BDO [BDO 125.50 0.8%] [link] acquired 100% ownership of the Podium Complex, which includes BDO’s Corporate Center Ortigas, the West Tower, and the Podium Mall. BDO acquired the holding company that owns the assets, called SM Keppel Land (SMKL), which was owned by Keppel Philippines Properties [KEP 3.70 32.1%] and another company in the KEP ownership orbit. The disclosure mentioned that BDO will pay KEP and the other company in cash when the deal closes.
MB Quick Take: BDO already owned half of this company, so they’re really just consolidating ownership. Since BDO itself occupies 63% of the office space in the complex, maybe they just got tired of splitting the rent with KEP and brought the whole operation in-house. Not sure what KEP will do, considering this was (according to my experience) KEP’s main operational asset.
Asia United Bank [AUB 43.60 0.7%] [link] teased FY22 net income of P6.3 billion, which is 56% higher than AUB’s FY21 net income. Net interest income was up 18%, and AUB’s total loan portfolio grew 12% to P195 billion. AUB reported a Q4 net income of P1.7 billion, which was 54% higher y/y and 1% higher q/q.
MB Quick Take: It’s a pretty good time to be a bank in the Philippines. Higher rates will be beneficial to the banks going forward, and even better considering that the higher rates don’t seem to have really impacted demand for the loans. I don’t know the long-term implications of the rise in consumer loans to make ends meet, but in the short and medium term, it appears to be a great situation for banks.
Alternergy [ALTER 1.19 4.8%] [link] face-planted on its third day of trading, dropping 5% to fall 7% beneath the newest IPO’s offer price. Volume was roughly half of its listing day, but triple the volume of its second day. The price action yesterday was a fairly straight line, down and to the right.
MB Quick Take: Again, we will have to wait to see how active the stability fund is being behind the scenes, but shareholders and IPO buyers should not count on a stability fund to protect against losses. It merely provides artificial demand, according to the whims of the stability fund agent, if the market price is below the IPO offer price. As yesterday’s analysis shows, there’s evidence that it leads to better outcomes, but those outcomes aren’t necessarily in the green.
--