build the “Ronaldo Academy”, starting with the first three schools in Beijing, Shanghai and Mianyang in Sichuan Province. Ronaldo was in Beijing recently to help Chinese children play soccer and to announce the plan. He told reporters that he thinks China can be a major soccer player on the world stage. The “Ronaldo Academy” will traing Chinese…

MALAYSIA – Bursa Malaysia Securities had queried Sapura Resources Bhd and Ge-Shen Corporation Bhd after both firms saw unusual market activity on Monday. The Malaysian bourse asked the two companies if there were any corporate developments related to their businesses that have not been disclosed previously which could explain the unusual trading activity. On Monday’s trading, stock of Sapura Resources (4596) was up 3.70 percent to close at 1.68 a share while Ge-Shen Corporation (7179)’s stock closed at 2.00 a share, up 5.82 percent from its previous close. In response to the query by Bursa Malaysia Securities, Ge-Shen Corporation said…

The world will soon see the largest hotel chain ever after Marriott International Inc announced that it will acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, the owner of Sheraton, for USD12.2 billion. The transaction combines Starwood’s leading lifestyle brands and international footprint with Marriott’s strong presence in the luxury and select-service tiers, as well as the convention and resort segment, creating a more comprehensive portfolio. When the deal is done in mid-2016, Marriott will own or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide, Reuters has reported. That will give Marriott a much wide presence in markets outside the…

[BusinessNewsAsia.com Brief] In a move that has not been seen since the global financial crisis, Swiss bank UBS Group has finally added senior management bankers in the Asia Pacific region and is planning to add about a dozen more in the next 12 months. UBS Group recently hired three managing directors and one executive director in Asia and will be adding about 15 senior bankers in the coming 12 months. UBS’s Asia Pacific investment banking head Matt Hanning was quoted as saying that the additional senior Asian bankers will be hired through recruiting and promoting as well as replacing existing…

BDO Unibank Inc (BDO), one of the Philippines’ leading banks, is among the recipients of the inaugural ASEAN Corporate Governance Awards Top 50 ASEAN Publicly Listed Companies, a recognition given to companies that seriously upholds good corporate governance. BDO Unibank (PSE:BDO)’s stock was down 2.32 percent at noon on Monday at the Philippine Stock Exchange. The stock was trading at Php99.15 a share as of 12 noon, down Php2.35 from last week’s close. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the bank said the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) gave the award using the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS)…

SINGAPORE – Global information security and risk management company NTT Com Security has strengthened its team in Asia with the appointment of Raymond Teo to its senior management team. As the new Asia Regional Vice President, Teo will be responsible for planning and executing NTT Com Security’s APAC strategy, with focus on developing its capability in Managed and Professional Services business in the region. Teo brings more than 14 years of experience in information security, with strong business development and operations experience across Asia, most recently managing business development and field operations for Dimension Data’s Security Business Unit in Asia…

HSBC Global Research has maintained its “buy” rating and raised its target price for Tencent (HKE:700) to HKD173. Tencent closed at HKD152.20 on Friday at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to HSBC Global Research, Tencent’s third quarter revenue went up 34 percent year-on-year Rmb26.6 billion (USD4.17 billion) , the fastest growth in five quarters and 5 percent higher than HSBC’s forecast. Further, Tencent is licensing more popular games, leveraging its PC games and shifting from casual to mid-core titles. The research house expects mobile games to increase by 10 percent quater-on-quarter 4Q and grow 38 percent in 2016. Earlier…

The staff experts at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the Chinese yuan or renminbi meets the requirements to be a freely usable currency and proposes that the IMF include the currency in the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket of currencies. This was the pronouncement of IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, who said in a statement that she supports the findings of the staff experts. “I support the staff’s findings. The decision, of course, on whether the RMB should be included in the SDR basket rests with the IMF’s Executive Board. I will chair a meeting of the Board to…

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company has entered into a partnership with US-based fan app developer, Hopscotch, to market and exclusively distribute Hopscotch’s mobile solutions in Southeast Asia. The company’s investment arm, PLDT Capital, has put $US1M into the partnership, which has already produced apps for fans of the Philippine Basketball Association, E-Sports Gaming Summit and the Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons and Maroon 5 concerts. PLDT Capital’s co­managing director Winston Damarillo encouraged sports teams, retail brands and events companies to grow their fan base and consumer loyalty through custom applications built on Hopscotch’s platform. “More and more Filipinos are starting to…

MANILA – Philippine-based SPi Global, the pioneering leader in the Philippine Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry was named as the Top Company to Work for in Asia at the recent Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability (ACES) Awards held in Singapore. The ACES Awards is a two-year-old program organized by the MORS Group, which champions revolutionary leadership and sustainability in companies operating in the Asian region. SPi Global was cited for its people-centric approach, and for demonstrating the highest commitment towards employee empowerment and enrichment as seen through its umbrella program called E3 (Enhancing Employee Experience). “To be selected as the…

[BusinessNewsAsia.com] Philippine stocks further dipped on Friday’s close on the continued global weakness and the impending US Fed rate hike. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) lost 0.17 percent or 12.05 points to end the week at 6,897.77 points. All Shares suffered steeper decline after ending Friday’s trade with a 0.72 percent plunge, or 28.78 points less than the previous trading, to 3978.30 points. Among the Indexes, only the Holding Firms stocks managed to get into the green, gaining 0.52 percent, or 33.83 points, to 6,545.93. Top gainer on Friday was Ionics Inc (PSE:ION), which gained 21.43 percent to trade…

Steel & Tube Holdings Ltd (NZE:STU), New Zealand’s biggest steel distributor, posted sales of $502 million for the year ending June 2015, with after-tax profits up by 20 percent to $21.4 million, the company said in a disclosure to the New Zealand Stock Exchange. “It’s been a significant year for S&T,” CEO Dave Taylor told shareholders at the Company’s Annual Meeting. “We have focused our efforts on enhancing efficiency and strengthening our core business.” S&T has recently opened three purpose-built facilities: two in Auckland (an area that presents around one-third of domestic steel demand) at Savill Drive and Highbrook, and…

AUSTRALIA – Audalia Resources Ltd (ASX:ACP) has announced that the Department of Mines and Petroleum has granted mining lease application M63/356 for the Medcalf Project. Earlier in the week, Audalia signed a definitive agreement with the Ngadju People in relation to the grant of project tenure, development of the Medcalf Project and conduct of the operations. With the grant of the mining lease, the company may now commence the process of seeking regulatory approvals and permits required to develop the project, the company said in a disclosure to the Australian Securities Exchange. “We are very pleased with the efficient manner…