No Divisoria haggling, please

The schedule of San Miguel Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. in the coming months is a killer – an average of five provinces to visit every week.

Then again, Danding Cojuangco’s people led by gatekeeper Ira Maniquis know what they’re doing.

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It looks like the branch of the Madrigal family led by Miguel Vasquez is still on the look out for an anchor store for its property development project in Alabang. This is the property that was not included in the Madrigal-Ayala joint venture called Ayala Alabang.

Mr. Vasquez recently tried to get Lucio Co to put up a Puregold retail outlet near a Ford showroom and an HSBC branch. As a sweetener for the proposed anchor store, Mr. Vasquez offered to build the shell of the no-frills supermarket.

Mr. Co, however, declined because Puregold’s broad C market wouldn’t be, uh, comfortable in that part of town.

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Because it doesn’t need the money, Ortigas & Co. Ltd. Partnership led by president Rafael Ortigas Jr. can afford a take-it-or-leave-it stance as far as the sale of Greenhills Commercial Center is concerned.

When SM founder Henry Sy showed interest last year, Ortigas & Co. laid down two non-negotiable terms (read: no Divisoria haggling, please). One is the Greenhills property and a warehouse property along Libis in Quezon City are a package deal. Two is, of course, the price.

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Bank notes: Just like Philippine National Bank, the rehabilitation of United Coconut Planters Bank will have two phases.

The first phase involves the P20-billion recapitalization, which makes the bank immediately more competitive (after 17 years of not being able to increase its capital of its unresolved ownership issue before the Presidential Commission on Good Government).

The second phase involves the implementation of a Bangko Sentral approved business plan, which will keep the bank competitive in the long term.

The business plan put together by UCPB’s senior management led by the chairman and chief executive officer Edward Go has two major components. One involves technology and the other involves manpower.

The idea here is to invest in technology so that the no-brainer, non-revenue stuff like simple withdrawals will be done by machines. By leaving most of the front-line work to machines, the better trained and highly motivated employees (who will naturally be paid more) can concentrate on building relationships with customers and on pushing revenue-making bank products.

The business plan will be implemented by new appointed chief executive officer Jose Querubin, who also carries the title of president. Providing Jojo Querubin with some institutional background is Eddie Go, who stays on as presiding chairman, and Andrew Alcid, who stays on as executive vice-president and chief operating officer.