Son-in-law moves up the Lucio Tan chain in China property firm
MacroAsia president Joseph Chua may have given up his chief executive position in favor of his unretired fatherin-law, MacroAsia chairman Lucio Tan, but he nevertheless gained a board seat in the taipan’s property conglomerate in China.
Chua, who turned 60 this year, will be formally elected to the board of Dynamic Holdings, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed property concern of his father- in- law, during this Friday’s annual general meeting.
Chua is actually already a member of the Dynamic Holdings board, having been appointed there last April 1, when the listed developer without giving an explanation added two board seats to include Tan’s son- in- law and a Binondo-based hotel executive named Kenway Tan, no relation to the taipan. Appointed as an independent director, Kenway Tan also shares the same name as that of the nominee of the 1-Pabahay party list group.
The taipan himself is not a member of the Dynamic Holdings board, although the 81-year-old billionaire, his wife Carmen and his brother-in-law Domingo Chua are jointly listed as being “interested or taken to be interested” to about 42 percent ownership of the company.
During Friday’s meeting, Tan’s brother, Harry, is expected to be retained as Dynamic Holdings chairman along with his brother, Frank Chan, as chief executive.
Dynamic Holdings owns the hotel-office complex Eton Place in Shanghai, the Chaoyang Garden residential condo and adjoining Uptown Mall complex in Beijing, among other mainland China projects.
It reported a net income of HK$ 96 million for the fiscal year that ended last June, down from HK$ 103 million the previous year, as office and commercial rental revenues remained flat amid the tough competitive environment.
Lucio Tan’s other but bigger property conglomerate based in Hong Kong, Eton Properties, is a separate, non-listed concern that shares the same name as that of the previously Philippine-listed Eton Properties, also of Tan’s.
Eton Hong Kong owns the Charter House and related boutique hotels in the territory, as well as the Apple Mall and Solo office/shop chains.
San Juan cuts building red tape
Saying that it just added another layer of red tape, the San Juan city council has repealed a 2005 ordinance requiring any development clearances or permits for any conversion of open space and parking space to first hurdle the Sanggunian approval.
Vice Mayor and Sanggunian presiding officer Janella Ejercito Estrada, daughter of detained former senator Jinggoy Estrada, shepherded the repeal process, apparently with the blessings of Mayor Guia Gomez.
The ordinance was ironically passed during the administration of the vice mayor’s uncle and Gomez’s son, then Mayor Joseph Victor Ejercito.
With the repeal, the issuance of building permits will now rest solely again on the city building official, specifically on architect Romeo Gonzales.
Money talks
Philippine Airlines has hired a British expatriate, Paul John Shenton, as a “senior service representative” to help the flag carrier attain its avowed goal of five-star industry ratings by 2020.
In case you have not noticed, the major banks have started increasing the finance rates they slap on credit card purchases.
BPI since August has increased the monthly finance charge on outstanding balance to 3.5 percent.
BDO will follow suit, to 3.25 percent interest rate from the current three percent, starting February.
A check with the website showed that Metrobank has also raised the finance charges of all its credit cards save one to 3.5 percent, the same level as BPI’s.
Heard through the grapevine
After publicly claiming victory in its latest round of partnership feud, the Cruz Marcelo Tenefrancia law firm is now asking the Court of Appeals to “review” the decision of Taguig Regional Trial Court Judge Paz Esperanza Cortes dismissing as a “nuisance suit” the CMT case against Villaraza and Angangco.
CMT counsel Arno Sanidad even asked the appellate court to extend the deadline for filing the petition for review until Dec. 15, claiming he and the CMT have been swamped with work.
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