Author: Business News Asia

SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime), the country’s largest integrated property company, is opening SM City San Jose Del Monte on April 29, 2016. This is SM Prime’s 57th mall in the Philippines and the third in the province of Bulacan – after Baliwag and Marilao. This newest retail and dining destination will add 101,000 square meters (sqm) in gross floor area (GFA) to the floorplate, which will bring SM Prime’s total retail space to 7.4 million sqm, the largest footprint in the country. “We continue to expand in the provincial areas as we remain optimistic about their huge potential…

Hong Kong – Cloud Expo Asia and Data Centre World will take place in Hong Kong on May 18 and 19, 2016 bringing together Asia’s leading cloud and data centre suppliers, manufacturers, investors, industry leaders and visionaries for the first time in North Asia. The highly anticipated debut of Cloud Expo Asia and Data Centre World Hong Kong has had a last minute change of venue and will now take place at AsiaWorld-Expo due to the significant security operation being prepared for the visit of a senior Chinese government official to the Belt and Road Summit also taking place at the…

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has revealed the alleged attempt to kidnap Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao or one of his children by the terror group Abu Sayyaf. In an official statement that Aquino released condeming the beheading by the Abu Sayyaf of Canadian hostage John Ridsdel, Aquino said the kidnapping attempt was not only for Manny Pacquiao but also for presidential sister Kris Aquino. The Philippine president said the kidnapping plot was part of the terrot group’s effort to gain favor with ISIS. He also revealed that one of the ASG leaders, Isnilon Hapilon, through his cohorts in prison,…

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) have jointly inaugurated the Visayas Disaster Response Centre (VDRC) in Mandaue City, Cebu. The VDRC is a continuation of the strategic partnership between DSWD and WFP to enhance the emergency response in the Philippines. It is funded by the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom. Inside the 5,000-square meter VDRC is a custom-built mechanized production system designed to rapidly produce 50,000 family food packs in a day, which is able to feed 250,000 people for three days. Read Also: Philippines Supports UN Disaster Awareness…

Yellow Cab Pizza is set to open stores in Egypt and Jordan as its owner, Max’s Group, Inc. (MGI), continues to aggressively expand its international business, setting its sights on new markets in the Middle East. MGI recently inked a development agreement with Jalal Holding to establish at least 5 Yellow Cab Pizza stores in Jordan and 10 Yellow Cab Pizza stores in Egypt within 5 years. “We continue to chart new territories for expansion overseas. Our previous ventures and recent openings in this region have proven successful. We are truly witnessing the emergence of Yellow Cab Pizza as a global mainstream…

China’s fourth-largest bank by assets, Bank of China Ltd (BoC) has reported a 1.7 percent net profit rise in the first quarter of the year. According to the BoC its profit went up to Rmb46.6 billion (US$7.17 billion) in the January-March period, from Rmb45.8 billion a year ago. The bank also said that its non-performing loan ratio was flat at 1.43 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of 2015. However, the ratio of its allowance for loan impairment losses dropped to 149.07 percent, which was lower than the 150 percent guideline of the country’s banking regulator. -…

Pioneer Credit (ASX: PNC) now has agreements in place with each of Australia’s “big four” banks, fulfilling a key objective of the Company’s long-term strategy to broaden its base of vendor partners. Following the completion of our recent capital raising, Pioneer Credit announced that it has secured debt purchase agreements with one of Australia’s largest banks and an ASX listed finance company. “With both these organisations being new vendor partners for Pioneer, we are pleased to see an ongoing expansion of the financial services businesses we are building relationships with,” said Managing Director Keith John said:. John added that the…

Pacific Brands Limited (ASX:PBG) leads gainers at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in today’s trading after gaining 4.05% to end the day at $0.90 a share. Pacbrands (ASX:PBG) opened at 0.855 a share and soared to 0.905 before closing the day at 0.90, with 3.3 million shares exchanging hands. Pacific Brands Limited (ASX:PBG) has a 52-week high of 1.050 and low of 0.315, with average trading volume of 4.8 million. REA Group Ltd (ASX:REA) was the second top gainer with 3.769% to end the day at 52.040. – BusinessNewsAsia.com

Singaporean multinational banking and financial services firm DBS Bank Ltd has announced the launching of its mobile-only bank in India, the country’s first. In a media statement, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said DBS is excited to roll out a revolutionary, mobile-only bank in India at a time that India’s bankign system is at the cusp of massive change. Account-opening will be done through a network of outlets run by DBS’s partner, including over 500 cafes across India for a start. “Digibank’s efficiencies and lower costs enable us to pass on significant benefits to customers in the form of greater customer…

Wan Mohd Fadzlullah Wan Abdullah, CEO of Hong Leong MSIG Takaful (HLMT), a joint venture between Hong Leong Financial Group Malaysia and Japan’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co has reportedly resigned from the Islamic insurer. HLMT, which is a composite takaful operator offering both family and general takaful products, has confirmed to Malaysia’s SunBiz that Wan Mohd Fadzlullah submitted his resignation papers last Friday and is currently on garden leave. The CEO served the company as its top executive since September 2013 allegedly due to differing opinions with the insurer’s management. He was previously executive vice-president of Takaful Ikhlas. No interim…

Business process outsourcing (BPO) firm IBEX Global further expands its footprint globally by opening a new call center facility in Managua, Nicaragua. IBEX Global’s Nicaragua facility, which adds 400 jobs to the area, is in partnership with global payments firm Western Union. IBEX Nicaragua site joins Western Union’s network of regional operating centers in the Philippines, Mexico, Costa Rica and Lithuania, as well as outsourced call centers in more than 20 sites around the world, according to a press statement. Tim Langley-Hawthorne, Senior Vice President, Technology Governance and Global Customer Care Operations at Western Union, said Western Union will be the first client of IBEX Nicaragua, expanding its…

The Institute of International Finance (IFF) has forecast a possible capital exodus of US$538 billion in China this year as global investors continue to worry about the country’s slowing economy. The IFF, however, said the pull out is expected to drop this year compared to the US$674 billion that global investors withdrew last year. It warned though that amount could go up if there is a disorderly drop of the Chinese currency. Among the factors that the IIF cited for the slowing outflows is the Chinese authorities’ efforts to ease worries about the yuan’s direction. – BusinessNewsAsia.com

CEBU CITY – The Visayan Electric Company (VECO), the power utility firm that serves Metro Cebu, has urged Cebuanos to refrain from flying kites one week before and after the Election Day, May 9, to ensure that power supply will not be interrupted. VECO revealed that it already recorded 37 cases of lateral outages and five cases of feeder wide outages triggered by kites that got entangled in power lines. “We will be having a kite caravan in all barangays that are flying so many kites and we will orient the barangay officials about the danger of it next week,”…

Five people were confirmed dead in two connected shootings on Friday night (Saturday morning in Asia) in Appling, Georgia, while eight members of a family were also shot dead in Ohio, authorities said. One of the shootings took place in the 3000 block of Johnson Drive and a second shooting occurred just a short distance away on Rosemont Road near the Washington Road intersection. “We’re working a multiple shooting. We have 5 victims, and the sheriff’s department is looking for the shooter. And that’s all I can tell you right now because we haven’t finished processing the crime scene,” Columbia…

BDO Unibank Inc, a full-service universal bank which provides a wide range of corporate and retail banking services in the Philippines posted a record high of P25 billion (US$535 million) net income in 2015, the bank has announced. At the annual stockholders meeting on Friday, BDO Unibank, Inc (PSE:BDO) President and CEO, Mr. Nestor V. Tan reported full year 2015 results with net income hitting a record P25.0 billion, representing a 10% increase vs. year-ago and matching the bank’s earnings guidance for 2015. The BDO Unibank’s outstanding performance was attributed to the solid expansion across all business segments and the…

8990 Holdings, Inc. (PSE:HOUSING), one of the Philippines’ largest mass housing developers, today mandated China Bank Capital Corporation to arrange and underwrite the securitization of up to Php5.0 billion of contract to sell receivables of 8990’s property development subsidiaries. China Bank Capital is the investment-banking subsidiary of China Banking Corporation, one of the largest domestic universal banks. 8990 chairman Mariano Martinez signed the mandate with China Bank Capital Corp. President Romy Uyan Jr. and director Manolo San Diego, for the first purely private sector and largest housing securitization deal in the country. 8990 president and chief executive officer Januario Jesus…

Russian state-owned energy corporation Rosatom has recently opened its regional office in China in Beijing within the framework of International exhibition Nuclear Industry China 2016. Rosatom has similar regional representative offices in Latin America, Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, countries of the Middle East and North Africa. The objective of the China’s regional office is to strengthen Rosatom’s current standing on the national market, search for and develop new opportunities for international business of Rosatom’s divisions based on the win-win partnership with China companies in the energy and other sectors. “China has been traditionally among…

7-Eleven Malaysia, a wholly owned subsidiary of 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad and the No.1 standalone convenience store chain in the country has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Brahim’s SATS Food Services Sdn. Bhd., a 51%-owned subsidiary of Brahim’s Holdings Berhad (BHB) that will enable the leading halal in-flight caterer to penetrate a wider market via 7-Eleven’s close to 2000 stores network all across Malaysia. The deal is in line with the objective of the strategic partnership between BHB and SATS Ltd. (SATS) to venture into non-airline business in Malaysia. In the agreement, Brahim’s SATS Food Services Sdn. Bhd.…

First Deputy CEO for Corporate Development and International Business of ROSATOM Kirill Komarov and Deputy Energy Minister of Laos Sinava Souphanouvong signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The document was signed in Moscow in the presence of General Director of the State Corporation ROSATOM Sergey Kiriyenko and Deputy Prime Minister of the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic Somsavat Lengsavad during his visit to Russia. In the framework of the memorandum the parties plan to cooperate in the field of design, construction and operation of nuclear power and research reactors; conducting fundamental and applied…

One of China’s state-owned big-four banks, Bank of China, is opening a branch in Brunei, becoming the first Chinese financial institution to establish a presence in the sultanate. The bank has been granted approval for its Brunei branch opening, which is part of its move to extend its network coverage to all ten countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Read Also: Italy To Hear Money-Laundering Case Against Bank of China, 297 Others In 2016 In a statement, Bank of China described Brunei as one of the most important countries along the Belt and Road route that is politically…