Business

By Riza Lozada The overall balance-of-payments (BOP) surplus in 2016 is expected to taper off to $2.0 billion from $2.2 billion in the December 2015 projection, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported. 

By Riza Lozada The initial public offering (IPO) of the Villar Group’s Golden Haven Memorial Park Inc. is ushering in a series of IPOs amid the strong rebound in the stock market on expectations of a stronger economy under President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

The Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. has alloted up to P10 billion in capital spending this year mainly to complete the construction of the third phase of Resorts World Manila, which includes three hotels and gaming and retail spaces.

Listed Phoenix Semiconductor Philippines Corp. (PSPC) has completed the installation of new DDR4 technology-compliant manufacturing lines in its plant in the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga following the renewal of its strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics Ltd.

Top telecommunications firm Globe Telecom has secured the support of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) to use train stations around the metropolis to host network infrastructure, starting with the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) stations on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa).

Credit-rating firm Fitch Ratings has backed findings of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on the possibility of a real-estate price bubble, as property prices continue to rise amid the rapid improvement in the economy and the business-process outsourcing (BPO) boom.

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) is focusing on its core lending business to drive profit, which, in the first four months, grew by 28.1 percent. 

State gaming firm Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) once again made a mark in the field of business communication when its noble projects won prizes at the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Australia and the Philippine Quill Awards of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

By Riza Lozada Property-based Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) and the Ty family’s GT Capital Holdings Inc (GT Capital) entered into an investment deal worth P22 billion that will raise GT Capital’s stake in MPIC. 

Communications giant Globe Telecom is investing close to $500 million (P23.5 billion) over five years beginning 2016 to expand its corporate data network to meet the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements of corporate and enterprise clients.