Biz Buzz: Changing of the guard, again

Two years after undertaking a massive top-level management revamp, fresh changes are unfolding at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

Biz Buzz learned that its treasurer, Chester Luy— hired by no less than bank chair Helen Yuchengco-Dee from overseas—has relinquished his post at the bank that was at the center of the $81-million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist.

Word on the street is that Luy, who was selected for his more than two decades of experience as an international banker, has finished his task of helping stabilize the bank in the wake of the money-laundering scandal.

“He was hired because Helen [Dee] needed someone she could trust, and she trusted him,” one banker familiar with the issue said. “But now, the bank has stabilized and it’s time to focus on earnings. [RCBC] probably now thinks that they need someone with more local knowledge.”

Word of the search for a new RCBC treasurer has been going around in recent weeks, especially since headhunters have been going around on behalf of the bank searching for suitable candidates for the job.

So far, the names of two treasurers from the local units of European banking giants are being mentioned as being on the shortlist.

Along with the search for a new treasurer, Biz Buzz also heard that, this early, RCBC is already scouting for a new bank president to eventually take the helm from its current CEO Gil Buenaventura, who was brought out of retirement to “right the ship,” so to speak.

Buenaventura—formerly from Bank of the Philippine Islands and the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines—has a three-year contract with RCBC that will end next year.

We’re told that the search for his replacement is coming early because of the particularly challenging task that his re- placement will have: Extricating the bank from its “Prompt Corrective Action” regulatory status under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which caps its profitability due to a lot of business restrictions.

Bizbuzz hears that there’s one particular bank president that Ms. Dee is wooing to be her next CEO, but this particular banker might be too pricey for RCBC, given its present state. Will they succeed in poaching him? Can they afford him? Abangan! —DAXIM L. LUCAS

NewManila deal

The group of retail tycoon

Lucio Co has announced that its membership shopping arm S&R will open a store in New Manila, a commercial and highend residential cluster in Quezon City. But where in this area will it open?

The buzz is that the tycoon has secured a much-coveted property along E. Rodriguez Sr. Boulevard—one that many other cash-awash groups would have liked to have. We’re talking about a vast property where the old Genuino ice plant used to operate.

The site is not too far from St. Luke’s Hospital of Quezon City and close to the food and beverage hub of Tomas Morato. It is adjacent to Ayala Land’s pocket development, Montgomery Place, a cluster of townhouses. It would have been an ideal site on which to expand Ayala Land’s residential portfolio but we heard that the property giant no longer pursued the property.

Meanwhile, the site is also not too far away (maybe less than two kilometers) from a Puregold store - the one near the corner of E. Rodriquez and Araneta Avenue. The group is not likely thinking of any cannibalization issue as Puregold caters to the mass market while S&R serves the more affluent.

S&R has secured five new locations: Circuit, Makati; Libis, Quezon City; Bacolod; Sucat and Lipa, Batangas.

The group of Lucio Co also reportedly bought the prime property along Aseana Business Park (Bay Area) where it operates S&R, locking in its business in this area for the long haul. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA

Closing in

Consumers—without getting into their desire for more competition—are typically split on their preferred mobile telco provider. It’s only PLDT Inc./Smart Communications and Globe Telecom in this part of the world, after all.

But it seems investors have made a clear choice, especially after both companies released their first semester results the previous week.

The Ayala Group’s Globe, in particular, saw an almost 7-percent week-on-week gain in its share price after reporting a big jump in core earnings. Manuel V.

Pangilinan- led PLDT, which also reported better core earnings, ended the week down just under half a percent.

The end result: The once seemingly insurmountable market value lead that PLDT commanded over Globe was cut to bout P34 billion last week.

That’s still a massive amount by any measure—basically an entire Filinvest Land between the two telco giants. But those closely following the two companies would say that’s a gap that has diminished greatly.

Even as the benchmark index is down about 8.8 percent this year, Globe is up about 4 percent year to date. PLDT, on the other hand, is down 7 percent.

PLDT and Globe, based on their results over the last few quarters, are also deriving growth from entirely different segments.

PLDT has emerged as a clear leader in fixed-line data for homes and businesses while mobile, which had struggled in the past, has been on the mend. On the other hand, Globe is way ahead in mobile (both in revenues and subscribers), which has traditionally been the juiciest segment of the Philippine market.

Both strategies appear solid, but it’s clear the market thus far is rewarding one company more than the other. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS

Hindsight and foresight

The good news is that the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court has finally ordered the enforcement of a 2012 Supreme Court decision declaring that the P83 billion in assets acquired through the Marcos-era Coconut Industry Investment Fund—or the so-called Coco Levy scheme—is public money and should go to coconut farmers.

The question now is: Where’s the money?

The bulk of these assets once came in the form of shares in the country’s biggest conglomerate, San Miguel Corp. In fact, because of these funds, the government owned as much as 24 percent of the food and beverage giant.

But that was only until 2012 when San Miguel, in a bid to remove the overhang that continually affected its business plans, decided to buy the government out of the firm.

A year before that, San Miguel president Ramon Ang decided to issue a large tranche of preferred shares to the government representing the latter’s stake in the firm. Not long after that, the conglomerate redeemed these shares from the state for a whopping P57.6 billion, thus completely insulating the firm from the vagaries of government policy.

So what happened to those funds which the conglomerate paid to the government? We’re told it reverted to the state’s coffers via the Bureau of the Treasury, and has since been merged with the general fund.

For the coconut farmers to benefit from that—assuming that the dispute about just who exactly are its beneficiaries—will almost certainly involve a long hard slog in Congress, which has “the power of the purse.”

As for San Miguel, the large cash outlay in 2012 didn’t seem to make sense then. But, on hindsight, the management’s foresight clearly makes sense six years

E-mail us at bizbuzz@inquirer.com.ph. Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ONINQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert)