Marina Bay Sands casino probed over money laundering
Frequently Asked Questions | Marina Bay Sands
MBS & RWS CASINO CLOSED 7 Apr - 1 June 2020 | Page 9 | Sam
All Marina Bay Sands IR operations, including hotel
RWS, MBS casinos to be closed from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday as
Marina Bay Sands reports Q2 loss of US$113m; expansion
COVID-19 Precautionary Measures - Marina Bay Sands
casino mbs closed
casino mbs closed - win
BLOOM and BEL salivate after PIGO "cloud casino" license approval (Friday, Dec 11)
Happy DAY_OF_THE_WEEK, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 52 points to 7154 ▲0.7%.
The out-of-office replies are starting to come in after every MB send, so it can only mean one thing: the Christmas slowdown has already begun! Emmanuel and Cecilia, I hope you both have outstanding vacations. Haha.
MiddleClass ▼1.94% POGO Gaming ▼1.38% Fast Food ▼1.12%
Main stories covered:
[UPDATE] PAGCOR introduces its own online casino called “Live Shots”... the virtual casino will be open to Philippine Inshore Gaming Operations (PIGOs) who are willing to pay 25% of gross gaming revenue to PAGCOR. According to PAGCOR, Solaire Resort and Casino, Okada Manila, City of Dreams, and another land-based casino in Subic have already been approved for PIGO licenses. The terms of the license dictate that access to Live Shots will only be in the Philippines, and that only PIGO “VIPs” will be able to play.
MB:PAGCOR’s revenues have dropped 97% because of COVID, so it is obviously desperate to find some way to passively get a cut of some other action. As I speculated when the news broke about DFNN’s [DFNN 5.50 ▼6.30%] “first ever” online casino license, the rest of The Gang would probably be quite interested to follow suit. Here we are. Bloomberry [BLOOM 8.40 ▼1.18%] (Solaire) and Belle Corp [BEL 1.66 ▼1.19%] are already lined up at the trough; could Dennis Uy and PH Resorts [PHR 3.00 ▲1.01%] be that far behind?
[NEWS] MRC Allied [MRC 0.48 0.00%] halted until full consequences of Kerberus acquisition are disclosed... the deal between MRC and 5G Security Inc (5GS) calls for MRC to acquire 75% of Kerberus from 5GS, but that’s about all we can know from the relatively short disclosure. The PSE halted the stock before the open, saying that investors need to have access to “information [that] may reasonably be expected to materially affect the market activity and the price of its securities”. There was no lift date/time provided, so investors should assume that the halt will remain indefinitely until MRC is able to provide more info.
MB:Remember how MRC changed its articles of incorporation to change its primary purpose from “property developer” to “holding company”? Yeah, well that’s the only justification that MRC has provided for the purchase; “[the purchase of Kerberus] brings the Company closer to its aspirational goal of transforming from property business to a holding company.” Holding companies aren’t special, they’re just a company that owns other companies. Where is the strategy, here, if the goal is simply to own other companies?
[NEWS] BHI Holdings [BH 901.00 0.00%] suspended from PSE for failure to maintain 10% public float... according to the PSE, the investment holding company’s public ownership level is just 9.86%, which is below the minimum 10% required. BHI has “not been very active in investing and is only receiving interest income”, is “still in the process of finalizing its business plans”, and BH has no principal products or services because “it has not decided as to what product or service it will introduce to the market”. It’s website is still “under construction.”
MB:Prior to the suspension, BH was listed as having a 10.02% public ownership level, which is basically the required minimum (it’s even still listed that way now on the PSE’s website). So, how did the public ownership level fall from 10.02% to 9.86%? When Ms. Jemie U. Tan, a director of BH, bought 850 shares of BH in late October and early November. Because Ms. Tan is a director of BH, as far as the PSE’s concerned, her shareholdings are considered “non-public” holdings. Shares held by directors, officers, and even principal/substantial stockholders are not counted towards the percentage of the company that is publicly-owned. Seems like a silly mistake to make for a company that, even though it basically does nothing and looks like a rough draft, still has a marketcap of over ₱450m.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
Ayala Corp buys Qualimed hospital network... and Merry Christmas! (Wednesday, Dec 23)
Happy Wednesday, Barkada --
The PSE closed down 23 points to 7202 ▼0.3%.
Thank you to @iso8583 and @tagongpangalan of the PHinvest Discord for bringing to my attention a case where someone has been stealing my content and posting MB articles to his website and 15 different Facebook groups. Maybe if he didn't remove my name and chop off the copyright notice at the end, he'd realized that I encourage people to forward MB on to others, provided that MB is not altered and that full credit to MB is given. Let's be real: MB is free, and I've always been "pro share" with anyone and everyone who might be interested... but hacking my name off and removing my branding is just basic copyright infringement. Thanks for letting me know! Gives me another thing to do over the holidays. A huge MB thank-you to one of my original Producer-level Patreon supporters, FinanceForever. Today's send is completely backed by his donation. FinanceForever has been a fantastic resource of feedback on MB's content, and a helpful well of suggestions for improvement! That producer title is well-earned. Haha Since today is the last trading day of the week (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are non-trading days), I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas... more importantly, I want to wish you a safe and healthy Christmas.
POGO Gaming ▼3.03% Fast Food ▼2.88% MiddleClass ▼2.35%
Main stories covered:
[NEWS] Ayala Corp [AC 838.00 ▲0.36%] acquires majority stake in parent company of Qualimed Health Network... Ayala Health, a subsidiary of AC, purchased Ayala Land’s [ALI 41.70 ▼0.12%] 39.2% stake in Mercado General Hospital, Inc (MGHI), the parent company of Qualimed Health Network. Ayala Health also purchased an additional 15% of MGHI directly from the Mercado Group of individual shareholders. The deal gives AC a 54.2% controlling stake in MGHI. The Qualimed Health Network includes four hospitals, an ambulatory care facility, and several clinics.
MB:AC believes that the acquisition of this “hospital platform” completes their cycle of patient care. AC, through Ayala Health, owns primary clinics, specialty clinics, and now... hospitals. AC has been growing its healthcare portfolio aggressively, but it’s interesting to see the group pivot away from its previous “stance”; the group was more focused on the distributed, non-primary care facilities like community clinics and specialty care clinics, and not so much on the traditional centralized hospital with an emergency ward and beds. As an investor, I was more interested in AC Health’s distributed approach, but I’m open-minded to see how these flavors might cook into the Ayala stew of assets.
[NEWS] PSE looking to tweak the rules on voluntary delistings... the new rules will only permit a voluntary delisting to proceed if less than 10% of the total outstanding and listed shares of the company vote to reject the move. That’s a huge change from the previous rule, which only required board of directors approval and a fairness opinion to proceed to a pre-delisting tender offer. Now, companies must conduct a shareholders vote, get less than 10% of shares to reject the move, and get 2/3rds of the board to approve, including two independent directors, and the minimum tender offer price is now the highest of a fairness opinion or a volume-weighted average price.
MB:This move is aligned with the PSE’s goal of increasing the public ownership of listed corporations. The exchange has been focused on ratcheting up the minimum public float from 10% to 20%, but it’s also been forced to take a second look at the voluntary delisting rules after a few sketchy transactions (Resorts World Manila, I’m talking about you). In the old days (you know, those days before this PSE memo went into effect a couple of days ago), all a company had to do to delist was have the board approve the move and then cram a tender offer through based on a fairness opinion cooked up by a valuator selected by the board. Now, while that fairness opinion bit hasn’t changed much, it’s no longer just up to the board. It’s no longer so easy for a company to court the investment of the public only to fold up shop a few years later once the novelty has worn off (or their interest in public disclosures has, shall we say, waned).
[NEWS] Bloomberry [BLOOM 8.20 ▼4.32%] adds ₱20bn to an existing loan facility... the Solaire casino operator negotiated with lenders to get an additional ₱20bn added to a ₱73.5bn creditline. The company also negotiated with its lenders to get a huge “covenant test holiday” on that loan facility until June 2023.
MB:That’s a pretty big add-on. Most companies are in need of some operating cash these days; they can sell something (assets), borrow it (debt), or raise it (follow-on offering / stock rights offering). Each option comes with a cost, but most owners would prefer to take on more debt rather than give up points of equity. That’s what BLOOM has done here. The interesting bit (to me) is that they’ve been able to delay covenant testing for almost three years. When a company signs a loan with a bank, the bank usually includes a list of covenants (promises) that the company must abide by. Sometimes the covenant has to do with maintaining a certain debt-to-equity ratio, or other times it might have to do with capping public ownership or transference of shares. Banks periodically test a company’s adherence to the covenants, and my feeling here is that the ₱20bn addition probably blows up an existing debt-to-equity ratio covenant for a period of years. The bank(s) are likely eyes-wide-open here, with confidence in BLOOM’s ability to service the debt eventually through gradual recovery.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
DFNN soars 41%; will be PH's first online casino operator (Wednesday, Dec 9)
Happy Wednesday, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 69 points to 7204 ▲1%.
Greetings to all of the new subscribers that joined yesterday and this morning! I hope you enjoy what Merkado Barkada has to offer. If you do, please forward out to friends and family who might also enjoy it... and if not, please contact me at [email protected] to let me know why! I'm always interested in constructive feedback on how to make MB a better place for investors and traders alike.
[NEWS] DFNN [DFNN 6.35 ▲41.43%] granted PH’s first online casino license, stock soars 41%... the license allows the PAGCOR-approved company to develop and operate online casino games. DFNN said that the online casino would “only available to VIP players who must meet strict eligibility and registration procedures,” and would help in “regenerating revenues for the government”.
MB:PAGCOR has repeatedly tried to pitch “gaming” generally as the government’s cure to the cash crunch problem caused by its COVID-depressed tax income. I doubt it needed more than three slides in its pitch deck to government to get approval for the new license type. The government aches for income to replace what’s been lost. Investors and traders liked the news, in part because the complete surprise of the announcement allowed there to be a steep gap-up in the price (that’s always fun), but also because the license acts as something of a temporary monopoly for DFNN in terms of online gaming. There’s no word yet whether PAGCOR intends to license other gaming outfits to operate similar online casinos, but I’d bet that Dennis Uy and Enrique Razon are more than a little interested to join in on the fun, considering how poorly their profit puppies have performed through the pandemic. Especially if the license type will expand beyond the initial restriction to domestic bets only.
[NEWS] PH Resorts [PHR 3.00 ▼0.99%] halted for an hour after issuance of shares to Udenna Corp disclosed... the Dennis Uy-owned integrated casino/resort developer disclosed that it sold 1,686,309,523 common shares from its unissued capital stock to Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp for P2.8bn (P1.68/share). The PSE halted the stock for one hour under the “additional listing” rule. That lede was buried in a press release that was supposedly about PHR “topping off” the two towers at its Emerald Bay facility.
MB:The follow-on offering that PHR conducted a month ago sold 450m shares at the same price, but this transaction is significantly larger. When the FOO dropped, Dennis Uy said: “At the offer price, investors will be given a good opportunity to get in early at attractive valuation levels.” He was really talking about himself, and about the private placement sale to Udenna that was to come. This transaction dilutes everyone materially, including the FOO buyers that diluted the previous shareholders.
[NEWS] Mergermarket reporting Indonesian coffee chain looking for JV partner in PH... Kopi Kenangan is Indonesia’s fastest growing coffee chain, and it’s fresh off of a Sequoia Capital India-led Series B investment round that netted it a US$109m warchest for expansion. The coffee chain reportedly prefers a Philippine “family-led conglomerate”, both for the conglomerate’s deep pockets but also its experience in the domestic retail sector. Kopi Kenangan is looking to co-locate its stores in buildings with a strong BPO presence.
MB:Looking for a family-led conglomerate with deep pockets is like shooting fish in a barrel in the Philippines. Kopi Kenangan is going to be able to run a beauty pageant to maximize the value of its potential JV. This store concept is not exactly like a convenience store (more like Luckin Coffee, actually), but it does serve some of the low-cost goodies (coffee, milk tea, snacks) that convenience stores like Seven-11 [SEVN 110.70 ▲4.43%], Ministop [RRHI 68.70 ▲0.51%], and Family Mart [PNX 12.74 ▼0.31%] use to lure customers in for repeated visits. That’s not exactly Kopi’s DNA, though, as it’s building its name and brand off of “coffee on demand” that is ordered by an app and either picked up in a small-footprint shop, or delivered direct to consumer. It’s not clear what Kopi Kenangan’s end-goal strategy is, whether it wants to be a stand-alone brand under the Kopi Kenangan flag here in the PH with its own locations, or whether it’s willing to be a branded component of a conglomerate’s overall offering, like “Ministop, with coffee by Kopi Kenangan”; either way, this is an indication that our convenience and coffee store market is heating up.
[NEWS] Metro Pacific Investments [MPI 4.55 0.00%] buys 20% of Philippine Tank Storage International (PTSI)... the purchase was part of a larger deal that saw Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) and MPI together acquire 100% of PTSI’s stock for US$333.8m. According to Mergermarket, PTSI owns the Philippine Coastal Storage & Pipeline Corporation (PCSPC), which is “the largest petroleum products import storage facility in the Philippines”. KIT and MPI purchased PTSI from the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure (PINAI). PTSI’s storage capacity includes three “tank farms” and one marine terminal area, all within the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
MB:There are no comments from the MPI side of the deal yet, but KIT is on record saying that this is a “strategic” acquisition to strengthen its distributable cash flow (the money that the company uses to declare dividends). KIT says the investment will help it “capture the expected growth in demand for petroleum products in [the Philippines].” I assume MPI’s reasons for entering the deal are substantially similar.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
Obviously I’m very happy atm with the result and so I wanted to share my tips for others who are preping for the exam. I thought I made the thread right away when my memory of the test/questions is still fresh. I passed the exam an hour ago. Apologies in advance for the typos I’ll made below as it’ll be a bit long and I’m too tired to I proof-read again after sitting through a long and tiring exam. I have been reading this subreddit for the past two weeks and read all CAMS-exam related threads posted in the past year to understand how I’d need to prepare for the exam. Thought this is my time to give back. I also sat through this exam via the OnVue Pearson platform (online exam) due to COVID restrictions at my location so happy to share my experience if you have any questions. Here’s my experience and tips preparing and taking the exam: Preping for the exam: - Save your money, there’s absolutely no need to purchase any further practice tests from third parties (ACAMS assassins etc..). I found these sources and their questions overly complicated than the actual exam and would unnecessarily make you doubt your ability/knowledge. - I read the Exam Study Guide only once and was highlighting the key bits as I went through it, there’s no need to re-read the guide multiple times but I’d recommend taking the practice test in the last chapter, and revisiting the guide for parts that you did poorly. - If you could do the practice test (last chapter) with fewer than 10 wrong answers, you’re ready for the exam. - I took the ACAMS virtual online class series (6 week x 2 hours each) as there was a promotion which made it free when I signed up for the course (otherwise ~400usd). The actual online classes are meh but slides they provide are good as they provide the key content you need to understand / focus on. They should form the frame of your preparation. Otherwise I don’t think it’s worth the money just for the online webinars. - I did not use the ACAMS audio book at all - I did the ACAMS online e-study (the online training module) only for the 6 CAMS credits and I skimmed/skipped through most parts as I found them quite basic. I spent around 2 hours the night before the exam day to go through the entire 4 parts series of the online module just as a last refresher. - I found the flashcards helpful, but there’s no need to memorise all the flashcards. Use them to identify areas where you struggle and revisit the study guide. - I read the guide 2 months before the exam while I did the online class series. Then in the last 2 weeks before the exam, I studied more intensively with probably 2 hours each day everyday. I would recommend study 1.5 hours per weekend (sat or sun not both) for 3 months plus 2 intensive weeks (2 hours each day) before the exam. Tips on the actual exam: - As many other people have said on other threads, I found the actual exam about twice more difficult than the practice. Just multiply the number of incorrect answers you get from the practice test, you would roughly arrive at the number of incorrect answers you’d get in the actual exam is one way to think of it. - Again, no need to memorise a lot as the questions are mostly situational and asking what you would do. However if you want to focus your study of the CSG, I’d recommend knowing in-and-out of the below topics:
What to do when you receive search warrant / request of information from agency / investigation. A lot of key concepts are repeated throughout the test (DO NOT contact employee/customer (tipping off), DO NOT handover customer information right away as you may need to check confidentiality requirements around it, DO NOT file STR immediately, DO NOT CLOSE account immediately
What to do when you receive a request to maintain an account (just remember it’s need to be a written request on valid letterhead)
When to inform board of directors / senior management/ engage legal counsel
Red flags for human trafficking, arts, trade based ML, real estates, wire-transfer, MBS
Patriot Acts and requirements around correspent banks. They’re not too long so just study them in and out.
BASEL on CDD
EU directives: Know what changed in version 3 and 4 including thresholds. I did not get any questions on version 5. One key principles to remember is that inly EU directives and PATRIOT ACTS are binding and requires compliance.
FATF/FSBR: understand their power and objective, just remember these guys do not enforce law or penalise anyone. No need to remember all 40 recommendations. Focus on CDD/correspondent banks recommendations. You can read the actual 40 recommendations if you have time but I didn’t find that overly helpful.
Edmont: their objective, just remember this org is all about sharing of information between FIU. I did not read the Edmont 100 cases as it’s too time-consuming.
MLAT/MoU: Understand the differences between the two. A very common trick answer is suggesting MLAT between organisations/parties but these should be between two countries. Also remember MoU is for FIUs/Edmont for INTELLIGENT requests, MLAT is for countries for EVIDENCE requests.
No need to memorise all the FSBRs and their member states, just understand that there are nine and some key characteristics for each (what papers/model regulations reach issued/adopted)
For chapter 1 you’ll need to understand the ML risks/red flags of each types of products / non-bank orgs & services
30% of the exam questions ask ls you about red flags so just focus on them in chapter 3, especially around unusually biz activities / wire transfer / deposits followed by immediate withdrawal / casino
20% on the exam questions asks you what to do when you receive warrant/ investigations and a lot of them trick you to choose to tip-off customeemployees
Lastly, READ the questions carefully, I know this sounds cliche but for CAMS I found this very important as the exam try to trick you a lot and there are hints hidden in the questions to help you eliminate wrong answers. Focus on what they are really asking you about, sometimes there are sensible answer but has nothing to do with the question being asked. Good luck to anyone’s preping for the exam and happy to answer any further questions you may have. Cheers.
Power Gen. ▲1.88% POGO Gaming ▲1.76% #COVID-19 ▲0.84%
Bottom 3 MB indices:
MiddleClass ▼1.33% Logistics ▼0.80% Cement ▼0.60%
Main stories covered:
[NEWS] Airlines able to resume international flights with non-essential passengers on October 21... but will the demand be there? Non-essential travellers will be able to leave the country, provided they have “negative antigen test results, confirmed plane tickets, and health and travel insurance”. The government originally lifted the ban on Filipinos travelling abroad for non-essential reasons in July, but since only one insurance company could adhere to the IATF’s strict rules on conditions to cover rebooking, accommodation expenses, and hospitalization should a traveler contract COVID-19, the ban was re-implemented, awaiting better coordination. Seems as though the better coordination has arrived, though we are still waiting on confirmation of procedures from the IATF.
MB:As we discussed last week, domestic airline revenue has been constrained by a lack of demand, not by excessive regulations or travel bans. Philippine Airlines [PAL 5.85 ▲0.86%] and Cebu Pacific [CEB 38.00 ▲1.06%] know as well as any that many countries around the world still have quite strict travel regulations in place that make travelling a huge pain in the ass, aside from whatever hoops the IATF will make Filipinos jump through even before they make the trek to NAIA. The totality of this hassle against the backdrop of a global pandemic has decimated travel demand. The airlines will be in a lot of trouble until the hassle (and the pandemic) disappears.
[UPDATE] Converge [CNVRG 16.80] IPO oversubscribed with one broker, so, you know... in a talk with Michelle Ong, the President of PNB Securities, Antonio Lisbona, said that the CNVRG IPO was causing his firm “sleepless nights” because PNB Securities’ order book was already “oversubscribed”. He admitted that the CNVRG IPO might look “heavy” (too expensive, not selling quickly), but he reiterated his belief that CNVRG is in “the right business at the right time.”
MB:The domestic and international demand for CNVRG has not been strong. Remember, CNVRG’s IPO is split 70:30 between foreign investors and local investors, and that CNVRG was forced to lower its price twice by an aggregate of 30% in order to sign a cornerstone investor for the international tranche. After lowering the price, the stock sold out and the company was able to market the international tranche as being “oversubscribed”, but it has not been able to say the same thing for the PH-based tranche, despite a 10x increase in PSE EASy allocations and a white-hot connectivity market ([DITO 6.10 ▼1.45%], [NOW 5.25 unch], [MRC 0.37 ▲1.37%]). Now, PNB Securities is doing a media hit to say that it’s own order book is oversubscribed. It’s obviously trying to hype the market for the stock. We’re one week to IPO, so I expect more limp stories like this to try and juice the local market ahead of the big day.
[UPDATE] PH Resorts [PHR 2.69 ▲3.46%] prices its follow-on offering at P1.68/share... the Dennis Uy-owned casino resort operator is looking to sell 450m shares at P1.68/share to raise P756m to increase the size of the public float (it’s only 15.89% after the IPO) and help fund completion of its Cebu project. The pricing range had been P1.00 to P2.50. The deal is 100% primary (new shares), and is only available through brokers (not PSE EASy).
MB:Dennis Uy kills two birds with one stone: he gets cash for his cash-strapped company, and he gets to pull PHR’s head more fully above the PSE’s minimum public float line of 10%. What do you bet DAU uses some of the P756m that he gets in this deal to initiate share buy-backs if PHR continues to tumble? While DAU might not be the best at running a business, DAU is a master at the trading game, so I wouldn’t put it past him.
*[UPDATE] PSE determines backdoor rules apply to Xurpas [X 0.55 susp] transaction... * The PSE determined that the Wavemaker Group transaction was a backdoor listing, and that X stock will remain suspended until X is able to provide the PSE (and investors) with a comprehensive disclosure to outline the nature of the transaction and the impact that it will have on X’s business going forward.
MB:The writing was on the wall ever since X sold Yondu back to Globe [GLO 1992.00 ▼0.90%] for a fraction of what it paid. The Wavemaker deal never looked quite right, and to many in the investing community, X was a deadman walking already, so the suspension meant very little. The PSE’s first potential tech unicorn is pretty much dead at this point.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
Converge's US investor doing most of the selling at IPO (Monday, Oct 5)
Happy Monday, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 55 points to 5999 ▲0.9%.
Shout-out to André for the Twitter love, and to Robin for his interest in my analysis of the PH logistics industry (with reference to MerryMart's "Dark Grocery" deal with FoodPanda). I hope to have more to say on the topic soon, as it's an industry that I'm looking very closely at considering the changes that we've seen all around the world in the warehousing, cold-storage, and delivery segments. Drop a note if you're involved in the logistics industry, or an analyst covering it; I'd love the chance to swap stories. Interesting times, especially now with this COVID twist.
[NEWS] PH Resorts Group Holdings [PHR 3.04 ▲1.33%] gets FOO approved by PSE... here comes the dilution. PHR is the travel and gaming subsidiary of Dennis “Davao” Uy’s Udenna Corp, and is looking to raise P1.125bn in a follow-on offer (FOO) to build an integrated resort (casino integrated with a hotel with restaurants) in Cebu. PHR is selling 450,000,000 new common shares at an implied price of P2.50/share. COVID has delayed the construction and opening of the resort, which Udenna expects to have fully opened by Q2/22, with a soft opening in late 2021.
MB:The FOO also lifts the public ownership (free float) of PHR above 10%. The PSE has made moves that indicate it will press to raise public ownership levels, so perhaps DAU is getting out in front of the PSE a bit here and killing two birds with one stone (lack of funds + lack of public ownership). The P.2.50/share price that’s implied by the P1.125bn raise through selling 450m shares is about 17% lower than PHR’s Friday close of P3.04/share. The new shares represent a 9.4% increase in the outstanding shares of PHR. This isn’t the only DAU-affiliated company that is in need of capital.
[UPDATE] Converge ICT’s [FIBER 24.00] US investor to unload 1 billion shares at IPO... the US investor is none other than Warburg Pincus LLP (WP), which invested US$225m (P12.4bn) in FIBER in 2019 through its subsidiary company, Coherent Cloud. WP plans to convert its preferred share holdings to common shares on the date that FIBER gets priced, and then to sell 1.011 billion common shares in the IPO (almost half of its 2,045 billion shares in FIBER).
MB:This means that the secondary share sale will almost entirely be to WP’s benefit, meaning that it does not look like The Other Dennis Uy is cashing out his chips in this transaction. WP, for its part, is looking to sell half of its original US$225m investment for P24bn, which is approximately US$495m. That’s a 4x return in just over 1 year of investment. From WP’s point of view, that’s a fantastic deal, but from a prospective FIBER investor’s perspective, I’m left to wonder what this deal has in it for them. FIBER’s expansion program sets a goal to reach 55% of Filipino households by 2025.
NEWS Globe [GLO 2120.00 ▲0.95%] ramps up fiber roll-out... in completely unrelated news, GLO has increased its fiber network roll-out by 50% this year. Cebu and Davao Del Sur have been the recipients of the most aggressive GLO activity, but GLO has been busy to “fill the gap on home broadband access”. BODY
MB:While FIBER has been the fastest growing broadband provider in the Philippines, the incumbents won’t just roll over and die and hand out marketshare left and right. FIBER will either have to take the share from GLO (and the rest of the existing providers), or it will have to make new markets before GLO and the incumbents get there first. Looks like GLO is trying to head FIBER off at the pass by getting its fingers into whatever new markets FIBER might have had its eyes on. I can’t tell from here if these new markets were just the easiest for GLO to tap, or if these were more strategic moves meant to take away FIBER’s easiest low hanging fruit. GLO trying to starve the FIBER fire before it even sparks?
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
PH Resorts FOO is today... spicy times ahead (no ceiling/floor) (Thursday, Nov 5)
Happy Thursday, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 128 points (!!) to 6464 ▲2%.
I'm blown away by your response to the MB Patreon page. I have a hard time putting into words how it feels to see notifications from Patreon, many featuring familiar names from Reddit, Discord, and email chats, saying that someone has donated some money to the MB effort. During a pandemic, a down market, and a crazy year like this. A huge shout-out and humbled thank-you goes out to our new
"Ministop Coffee Crew" patrons: JRVS, Phantom-Spirit, and Jelo Agnasin
"Starbucks Coffee Crew" patron: Karlos Naidas
"Daily Production Team" patrons, Charles A Yeung, FinanceForever, and Marilin Nery! Thank you all for your support.
You didn't have to, but you did, and I appreciate that. I raise my coffee mug in thanks to the Ministop and Starbucks Coffee Crews, and to the Daily Producers, I say keep an eye on your inbox as I'll be in touch to figure out the specific day you'd like to sponsor! To anyone else who would like to contribute, please use this link. Remember, there's no obligation, no special access, and people who don't have an EF yet shouldn't donate! Focus on yourself first. Thank you, Patreon supporters. And thank you to all the Barkadans for reading!
Fast Food ▲5.78% POGO Gaming ▲5.34% 2019 IPOs ▲4.86%
Bottom 3 MB indices:
Telco ▼0.38% MiddleClass ▼0.34% Power Gen. ▲0.29%
Main stories covered:
[UPDATE] PH Resorts [PHR 3.27 susp] FOO is today, be prepared for wackiness... the follow-on offering for Dennis Uy’s integrated casino/resort developer will hit the market a lot like the weird Altus Property Ventures [APVI 13.08 ▲0.62%] offering “by way of introduction” did: with no ceiling or floor. PHR last closed at P3.27/share before it was suspended pending this offering, which was priced at P1.68/share.
MB:BE CAREFUL. Every single AVPI share purchased on its offering day is still underwater. Have a read of what happened on that day (I sort of live-blogged it), when it finished up 82% on the day, but down 93% from its intra-day peak. If you are trading price action, SET YOUR STOPS. You don’t want to end up joining the sad crew of momentum chasers that turned into “invals” (involuntary value investors).
[Q3] Globe [GLO 2002.00 ▼0.89%] profit ▼22% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P4.4bn, down 22% from Q3/19 profit of P5.6bn. Part of that decline could be attributed to the continuing trend of consumers moving away from “traditional” voice and SMS, where margins for GLO are ridiculously high; revenue from these sectors was down 3% y/y to P36.7bn. GLO did say that the “upturn in prepaid top-ups and subscriber acquisitions” was improved q/q by the less restrictive quarantine measures over Metro Manila allowing more people to transact digitally.
MB:Up until the end of Q3, it had been GLO and TEL just tromping around the country harvesting pesos from a captive audience that had no other choice. In the broadband world, Converge [CNVRG 14.72 ▲1.24%] has loudly splashed into the national spotlight through its “PLAYER 3 HAS ENTERED THE GAME” IPO last month. While the stock hasn’t popped, CNVRG has already banked the cash. CNVRG will hit the market with a long history of experience in providing the service that it offers, with the customer support (I know, I know), back-office team, and network of commercial subscriber funnels to efficiently consume new markets. So, while Dito Telecommunity is that same “PLAYER 3 HAS ENTERED THE GAME” moment on the mobile communications front, it’s starting from way further back. It has no proven processes; it’s never processed a transaction; it’s never dealt with an outage; and it’s never performed a network upgrade with live customers. That’s not to say that Dito couldn’t figure it out (it’s probably dangerous for GLO and TEL to discount Dito outright), but it is to say that public-facing communications infrastructure, at scale, is hard. That’s part of the reason why only GLO and TEL have survived. But from Q4 onward, the gloves are off.
[Q3] Century Foods [CNPF 17.00 ▲0.95%] profit ▲15% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P1.032bn, up 15% from Q3/19 profit of P0.898bn. The profit growth was driven by the company’s “”branded marine, meat and milk products” segment, which accounted for 81% of CNPF’s total revenue. Sales in this segment, which includes brands like Century Tuna, 555, Argentina and Birch Tree, were up 16%.
MB:This result might come as cold comfort to some investors. It’s not like people have all of a sudden grown an outsized appetite for canned goods and non-perishable milk products... it’s the pandemic. At first, in the heat of the ECQ lockdown, Filipinos flocked to the familiar safety of CNPF products when presented with the possibility of the country’s supply chain failing, or other apocalyptic scenarios that had all barangays seriously considering what life would be like to have barangay captains ration food out to residents amid a medical catastrophe of unknown severity. We filled our storage areas with tuna, corned beef, and whatever else might taste ok and not spoil. Then, when our fears of systemic failure did not come to pass, but the ravages of one of the world’s longest lockdowns began to cripple commerce resulting in job losses, under-employment, and vastly reduced household earnings with plummeting consumer confidence, we “downshifted” our eating habits to recognize the need to be conservative. Instead of eating at a restaurant, we went to Jollibee. Instead of eating at Jollibee, we ate street food. Instead of eating street food, we cooked at home. Instead of fresh meat and vegetables, we bought canned goods. This was explicitly mentioned by McDonalds PH in its conference call with Goldman Sachs that I covered in August. Consumers are shifting down, and that is pushing CNPF up. If the economy improves, and things go back to normal, will these customers stay? What is CNPF doing right now to encourage continued loyalty through changing circumstances?
[Q3] International Container Terminal Services [ICT 115.50 ▲0.43%] profit ▲23% y/y... Q3/20 profit US$69m, up 23% from Q3/19 profit of US$56m. The shipping terminal owneoperator’s revenues are a pretty good proxy for global trade, as they have facilities in the Philippines (including the Manila International Container Terminal), across SE Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. ICT has a fairly clear lack of penetration into Russia/China, Europe, India, and North America, but otherwise has a strong presence in developing countries with significant raw material exports and significant finished goods imports. In Q3, ICT made more revenue (6.7% more) with fewer expenses (1.1% less), an outcome that ICT attributes to “stringent cost management”.
MB:ICT should be well-positioned to benefit from any uptick in global trade. The cost management initiative will serve ICT (and its investors) well in the time between now and when COVID fears begin to lift. We aren’t there yet, but ICT will be one of those “recovery stocks” to watch. It’s probably too early now, but keep an eye on it.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
PHR FOO was a mess and a rousing success (Friday, Nov 6)
Happy Friday, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 181 points (!!) to 6645 ▲2.8%.
Thanks to JD for writing with some ideas on how to hack down my monthly Mailchimp costs. My eyes/ears are open to suggestions, but I'm paranoid of spam filters. Thanks to kidfrom93 for pointing out that my "no ceiling no floor" analysis on PHR's FOO was only half-right: there was a ceiling, but no floor. Not that the ceiling came into play, but still. :) Shout-out to keneno89 and amasai12! Thanks for the support! A huge shout-out and humbled thank-you goes out to our new
"Ministop Coffee Crew" patrons: Mico K and John Archie Trinidad
"Starbucks Coffee Crew" patrons: Sanjay Chatlani and Jing E
To anyone else who would like to contribute, please use this link. Remember, there's no obligation, no special access, and people who don't have an EF yet shouldn't donate! Focus on yourself first. If you like what you see, please consider forwarding MB to friends/family who might be interested. If you like like it, drop me a message and let me know what you like the best and what sorts of things you'd like to see in the future from MB!
Fast Food ▲4.16% #COVID-19 ▲3.88% POGO Prop. ▲3.36%
Bottom 3 MB indices:
POGO Gaming ▼0.92% Power Gen. ▼0.70% Cement ▼0.42%
Main stories covered:
">- PH Resorts had a FOO, and it was both a mess and a rousing success
Background PH Resorts [PHR 2.18 ▼33.33%] is Dennis Uy’s casino resort developer that has struggled to fund completion of its Cebu-based resort due to COVID. PHR had been exploring options to fund the project for months, but ultimately elected to push through with a follow-on offer priced at P1.68 per share, which was a little bit shocking considering the stock’s closing price before the announcement was P3.27/share.
What happened leading up to yesterday? The FOO added 450 million shares to PHR’s outstanding shares, bringing the total from 4,793,266,504 to 5,243,266,504 (an increase of 9.4%). But the way it got there was a little bit... unfortunately for PHR investors. PHR announced in late September that it would look to do a FOO, but provided no pricing information. From that point, the stock jumped from P2.15/share to up to P3.20/share. Then, on the morning of October 19, PHR announced that the price would be P1.68/share. The price dropped, and by the end of the day, PHR had applied for a voluntary trading suspension until yesterday. Everyone invested at that time that was not able to sell was “trapped” in the dilutive situation.
How did the FOO go? Depends who you ask! If you ask someone who was quick enough to buy the FOO (brokers sold out quickly, for obvious reasons) at P1.68 and who sold anywhere around P2.18/share, that person is probably happy for the 70% gain. But... if you ask an investor who owned PHR stock before October 19th, at a closing price of P3.27/share, and who is holding stock worth P2.18/share today, you probably are not talking to someone excited about a sudden 33.3% loss.
BARDAKA BOTTOM-LINE Dennis Uy got crushed on the market yesterday. PHR was down 33%, Chelsea [C 4.94 ▼6.44%] was down 6.4%, and DITO CME [DITO 5.89 ▼6.66%] was down 6.7%. The recent move by Chelsea to sell its stake in Dito Telecommunity, arguably one of the most important and mysterious companies in the country, to a completely unknown private corporation with a confusing name and absolutely no guidance as to what is happening or why aside from “restructuring”, and now this double-dip that is gleefully pitched by PHR”s executives as just another step in the master plan (FOOs are never part of the master plan, unless you’re Injap), well maybe you’re sort of losing patience with this loosey goosey attitude toward shareholders and potential investors. I’m not an investor in PHR, but if I was, I’d be right choked that I was forced to buy-up some stupid FOO to protect myself from the dilutive losses.
[Q3] LBC [LBC 15.72 ▲0.13%] profit ▲37.6% y/y... Q3/20 profit of P448m, up 37.6% from Q3/19 profit of P326m. LBC attributes the great result to its “significant growth” in gross revenue by 6% (+ ~P200m), and by a 9% reduction in the cost of services (+ ~P250m). The gross revenue bump was due largely to 33% higher sales in LBC’s retail logistics segment.
MB:LBC is coming off an absolutely ba-ruuuutal quarter where it lost over half a billion pesos due to the lockdown and various movement restrictions implemented around the country. Q3 saw many of those restrictions ease, but I wonder if perhaps some of the bounce-back could be from the country’s growing ease with using third parties to deliver everything from food to furniture.
*[UPDATE] Megawide [MWIDE 7.58 ▲2.43%] FOO details confirmed for listing on November 27... * MWIDE will sell up to 50 million preferred shares, split into two symbols (MWP2A and MWP2B), at P100/share, to raise P5bn. Offer period runs from November 10 to 17, with listing on November 27.
MB:Specific details on the terms of the preferred shares are not yet available, but I will update. My feeling here is that MWIDE is cashing up to take advantage of its recent run of “good luck” in bagging contracts from the government. Make hay while the sun shines.
[UPDATE] DITO CME [DITO 5.89 ▼6.66%] shareholder dumps 50m shares... Eric Recto, the former owner of ISM Communications, which Dennis Uy purchased to (eventually) convert into DITO, had owned over 234m shares of DITO as of January this year. With this latest sale of 50m shares on November 3, Mr. Recto now owns only 1.89m shares of DITO out of the nearly 2 billion listed shares.
MB:This looks like DITO “cleaning up its cap table”, which is finance-speak for tying up loose ends in the list of major shareholders before a major change is made. From Dennis Uy’s perspective, if he were truly to use DITO as a vehicle for Dito Telecommunity, he would need to somehow transfer Dito Telecommunity into DITO. Any existing shareholders would “benefit” from this acquisition, possibly by way of a higher stock price. So it’s in Dennis Uy’s best interest (if this is what’s happening -- I have no idea) to get rid of as many hangers-on as possible at the pre-acquisition stock price to “capture” as much of that gain for himself as possible. Having Eric Recto as a major shareholder is a pretty significant value-leak. This whole paragraph is just speculation, so please take it with a kilo of salt. I have no idea what Dennis Uy is doing, or what Eric Recto is doing. Just trying to make an educated guess.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
[UPDATE] Wirecard: Surprise! Ex-COO Jan Marsalek’s travel data forged in Bureau of Immigration (BI) database, BI employees fired… remember back last week when DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra said that BI data indicated that Marsalek had entered the Philippines on June 23, and left on June 24th from Cebu heading to China? Now we’ve learned that the DOJ investigation has revealed those entries in the BI database were faked. The DOJ has been unable to find any other evidence of Marsalek’s presence in the country: no CCTV, no airline manifests, nothing. So, the BI employees have been fired (just like the BPI [BPI 72.00 ▼1.91%] employees, and the BDO [BDO 97.50 ▼2.45%] employees), and BSP Governor Diokno has reiterated that the missing $2.1 billion never entered the financial system of the Philippines.
MB: One of the BI employees that was fired worked at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport, and the other at the BI head office in Manila. Sec Guevarra is investigating whether criminal charges should be brought against the BI employees, who are also facing possible administrative sanctions for their involvement in this deliciously odd situation.
[UPDATE] POGOs: Rumors swirl as DFA Sec Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. tweets about POGOs paying taxes “under the table” to “mystery” collector… in response to news that the BIR would not permit POGOs with outstanding tax liabilities to reopen (which is like, all of them), DFA Sec Locsin Jr. tweeted that the POGOs have been paying taxes, but just under the table. Regardless, one POGO has already closed up shop and is headed for Cambodia to take advantage of “tax incentives”.
MB: That POGO is Suncity Group, which is the owner of Suntrust Home Developers [SUN 1.43 ▲15.32%], the small-time residential developer that morphed into a luxury integrated casino resort developer under Andrew Tan’s care.
About Merkado Barkada
Merkado Barkada is a daily email newsletter covering all the stocks, bonds, companies, characters, and issues that make up the Philippine Stock Exchange. I don't make any money from MB, I don't use affiliate links or anything to trick people, and I don't sell email addresses for quick pesos. I simply like researching news and writing about current events in a way that helps my friends, family, and barkada to understand more easily what is happening.
America is uniquely empowered to chart its own course. International creditors have a far weaker hold on us than on any other country. Our financial firms make the vast majorities of their profits domestically. Most countries are desperate to achieve even a shadow of the standing in international finance that we have. And the dollar - our currency - is the reserve currency of the world, at least for now. All of these factors combine to make America capable of taking control over our destiny and, rather than letting ourselves be held to the whims of a cabal of multinational corporations who have no interest in the well-being of Americans, only their own bottom lines.
“Financiers never believed in markets in the first place. They believed, instead, in controlling the market. By whatever means possible.” The financial sector has, today, devolved into a few huge, international institutions. These institutions have close links to regulators, and dominate the financial market, while using their quasi-monopolistic power to extract “super-normal profits” from ordinary investors. In order to achieve these monopolistic ends, they innovated along the way. Financial innovations like the development of the mortgage-backed security (MBS), the collateralized debt obligation (CDO), and the credit default swap (CDS) all dramatically increased the profitability of big international banks in the 1990s and early 2000s. They also contributed to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The solution to this is, in the minds of the Santana presidential administration, simple. The state, as the only set of institutions with the necessary power, legitimacy, and resources, must take back control of financial markets and impose regulatory control over the saboteurs. This is, of course, not a new proposition. However, the Santana solution differs from that of most economists. Economists, in their desire to be “neutral,” frantically seek out so-called neutral and objective, “solutions” to modern policy problems from inequality to climate change, with their solutions always ending up as technocratic and “wonkish,” which economists claim facilitate an evidence-based approach to regulation, free from any ideological baggage. The problem with these traditional solutions is that there is no such thing as apolitical state intervention, and there is certainly no neutral, non-ideological view of the economy. Santana acknowledges this, with one internal document saying “The state is not a neutral economic actor. Diverse sets of competing interests control the decisions made by policymakers, including those of the finance sector itself.” Under the American system as it exists, wealth translates to political power, and power back to wealth. As such the Santana administration has implemented a wide-ranging series of capital controls, which are intended to ensure that the United States will not be held hostage by the “malefactors of great wealth.” The first of these is the expansion of the United States international sanctions network, with the President now officially stating that “Individuals who deliberately avoid fairly levied taxes from the United States will be targets of sanctions similar to those which are emplaced on members of authoritarian regimes, and the same being applied to those in leadership positions on companies which engage in tax avoidance.” This program is intended to utilise the unique ability of the United States to implement wide-ranging sanctions which dramatically harm the ability of an individual to do business for good, rather than the traditional usage which was to enforce global American dominance. The second was the implementation of a program of public control of the financial sector. Simply put, if a bank or investment group begins to engage in capital flight, it will be nationalised (with three quarter market-rate compensation) and its assets seized, to be put under national control. This program was not made public until it was already implemented, thus preventing these institutions from engaging in these malignant practices without legal control being implemented over them. These new public financial institutions will be rolled into the new Public Bank, which will operate with branches at every post office in the United States. This new public banking will do away with predatory lending and speculative investing on exotic financial derivatives, instead refocusing on boring banking and long-term stability. By avoiding the toxic assets and casino-style speculation that spur on instability, the public banking sector will instead engage in socially responsible investment with longer time horizons, generating a new form of patient social capital. Public loans will also provide another avenue (alongside direct investment and increased social spending) to help improve the lives of everyday Americans. The new capital control regime has also implemented a simple program that all companies will owe taxes based on the revenue they generate in the USA, with the taxes on that revenue being assessed as if they were a company based in the USA prior to the implementation of this setup. This will encourage companies to move their headquarters back to the USA, as it will not impact their tax rate, but will also enforce that companies must make the choice between paying American taxes to the American government, or surrendering their access to the American government. The next focus, however, went far beyond capital flight control. This was the reinstatement of numerous capital controls that were slowly reversed over the course of the neoliberal turn in the United States. The first was the reinstatement of the Glass Steagall act, which was given minor updates for the modern era, but by and large was kept the same as the original act, which was eliminated in 1999. The second was the repeal of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which exempted credit-default swaps from numerous regulations. The fights to make both of these happen were bloody affairs, but ultimately, Santana managed to force the few remaining corporate Democrats, and interestingly one Republican Senator, who had replaced Tom Cotton and was considered by many to be an outright fascist (his vote was unnecessary and unexpected in the end). This act, however, has deeply worried the remaining corporate Democrats. Santana has made it clear that she will use every lever at her disposal (one of the main threats made was that if people would not vote for the act, Santana would use her new control over the DCCC to ensure they received no money for their reelection campaigns). This has made the remainder severely worried, as it is clear that they are nothing but a temporary holdover that Santana is determined to eliminate entirely. What they will do next is unclear, but it is unlikely they will continue to bow down for the socialist revolution, or that they will be able to take the party back.
Premier Pallister/MB Health Press Conferences - 2020-03-17 10:30am CST & 11:15am CST
Edit: From https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?item=47017 COVID-19 BULLETIN #17 The Manitoba government is taking additional proactive measures to help reduce the impact of COVID-19. This includes: • suspending services at licensed child-care centres, effective end-of-day Friday, March 20; • recommending parents with children in these centres begin to make alternate arrangements as soon as possible, even though centres will remain open for the remainder of the week; • continuing to allow home-based child-care providers to operate; and • creating dedicated child-care options for front-line and essential services staff who need them. Parents who will be providing front-line health care or are a member of a fire, police or paramedic service and will not be able to find alternative child care while services are suspended are asked to contact 204-945-0776 or 1-888-213-4754 (toll-free). Parents are asked to keep all children and youth home if they have a fever or other respiratory illness symptoms. Schools will be notifying parents that students will be sent home if they have any of these symptoms. The province is also advising that: • teachers will continue to be on the job, either in schools or at home, to create learning plans and continue teaching using the distance learning options available; and • all casinos will close effective midnight tonight. Public health officials are recommending the immediate suspension of visitors in long-term care facilities across Manitoba. Exceptions for compassionate reasons or end of life will be made on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of individual facility managers. In addition, public health officials are recommending the cancellation of gatherings of more than 50 people, consistent with the announcement made by the federal government. Public health officials are strongly advising all Manitobans, including health-care providers, to cancel or postpone any non-essential international travel. In addition, public health officials are recommending all international travellers should self-isolate and self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days after returning to Canada. Health officials are reminding physicians, health-care providers and support staff returning from international travel that they MUST self-identify to their organization/site’s occupational health services. To support social distancing efforts, Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living’s registration and client services office at 300 Carlton St. will be temporarily closed to the public. Staff will continue to register people for Manitoba health coverage and Manitoba Pharmacare benefits through email, phone, fax and mail. Forms and contact information can be found at www.gov.mb.ca/health/mhsip/forms.html. Yesterday, Manitoba’s Provincial Court, Court of Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeals all introduced new provisions to restrict or reschedule matters over the next several weeks. For more information, visit www.manitobacourts.mb.ca/news/covid-19-update-march-16-2020/. A new self-assessment tool is now online to help Manitobans determine whether they need to call Health Links–Info Santé to possibly get a referral or to self-isolate. The tool provides interactive advice to users concerned about whether they have contracted COVID-19. It is expected the tool will help with call volumes. For more information, visit www.manitoba.ca/covid19. Additionally, people calling Health Links–Info Santé can soon expect to hear a new interactive voice response system (IVR). The IVR will allow COVID-19 screening questions to be answered prior to users being connected to operators, which should shorten the length of calls. This technology is anticipated to be up and running as soon as this afternoon. Any person concerned about their exposure to or risk of having COVID-19 should call Health Links–Info Santé at 204-788-8200 or toll-free at 1-888-315-9257 before arriving at a testing site. Nearly 1,700 patients have visited dedicated testing sites in Winnipeg and Thompson in the past five days including 481 yesterday. New dedicated testing sites for COVID-19 opened today at the following locations: • Channing Auditorium in the Flin Flon Community Hall, 2 North Ave., Flin Flon; and • Guy Hall, 28 First St. West, The Pas. Both sites will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. All Manitobans should continue to practice good social distancing strategies including minimizing prolonged (more than 10 minutes), close (less than two metres) contact between other individuals in public. ------ EDIT: Pallister at 11:15am CST due to Trudeau speaking at 10:30am CST. MB Health to follow Pallister. Pallister and Manitoba Health to hold press conferences - Pallister at 10:30am CST, MB Health at 11:15am CST or immediately following Pallister. Edit: MB gov news release https://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html https://globalnews.ca/news/6688482/coronavirus-tuesday-update-from-manitoba-premier-brian-palliste https://www.youtube.com/globalnews
Today's Pre-Market Movers & News [Monday, January 27th, 2020]
Good morning traders and investors of the wallstreetbets sub! Welcome to the new trading week and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-
With the coronavirus spreading, world stocks are tumbling and perceived safer investments are rising. U.S. stock futures are sliding early Monday following Wall Street’s worst day of 2020 on Friday. The Dow already has a four-day losing streak in place, its longest since August, and is coming off its largest weekly loss in five months. The S&P 500′s weekly decline last week was its largest in nearly four months. (CNBC)
Treasury yields move lower as coronavirus fears escalate (CNBC)
Gold climbs to 2-week high as virus fears spark safety buying (Reuters)
International oil prices drop below $60 as China virus drives demand concern (Reuters)
More than 2,800 people in China are now infected by the fast-spreading Wuhan coronavirus while more countries have reported their first confirmed cases. Chinese officials have said there are 2,862 confirmed cases, with the death toll rising to 81. On Sunday, the United States on Sunday reported its fifth confirmed case in Arizona. (CNBC)
Travel-related stocks are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount, including major airlines like United (UAL), Delta (DAL), American (AAL) and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian (NCLH), and Carnival (CCL). Starbucks (SBUX) and McDonald’s have temporarily closed near the Chinese city of Wuhan.
On today’s U.S. economic calendar, the government will release its December report on new home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Arconic (ARNC), DR Horton (DH) and Sprint (S) are among the companies issuing quarterly earnings this morning, while Whirlpool (WHR), Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Rambus (RMBS) report after the bell.
Federal safety investigators launched a probe into a helicopter crash in the LA area that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. NBA athletes, officials and fans mourned Bryant’s death in messages and memorials across social media. (CNBC)
‘Terrible,’ ‘heartbreaking,’ ‘devastated’ — World leaders and athletes mourn the death of Kobe Bryant (CNBC)
Athletes pay tribute to Kobe Bryant. ‘He was like a little brother to me’ Michael Jordan says (CNBC)
A passenger plane crashed in central Afghanistan, senior Afghan officials said today. According to local media, the plane went down in territory under Taliban control. It was initially reported to be a jet from state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines. However, the airline’s acting CEO has denied that one of their planes has crashed. (CNBC)
President Donald Trump is expected to disclose details of his long-delayed Mideast peace proposal to Israeli leaders today. Trump will hold separate, back-to-back meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White Party. Gantz is Netanyahu’s rival in March 2 elections. (Reuters)
Trump’s impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defense team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal. The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP)
Democrats stepped up their calls for former national security advisor John Bolton to testify at the trial after an explosive report alleged that in his unpublished book, he said Trump personally tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Bidens, an account that conflicts with the president’s. (NBC News)
Trump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations (The Hill)
Sen. Bernie Sanders holds an edge in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary as the key presidential nominating contest nears, according to an NBC News/Marist poll. The Vermont senator garners the support of 22% of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, the survey found. Ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg trails at 17%. (CNBC)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren seeks spark in final Iowa push after getting Des Moines Register endorsement (AP)
U.S. state attorneys general will meet Justice Department attorneys next week to share information on their investigations into Google (GOOGL), Reuters reported. * The probes revolve around monopolistic behavior that may harm consumers through Google’s control of online advertising markets and search traffic.
D.R. Horton (DHI) – The homebuilder earned $1.16 per share for its fiscal first quarter, beating the consensus estimate of 92 cents a share. Revenue also topped forecasts. New orders were up 19% on a volume basis and up 22% in value. The company also raised the upper end of its full-year home sales forecast.
Arconic (ARNC) – Arconic missed estimates by a penny a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of 53 cents per share. Revenue came in shy of Wall Street predictions. The maker of engineered metals products saw a 1% improvement in organic revenue on factors like favorable pricing and raw materials costs, partially offset by some weakness in its automotive and commercial transportation markets. Arconic also said it would complete its planned split of its aerospace components and aluminum rolling businesses into two companies on April 1.
Travel-related stocks – These are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount – including major airlines like United Airlines (UAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). Casino stocks like Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) are also being hit.
Starbucks (SBUX) – Starbucks has temporarily closed all its shots in China’s Hubei province and suspended delivery services, amid health concerns for customers and employees amid the spread of the coronavirus.
Estee Lauder (EL) – Oppenheimer downgraded the cosmetics maker to “perform” from “outperform.” The firm cited the stock’s premium valuation coupled with concerns about the coronavirus impact on a company that has seen China represent a key driver of recent growth.
Boeing (BA) – Boeing completed a successful maiden voyage of its 777-X jet over the weekend, a respite for the jet maker amid the ongoing grounding of its 737 Max jet.
AbbVie (ABBV) – AbbVie sold a number of assets to Nestle and AstraZeneca (AZN), as it seeks to win regulatory approval for its $63 billion acquisition of drugmaker Allergan (AGN).
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) – Fiat Chrysler filed court motions Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by rival automaker General Motors (GM). Fiat Chrysler said GM does not have sufficient grounds to bring a racketeering case that alleges bribery of union officials.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) – Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio told The Wall Street Journal that he wants to food maker to make fewer but bigger bets on new products, as its older brands suffer a sales decline.
Alphabet (GOOGL) – State attorneys general will meet with Justice Department officials to share investigative material involving Google, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Winnebago Industries (WGO) – The RV maker was rated “overweight” in new coverage at KeyBanc, which sees recreational vehicle shipments stronger than consensus for 2020 and is also optimistic about the increasing benefits of Winnebago’s 2016 acquisition of towable vehicle maker Grand Design.
Chelsea, Cirtek, AC Energy, Century Pacific, and BDO all have a massive day (Friday, March 27)
Happy Friday, Barkada --
The PSE closed up 374 points (!!) to 5402 [▲7.44%].
Thanks to iam394 for letting me know that the MB website had listed the wrong component companies for the 2019 IPOs Index. It's corrected now... thanks for the tip!
PSE trades up again and is now on a 3-day winning streak
SM Prime Holdings issued P15-billion in fixed-rate bonds
Suntrust gets approval from shareholders for lease on Westside City Resorts hotel/casino
About Merkado Barkada
Merkado Barkada is a daily email newsletter covering all the stocks, bonds, companies, characters, and issues that make up the Philippine Stock Exchange. I don't make any money from MB, I don't use affiliate links or anything to trick people, and I don't sell email addresses for quick pesos. I simply like researching news and writing about current events in a way that helps my friends, family, and barkada to understand more easily what is happening.
Trump, Murdoch, Lauder, Giuliani, and Russia: The Tangled Web
Roy Cohn: US Political Nexus In the 1980‘s Ron Lauder (1), Rupert Murdoch (2), and Donald Trump (3) shared the same mob-connected lawyer, Roy Cohn. As a matter of fact Roy Cohn even introduced Roger Stone to Trump in 1979 (3).
Stone appeared on East 68th Street to find Cohn, just awakened, in his robe, sitting with one of his clients, Mob boss “Fat Tony” Salerno, of the Genovese crime family. “In front of [Roy] was a slab of cream cheese and three burnt slices of bacon,” Stone remembered. “He ate the cream cheese with his pointing finger. He listened to my pitch and said, ‘You need to see Donald Trump. I will get you in, but then you are on your own.’ ”
Shortly after, Stone founded Black Manafort & Stone with Paul Manafort and Charlie Black and took on Donald Trump as their first client (3). Stone later introduced Trump to Manafort in 1988 at the Republican National Committee (4).
Enter Russia In 1986, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Yuri Dubinin, and Donald Trump dined at a luncheon hosted by the Lauders. The following year Dubinin invited Trump to what would become Trump’s first of many trips to Russia. There Trump toured possible locations for a potential Trump Tower in Moscow (1). By 1989 the Lauders made their own ventures into Russia, opening up their first Estee Lauder boutique in Moscow, just blocks from the Red Square (2). That same year Ron Lauder joined forces with Arthur Finkelstein and Roger Ailes to run for New York mayor against Rudy Giuliani. When Lauder lost the primary to Giuliani, Ailes jumped shipped and joined Giuliani’s team. Ultimately, however, Giuliani lost the election (3), though he'd go on to attain the mayorship in 1993.
The Fall of Boris Berezovsky and Rise of Roman Abramovich Mob-connected Boris Berezovsky benefitted handsomely from the Soviet Union’s march away from communism, becoming one of Russia’s first billionaires through his car dealership company, Logovaz, founded in 1989 (1). In 1995 the Russian presidency, helmed by Boris Yeltsin, was at risk of falling back into the hands of the Communists, so Yeltsin sought assistance from those who benefited most from his policies.
[Yelstin] was desperately in need of funds, and turned to men such as [Roman] Abramovich and Berezovsky, whom he invited to participate in the so-called "loans for shares" scheme in return for financial backing. (2)
For Berezovsky and his protege, Abramovich, that was with Sibneft, which they acquired in 1995. In exchanged for being brought into the loans for shares program, Abramovich was forced to pay Berezovsky $1 billion across 6 years for “kryshna”, or mafia protection (3). In January 1996, during the Davos World Economic Forum, Berezovsky returned the favor and formed the Davos Pact with other newly minted Russia oligarchs, including Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven of Alfabank, to bankroll Yeltsin's campaign (4). In the end, though legally capped at $3 million, estimates range that Yeltsin’s campaign spent between $100-$500 million (5). They also brought in many America politicos to assist as well, including George Gorton, Richard Dresner, Joe Shumate (6), and Roger Stone-protege Michael Caputo (7). Soon after Yeltsin’s victory, Ron Lauder traveled to Moscow to celebrate the opening of another boutique on Red Square. A lavish party was thrown in Lauder’s honor, even attended by Yeltsin himself. And the oligarch who threw the party - Boris Berezovsky (1). At some point Berezovsky would also team up with Rupert Murdoch to form Logovaz News Corporation that invested in Russia media, including Nashe Radio (8). During Putin’s ascension toward power he found critics in a number of oligarchs that previously supported Yeltsin, including Berezovsky, who criticized Putin’s lean toward authoritarianism. In 2000 Putin succeeded Yeltsin and by the end of the year Berezovsky sought political asylum in London. In 2013 he died a mysterious death (4). Abramovich, however, stayed loyal to Putin and on February 17, 2000 made a deal with Russian oligarch and head of RusAl, Oleg Deripaska, to end the aluminum wars and turn Abramovich from merely rich to a full blown oligarch himself (9).
Ron Lauder In 1995 Ron Lauder pushed Bibi Netanyahu to hire past political operative Arthur Finkelstein for Netanyahu’s first run for Prime Minister of Israel (1). Finkelstein also did work for the Trump Organization (2) and, according to Glenn Simpson’s congressional testimony, worked with Roger Stone and Paul Manafort in Ukraine (3).
...Finkelstein worked with Stone and Manafort in Ukraine in or around 2005, 2006, for the same cast of bad guys.
Finkelstein's longtime business associate and adviser to Netanyahu, George Birnbaum, would later reach out to Paul Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates, when Gates joined Trump's campaign, and presented a plan for a campaign of social media manipulation run by Israeli intelligence officers through Psy-Group, owned by Joel Zamel (25). Later Erik Prince would arrange for Joel Zamel to meet with George Nader and Don Jr. to discuss Zamel's proposal. Nader ultimately paid $2 million dollars for the work (26). Ron Lauder and Netanyahu would become close and in 1998, Lauder, Netanyahu, and George Nader joined forces in ultimately failed negotiations between Israel and Syria (4). In the 2000's, after spending a year a Prague prison for pedophilia, Nader moved to the UAE and quickly rebuilt his political connections, becoming trusted emissary to the crown princes of both Saudi Arabia (MBS) and the UAE (MBZ). Soon after, Erik Prince of Blackwater hired Nader as a "business development consultant" from March 2004 - Nov 2008 (33) to acquire security contracts with Iraq (30). In 2010, as Blackwater struggled under scandal, Prince moved to the UAE himself and founded another private security firm, r2, directly financed my MBZ. R2 was tasked with securing a number of Middle East power plants yet to be built (31). In Dec 2016 after a secret meeting with MBZ at Trump Tower that included Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, and Michael Flynn (which was at the center of the unmasking controversy), Prince discussed with Nader and MBZ a back-channel to Russia. At the time Nader was promoting a plan to destabilize Iran using private security contractors (26). A month later Nader and MBZ introduced Prince to the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund in Seychelles (32), a meeting currently under investigation by the FBI special counsel. Nader is cooperating with Mueller. In 2000, Allen Roth, Lauder’s longtime aide who helped in his 1989 mayoral run, founded One Jerusalem and later its offshoot, Secure America Now. Ron Lauder and Robert Mercer are top donors to Secure America Now and Devon Gaffney Cross, on the board of One Jerusalem (6), is sister to Michael Flynn associate Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy (7). One Jerusalem is currently under investigation for a corruption scheme involving a Netanyahu aide (5). In an email to George Nader, Elliott Broidy claims Secure America Now was one of the companies he worked with (8). In 2003, Elliott Broidy bribed the New York State pension into investing in a private equity firm he founded to invest in Israel (9). In 2005 Broidy started a private security contractor business, Circinus, that recently acquired a $200 million contract with the UAE (28), arranged by George Nader a(29). Broidy is currently the subject of a criminal probe in Ukraine for working with a US sanctioned Russian bank, VTB, in 2014 (27). In 1997 Ron Lauder teamed up with a Vadim Rabinovich on a media venture into Ukraine (10).
American Government officials acknowledged that embassy officials had told Mr. Lauder and other company officials about Mr. Rabinovich's conviction and his links to Grigory Loutchansky, a Russian whose company, Nordex, is suspected of having ties to criminal organizations.
In 2003 the Lauder Institute teamed up with Russia Oligarch Michael Fridman and German Khan’s Alfabank to form the “Excellence in Foreign Investement in Russia” award, with Leonard Lauder and Richard Burt on the board (11). Richard Burt, working for Diligence, had previously worked as a lobbyist for Oleg Deripaska, Deripaska’s RusAl, and Gazprom, and was once implicated in a scam to steal information from an Alfabank competitor (12)(13). Diligence also happens to be owned by Deripaska's London-based business partner, Nathanial Rothschild (23). Burt, along with Paul Manfort and George Papadopoulos, edited Trump’s first speech on foreign policy, where Trump promised Russia a great deal (14). In 2004 Ron Lauder sold shares of Channel-9 and Channel-10 to Russian Oligarch Lev Leviev, a close associate of Roman Abramovich (19). Lev Leviev would later do business with Jared Kushner (22). In 2013 Lauder negotiated selling a major stake in Channel-10 to Len Blavatnik (18), a Russia oligarch currently under investigation by Mueller (20). And here is Lauder hanging out with Roman Abramovich in 2018 (21). In November 2014 Ron Lauder met with Alfa-bank founders Mikhail Fridman and German Khan in London (15). German Khan’s son-in-law pled guilty for lying to Mueller about his work with Paul Manafort. On March 31st, Papdopoulos told Trump he can “arrange a meeting between Trump and Putin” (16). On April 19 2016, Ron Lauder personally met with Putin (17). More recently, in October 2018 Trump dispatched Ron Lauder to met with the president of Palenstine behind Jared Kushner's back to reinstate peace talks (24).
Lauder had proposed running a back channel between the PA leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the initiative ultimately fizzled.
Rupert Murdoch and wife Wendi Deng In the 90‘s Murdoch ventured into Russia media with mob-linked Boris Berezovsky of Logovaz. The two formed a joint venture, Logovaz News Corp, that invested in a number of Russian media properties, including Nashe Radio (1). Then in 2002 Murdoch entered into the Russian billboard industry (2):
By all accounts, the unexpected break for Murdoch in the Russian ad market came in 2002 after the assassination of Vladimir Kanevsky, then the billboard king of Moscow. In February of that year, at an intersection near the Kremlin, a man in a black ski cap walked up to Kanevsky's car and pumped five rounds into his head and chest.
Murdoch's Russia ventures have been investigated for bribery. This was all in the background when, in 1999, Rupert Murdoch married Wendi Deng whom he and the FBI suspect of being a spy (3).
Since their divorce, Murdoch has been telling anybody who would listen that Wendi is a Chinese spy--and had been throughout the marriage.
In 2006, when Jared Kushner bought the Observer, Murdoch became his close mentor (4).
When Jared Kushner took over the New York Observer in mid-2006 (around the time he met Ivanka Trump, whom he would marry in 2009) he turned to Murdoch for counsel. Jared and Ivanka were known to double-date with Murdoch and his ex-wife Wendi Deng, and even after Murdoch’s split with Deng, the two women and the two men remained close.
Kushner then directed the Observer erase such stories, and more (4).
The erasures first occurred under the leadership of then-editor-in-chief Elizabeth Spiers, who told The Post she was unaware of the erasure but said Kushner previously requested over the phone she couch stories about media mogul Rupert Murdoch, his mentor.
In 2007 Wendi Deng, introduced Ivanka Trump to the wife of Roman Abramovich, Dasha Zhukova (5). In 2010, Jared Kushner's brother, Joshua, invested in a joint venture founded by Zhukova and Deng, Arsty.net (6). Then in 2014 Zhukova invited Deng, Ivanka, and Kushner to Moscow where they partied with Abramovich, Viktor Vekselberg, Len Blavatnik, and Alfa-bank execs, including the son-in-law of Sergei Lavrov (7). A week before inauguartion Ivanka Trump hosted a secret dinner at the home of Wendi Deng where she collected advice from a series of powerful business women (8). The two then hung out during Trump's inauguaration (9). In 2010, Israel granted oil rights in Syria to Rupert Murdoch and Lord Jacob Rothschild, both of Genie Energy (10). Jacob also sits on the international advisory board to Blackstone Group (13), who's founder, Steve Schwarzman, sat on the board of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (14). Jacob's brother, Nathaniel, is also business partners with Oleg Deripaska, and owns Diligence, which employed Richard Burt to lobby on behalf of Deripska, RusAl, and Gazprom (11). Richard Burt was John McCains top policy adviser in 2000 and an adviser to McCain during McCain's 2008 run for the presidency. Nathanial, Burt's employer, ended up hosting a dinner for John McCain that gained much criticism at the time (11):
...one conservative watchdog group in the US went after McCain half a year ago for facilitating a fundraiser at the home of Nat Rothschild, the Deripaska associate at the center of the Osborne-Mandelson row. Foreign donations, even "in-kind" contributions such as assistance raising money, are prohibited under American election law.
In 2018 Ron Lauder awarded the entire Rothschild family the Herzl Award (12).
Rudy Giuliani From 1977-1981 Giuliani worked at law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. One of the partners was Richard Nixon's son-in-law, Ed Cox (22). Ed Cox would later introduce Carter Page to the Trump campaign in Dec 2015 (23). In 1993 Rudy Giuliani attained the mayorship of New York with the help of Sam Kislin, a major donor with links to the Russian mafia, whom Giuliani later appointed to the New York City Mayor's Council of Economic Advisors (18)(19)(21). Sam Kislin ran an electronics store with Tamir Sapir. Tamir Sapir's Sapir Organization later teamed up with the Trump Organization and Felix Sater's Bayrock Group for Trump SoHo in 2006 (20). During Giuliani's 1993 campaign, he developed a close bond with Bernard Kerik, a police detective for the NYPD who once helped arrange security for the Saudi royal family and assisted Giuliani through his campaign. When airplanes struck the World Tower in 2001, it was Kerik standing by Giuliani’s side (1). During the 90‘s, however, Kerik developed mob-ties, details which spilled out in 2004 nomination process to become head of Homeland Security. One of those ties, whom the mob hired on Kerik’s request, was Lawrence Ray (2). In 2009 Kerik pled guilty to corruption, tax evasion, and making false statements. In 1996 Ray was indicted for a pump-and-dump stock scheme run by several New York crime families, including the Gambinos, and the Russian mob, including none other than Felix Sater (3) who later arranged for Ivanka Trump to sit in Putin’s chair in Moscow and worked with the Trump Organization on the fraud-laden Trump SoHo project (5). Interstate Industrial was also tied to former Gambino captain, Dominic Borghese (13). Another member of the Gambino crime family, Julius Nasso, ran his own mob-linked concrete company that worked jointly with S&A on Trump Tower . S&A was part owned by Roy Cohn's other client, "Fat Tony" of the Genovese crime family (12). Julius Nasso's nephew of the same name partnered with Paul Manaofort to found Manhattan Pictures and produced Steven Seagal film. Ultimately Nasso spent a year in prison for extorting Steven Seagal (14) business partner in Manhattan Pictures, but not before the two made shadowy dealings with a company that sold Russian nuclear tech to US companies (15). Also in 1996, just months after Yeltsin’s victory, Rupert Murdoch debuted Fox News Channel and appointed Roger Ailes founding CEO. Immediately Fox News Channel enlisted New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to pressure Time Warner to transmit Fox News (6). Giuliani also developed a close relationship with Donald Trump during his mayorship, including appearing with Trump in a comedy video in 2000 (7) and borrowing Trump’s private plane for a trip to Israel in 2001 (8). In August 2001 Kerik traveled to Israel and for the first time met Israeli billionaire Eitan Wertheimer, who ran a company that did business with US defense contractors (16). The following December Giuliani borrowed Trump's plane to visit Israel himself (17). In 2002 Giuliani founded Giuliani Partners with Bernard Kerik and in 2003, while Kerik traveled to Iraq as part of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, he met up with Wertheimer again and received a "loan" a failed to document it (16). In 2004 Giuliani Partners obtained Triglobal as a client. Triglobal, a company that connects Western businesses to the former Soviet Union, quickly shuttled Giuliani to Moscow to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, amongst other prominent politicians and business men of Russia (9). In February 2013 Giulani met with Emin Agalarov, who’s publicist arranged the Trump Tower meeting with Russian agent Natalia Veselnitskaya (10). Over the years Giulani’s clients have included Alfabank, Rosneft, and Ukrainian politician Vitali Klitschko, all connected to Triglobal (11).
After 5 years, I'm leaving Singapore and going back to Los Angeles. Here's my exit interview.
It's been an interesting 5 years where I've learned a lot so I wanted to share my experience with everyone. I don't want this to be a critique but an assessment of my thoughts as I prepare to leave. I'm leaving because of family reasons. I want to be closer to my family and ready to start my own. **EDIT: thank you for all the warm comments and excellent discussion. No matter what conclusions we come up with, in the end, Singapore will have given me more than I can ever repay with my 7% tax bracket and NETS. A bit of background:
I've been in Asia for over 10 years so I'm not an Asian noob. I've bribed cops, ate dog meat, have slept in jungles, etc.
None of my companies that I've worked for have ever given me a "package". I pay my own rent, I buy my own lunch, etc.
Sometimes I'm more kiasu than locals. Carohell? yeah, most likely me (50% off? can? so how?.. fuck cold storage, I only buy sale items at shen siong.. I'm always the first one into a bus cause I know how to box out aunties..etc)
What I'll miss:
Changi - more specifically, the automated immigration gates and the security check at each gate. This means I can show up 1 hour before my flight and still have time to spare to eat Texas Chicken at the Jetstar terminal.
sales at Uniqlo - I'll wait until the clothes I want is on sale and it always does. Now my wardrobe is about 80% uniqlo clothes.
Spize - Its good and the portion sizes are big, so that means I have a meal for the next day.
MBS - the casino. I think I'm up like $2K there and its funded a few vacations and paid for a few celebration macaroons from TWG.
M1 - I enjoyed getting 5gb data for $30/month and also 300MB fiber internet for $35/month, mostly without contracts.
* Old Airport Rd hawker - I think this place has the highest density variety+tasty. I was here at least once a month.
* Sheltered walkways - For having such a rainy climate, I can move around fairly easily without an umbrella.
* Challenger - I enjoy looking at gadgets and it was nice having one close to where I lived
* Koi/GongCha/Fruces - I know I should cut out this habit but I'm always down for a cup of milk tea + aloe vera
* Robertson Quay canal - Its one of the few places I run at almost every week
What I won't miss:
Lack of fresh, variety veggies in local diet - yo! where's the veggies? its all meat + carbs.
Real housewives of singapore facebook group - I'm not a part of this group but I've seen examples of how crazy it gets. They will cat fight and stomp on each other to buy 2nd hand stuff. The best is the #nomaidsundays when their maids have the day off and some are proud that they've accomplished a cold storage trip by themselves.
choping - no need to comment on this practice
the car traffic - for not having a large car density, i've never been in or seen so many traffic accidents. I generally fear for my life crossing the street.
gov't marketing - my youtube and bus rides are littered with dumb gov't marketing ads. I understand many need more etiquette training but the execution is awful.
Singlish - its a bit harsh on the ears. Not my favorite slang/accent.
lack of homegrown inspiration - I know this is a bigger discussion, but there is a lack of "interestingness" from local bands, films, art, etc.
trying hard to get closer to locals - I know most of you are introverts but damn, open up a little more
kiasu/etiquette - again, this is a bigger discussion but this culture style is totally self inflicted and won't change until there's more enlightenment. i would say "just chill out"
I think for most of us foreigners, we generally like it here but its hard to really love. I think its the last 3 points that discourages from really calling Singapore "home" and more like a transit point to somewhere else. Just a place to see and experience but can't be there for long because something is missing. Thanks Singapore, its been fun, we've had a lot of good memories.. but its time to bid adieu!
Today's Pre-Market Movers & News [Monday, January 27th, 2020]
Good morning traders and investors of the smallstreetbets sub! Welcome to the new trading week and a fresh start! Here are your pre-market news this AM-
With the coronavirus spreading, world stocks are tumbling and perceived safer investments are rising. U.S. stock futures are sliding early Monday following Wall Street’s worst day of 2020 on Friday. The Dow already has a four-day losing streak in place, its longest since August, and is coming off its largest weekly loss in five months. The S&P 500′s weekly decline last week was its largest in nearly four months. (CNBC)
Treasury yields move lower as coronavirus fears escalate (CNBC)
Gold climbs to 2-week high as virus fears spark safety buying (Reuters)
International oil prices drop below $60 as China virus drives demand concern (Reuters)
More than 2,800 people in China are now infected by the fast-spreading Wuhan coronavirus while more countries have reported their first confirmed cases. Chinese officials have said there are 2,862 confirmed cases, with the death toll rising to 81. On Sunday, the United States on Sunday reported its fifth confirmed case in Arizona. (CNBC)
Travel-related stocks are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount, including major airlines like United (UAL), Delta (DAL), American (AAL) and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian (NCLH), and Carnival (CCL). Starbucks (SBUX) and McDonald’s have temporarily closed near the Chinese city of Wuhan.
On today’s U.S. economic calendar, the government will release its December report on new home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Arconic (ARNC), DR Horton (DH) and Sprint (S) are among the companies issuing quarterly earnings this morning, while Whirlpool (WHR), Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Rambus (RMBS) report after the bell.
Federal safety investigators launched a probe into a helicopter crash in the LA area that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. NBA athletes, officials and fans mourned Bryant’s death in messages and memorials across social media. (CNBC)
‘Terrible,’ ‘heartbreaking,’ ‘devastated’ — World leaders and athletes mourn the death of Kobe Bryant (CNBC)
Athletes pay tribute to Kobe Bryant. ‘He was like a little brother to me’ Michael Jordan says (CNBC)
A passenger plane crashed in central Afghanistan, senior Afghan officials said today. According to local media, the plane went down in territory under Taliban control. It was initially reported to be a jet from state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines. However, the airline’s acting CEO has denied that one of their planes has crashed. (CNBC)
President Donald Trump is expected to disclose details of his long-delayed Mideast peace proposal to Israeli leaders today. Trump will hold separate, back-to-back meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White Party. Gantz is Netanyahu’s rival in March 2 elections. (Reuters)
Trump’s impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defense team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal. The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP)
Democrats stepped up their calls for former national security advisor John Bolton to testify at the trial after an explosive report alleged that in his unpublished book, he said Trump personally tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Bidens, an account that conflicts with the president’s. (NBC News)
Trump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations (The Hill)
Sen. Bernie Sanders holds an edge in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary as the key presidential nominating contest nears, according to an NBC News/Marist poll. The Vermont senator garners the support of 22% of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, the survey found. Ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg trails at 17%. (CNBC)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren seeks spark in final Iowa push after getting Des Moines Register endorsement (AP)
U.S. state attorneys general will meet Justice Department attorneys next week to share information on their investigations into Google (GOOGL), Reuters reported. * The probes revolve around monopolistic behavior that may harm consumers through Google’s control of online advertising markets and search traffic.
D.R. Horton (DHI) – The homebuilder earned $1.16 per share for its fiscal first quarter, beating the consensus estimate of 92 cents a share. Revenue also topped forecasts. New orders were up 19% on a volume basis and up 22% in value. The company also raised the upper end of its full-year home sales forecast.
Arconic (ARNC) – Arconic missed estimates by a penny a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of 53 cents per share. Revenue came in shy of Wall Street predictions. The maker of engineered metals products saw a 1% improvement in organic revenue on factors like favorable pricing and raw materials costs, partially offset by some weakness in its automotive and commercial transportation markets. Arconic also said it would complete its planned split of its aerospace components and aluminum rolling businesses into two companies on April 1.
Travel-related stocks – These are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount – including major airlines like United Airlines (UAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). Casino stocks like Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) are also being hit.
Starbucks (SBUX) – Starbucks has temporarily closed all its shots in China’s Hubei province and suspended delivery services, amid health concerns for customers and employees amid the spread of the coronavirus.
Estee Lauder (EL) – Oppenheimer downgraded the cosmetics maker to “perform” from “outperform.” The firm cited the stock’s premium valuation coupled with concerns about the coronavirus impact on a company that has seen China represent a key driver of recent growth.
Boeing (BA) – Boeing completed a successful maiden voyage of its 777-X jet over the weekend, a respite for the jet maker amid the ongoing grounding of its 737 Max jet.
AbbVie (ABBV) – AbbVie sold a number of assets to Nestle and AstraZeneca (AZN), as it seeks to win regulatory approval for its $63 billion acquisition of drugmaker Allergan (AGN).
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) – Fiat Chrysler filed court motions Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by rival automaker General Motors (GM). Fiat Chrysler said GM does not have sufficient grounds to bring a racketeering case that alleges bribery of union officials.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) – Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio told The Wall Street Journal that he wants to food maker to make fewer but bigger bets on new products, as its older brands suffer a sales decline.
Alphabet (GOOGL) – State attorneys general will meet with Justice Department officials to share investigative material involving Google, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Winnebago Industries (WGO) – The RV maker was rated “overweight” in new coverage at KeyBanc, which sees recreational vehicle shipments stronger than consensus for 2020 and is also optimistic about the increasing benefits of Winnebago’s 2016 acquisition of towable vehicle maker Grand Design.
Si14 Token is an additional discount tool for the Si14Bet platform. This is an internal accounting unit of the Online Si14 platform based on blockchain technology, which users can exchange for products and services of all services of the company.
With the coronavirus spreading, world stocks are tumbling and perceived safer investments are rising. U.S. stock futures are sliding early Monday following Wall Street’s worst day of 2020 on Friday. The Dow already has a four-day losing streak in place, its longest since August, and is coming off its largest weekly loss in five months. The S&P 500′s weekly decline last week was its largest in nearly four months. (CNBC)
Treasury yields move lower as coronavirus fears escalate (CNBC)
Gold climbs to 2-week high as virus fears spark safety buying (Reuters)
International oil prices drop below $60 as China virus drives demand concern (Reuters)
More than 2,800 people in China are now infected by the fast-spreading Wuhan coronavirus while more countries have reported their first confirmed cases. Chinese officials have said there are 2,862 confirmed cases, with the death toll rising to 81. On Sunday, the United States on Sunday reported its fifth confirmed case in Arizona. (CNBC)
Travel-related stocks are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount, including major airlines like United (UAL), Delta (DAL), American (AAL) and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian (NCLH), and Carnival (CCL). Starbucks (SBUX) and McDonald’s have temporarily closed near the Chinese city of Wuhan.
On today’s U.S. economic calendar, the government will release its December report on new home sales at 10 a.m. ET. Arconic (ARNC), DR Horton (DH) and Sprint (S) are among the companies issuing quarterly earnings this morning, while Whirlpool (WHR), Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Rambus (RMBS) report after the bell.
Federal safety investigators launched a probe into a helicopter crash in the LA area that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. NBA athletes, officials and fans mourned Bryant’s death in messages and memorials across social media. (CNBC)
‘Terrible,’ ‘heartbreaking,’ ‘devastated’ — World leaders and athletes mourn the death of Kobe Bryant (CNBC)
Athletes pay tribute to Kobe Bryant. ‘He was like a little brother to me’ Michael Jordan says (CNBC)
A passenger plane crashed in central Afghanistan, senior Afghan officials said today. According to local media, the plane went down in territory under Taliban control. It was initially reported to be a jet from state-owned Ariana Afghan Airlines. However, the airline’s acting CEO has denied that one of their planes has crashed. (CNBC)
President Donald Trump is expected to disclose details of his long-delayed Mideast peace proposal to Israeli leaders today. Trump will hold separate, back-to-back meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, head of the centrist Blue and White Party. Gantz is Netanyahu’s rival in March 2 elections. (Reuters)
Trump’s impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defense team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal. The articles of impeachment charge Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP)
Democrats stepped up their calls for former national security advisor John Bolton to testify at the trial after an explosive report alleged that in his unpublished book, he said Trump personally tied Ukraine aid to an investigation of the Bidens, an account that conflicts with the president’s. (NBC News)
Trump denies telling Bolton Ukraine aid was tied to investigations (The Hill)
Sen. Bernie Sanders holds an edge in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary as the key presidential nominating contest nears, according to an NBC News/Marist poll. The Vermont senator garners the support of 22% of likely Democratic primary voters in the Granite State, the survey found. Ex-Mayor Pete Buttigieg trails at 17%. (CNBC)
Sen. Elizabeth Warren seeks spark in final Iowa push after getting Des Moines Register endorsement (AP)
U.S. state attorneys general will meet Justice Department attorneys next week to share information on their investigations into Google (GOOGL), Reuters reported. * The probes revolve around monopolistic behavior that may harm consumers through Google’s control of online advertising markets and search traffic.
D.R. Horton (DHI) – The homebuilder earned $1.16 per share for its fiscal first quarter, beating the consensus estimate of 92 cents a share. Revenue also topped forecasts. New orders were up 19% on a volume basis and up 22% in value. The company also raised the upper end of its full-year home sales forecast.
Arconic (ARNC) – Arconic missed estimates by a penny a share, with adjusted quarterly earnings of 53 cents per share. Revenue came in shy of Wall Street predictions. The maker of engineered metals products saw a 1% improvement in organic revenue on factors like favorable pricing and raw materials costs, partially offset by some weakness in its automotive and commercial transportation markets. Arconic also said it would complete its planned split of its aerospace components and aluminum rolling businesses into two companies on April 1.
Travel-related stocks – These are likely to be hit once again as coronavirus cases mount – including major airlines like United Airlines (UAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines (AAL), and Southwest (LUV), and cruise line operators like Royal Caribbean (RCL), Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH), and Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL). Casino stocks like Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands (LVS) are also being hit.
Starbucks (SBUX) – Starbucks has temporarily closed all its shots in China’s Hubei province and suspended delivery services, amid health concerns for customers and employees amid the spread of the coronavirus.
Estee Lauder (EL) – Oppenheimer downgraded the cosmetics maker to “perform” from “outperform.” The firm cited the stock’s premium valuation coupled with concerns about the coronavirus impact on a company that has seen China represent a key driver of recent growth.
Boeing (BA) – Boeing completed a successful maiden voyage of its 777-X jet over the weekend, a respite for the jet maker amid the ongoing grounding of its 737 Max jet.
AbbVie (ABBV) – AbbVie sold a number of assets to Nestle and AstraZeneca (AZN), as it seeks to win regulatory approval for its $63 billion acquisition of drugmaker Allergan (AGN).
Fiat Chrysler (FCAU) – Fiat Chrysler filed court motions Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by rival automaker General Motors (GM). Fiat Chrysler said GM does not have sufficient grounds to bring a racketeering case that alleges bribery of union officials.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) – Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio told The Wall Street Journal that he wants to food maker to make fewer but bigger bets on new products, as its older brands suffer a sales decline.
Alphabet (GOOGL) – State attorneys general will meet with Justice Department officials to share investigative material involving Google, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Winnebago Industries (WGO) – The RV maker was rated “overweight” in new coverage at KeyBanc, which sees recreational vehicle shipments stronger than consensus for 2020 and is also optimistic about the increasing benefits of Winnebago’s 2016 acquisition of towable vehicle maker Grand Design.
SINGAPORE- Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and Marina Bay Sands(MBS) said on Friday that the casinos there will be closed from 2pm to 6pm on Sunday.. Read more at straitstimes.com. Casino Overview Housed inside one of the world's most iconic structures, the casino at Marina Bay Sands encompasses more than 15,000 square meters of gaming space spread over 4 levels. Boasting one of the world's largest Swarovski crystal chandeliers, the casino is also home to over 600 table games, more than 1,500 slots and a wide array of dining options. In addition to the 160,000 square-foot casino, the complex has three 55-storey hotel towers topped with a boat-shaped sky deck and pool, as well as a shopping mall and convention centre. Like many casinos around the world, MBS is closed due to the pandemic, slashing revenue for firms like LVS. All Casino patrons are required to register their SafeEntry check-in through the TraceTogether app or TraceTogether token before entering the Casino. Marina Bay Sands has been certified as SG Clean, which is a hygiene and sanitation quality certification by the Singapore Government. MBS IR services to be suspended. On the same day (Apr. 3), Marina Bay Sands announced that they will be suspending all Integrated Resort services and operations with effect from Tuesday, Apr. 7 Marina Bay Sands Implements Social Distancing Measures as Singapore Coronavirus Cases Swell. Posted on: March 20, 2020, 09:30h. Last updated on: March 20, 2020, 10:12h. MBS's US$3.3 billion expansion would include a 15,000-seat performance arena and a fourth tower featuring about 1,000 hotel rooms, a sky roof with a swimming pool and a restaurant. All Casino patrons are required to register their SafeEntry check-in through the TraceTogether app or TraceTogether token before entering the Casino. All visitors are required to adhere to mandatory Safe Distancing Rules such as wearing of masks, observing 1 metre apart in queues and other areas, as well as not congregating in groups. MBS & RWS CASINO CLOSED 7 Apr - 1 June 2020. Thread starter moneytalk; Start date Apr 28, 2020; Prev. 1 MBS gaming rebound The other casino operator Marina Bay Sands (MBS) also reported a rebound in gaming earnings. MBS generated third quarter earnings of US$70 million (S$94.4 million), 84 per cent lower than a year ago. But this still represented a big reversal from the US$113 million (S$152 million) loss it suffered in the second quarter.
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