The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

By Riza Lozada A legislator has cred­ited Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. (PSPC) for offering up to P184.25-million worth of common shares to its Fili­pino employees, alongside the oil refiner’s highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO) of up to P19.49-billion worth of shares from October 19 to 25. “We welcome Shell’s decision to enable its Fili­pino employees to become shareholders, and …

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will push the development of the tourism industry to help small businesses, since tourism has a huge multiplier effect in terms of jobs generation, Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said.

By Luis Leoncio The ports sector in the Asia-Pacific sector will suffer the stron­gest impact from the headwinds of slowing econo­mies in the region, Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) said in its latest report.

Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc (SPAVI), the operator of the Shakey’s pizza chain of stores, is targeting to raise up to P5.5 billion through an initial public offering this year.

Rival mall operators SM Prime Holdings and Robin­son’s of the Gokongwei group are planning to put up sepa­rate mall projects in Legazpi City, Albay starting with the P1.5-billion SM City Legaz­pi which will break ground in January next year.

Global port operator Inter­national Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) recently opened the first phase of its new greenfield terminal develop­ment at its Basra Gateway Ter­minal in the North Port, Umm Qasr, Iraq.

Globe Telecom President and CEO Ernest Cu retained kept the distinc­tion of being one of the most powerful telecommunication executives in the world following his inclusion on the elite list of Global Telecoms Business Power 100 for 2016.

The country’s top lenders are not pro­viding enough lend­ings to agricultural projects as required under the Agri-Agra Law.

BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO), the country’s largest lender, recently received the Institu­tional Investors Governance Awards given to companies that scored high marks in the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) in the re­cent Investors Forum.

Property prices are rising mirroring the still healthy state of the industry as the Residential Real Estate Prices Index (RREPI) jumped to 122.8 points in the second quarter from 110.3 a year ago or 11.3 percent higher.