8 Philippine companies named Top firm in ASEAN

AN investment publications has named SM Investments Corp. (SMIC), Ayala Corp., Megaworld, Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO), Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI), Globe Telecom, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) as the top companies in the country.

Hong Kong-based Alpha Southeast Asia made the announcement after it revealed the results of its second annual poll to find Southeast Asia's top companies. The magazine said the awards are based on tallied votes among 460 investors, pension funds, hedge funds, equity and fixed income brokers and analysts with investment interests in the region. Companies in each country were ranked on their financial management, adherence to corporate governance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and investor relations' strategy, transparency and disclosure.

Jose Sio, chief financial officer (CFO at SM Investments, was named as the best CFO in the Philippines.

Across the region, the award for Best CFO in Southeast Asia went to Jeann Low, CFO at SingTel. The award for the Best Annual Report in Southeast Asia went to Keppel Corp. while the award for the Strongest Commitment to Sustainable Energy in Southeast Asia went to Thai Oil.

In its statement, Alpha Southeast Asia also said a distinguishing feature of its poll is that it not only names investor favorites, but also names the companies perceived to have "poor management access and investor relations (IR)" by the same group of investors. In the Philippines, Lepanto Consolidated Mining, Metropoitan Bank & Trust Co. and Security Bank Corp. were noted for their "poor and unpredictable investor relations' strategy."

Most organized investor relations went to BDO, Megaworld and SMIC while companies with the best senior management IR support are BPI, Globe Telecom and PLDT.

Firms cited for having the strongest adherence to corporate governance are Ayala Corp., Megaworld and  SMIC while those with the most consistent dividend policy are Globe Telecom, PLDT and SMC.

Companies with the best strategic CSR are Ayala Corp, San Miguel Corp. and SMIC; the most improved IR citation went to SMC. The best annual report in the Philippines award was bagged by Ayala Corp.

Now in its sixth year of publication, Alpha Southeast Asia is an institutional investment magazine focused on Southeast Asia's banking and capital markets.

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France, Australia, Philippines teams up Oil & gas exploration near ReedBank

Total of France is looking at the possibility of teaming up with Nido Petroleum Ltd. of Australia in oil and gas exploration in the Philippines, a source privy to the negotiations disclosed Monday (June 11, 2012).

"Total is also conducting due diligence on Nido's existing oil and gas portfolio," the source said.

Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd., a unit of Nido Petroleum Ltd., is teaming up with Total over exploration opportunities offered by the government in its latest bidding round.

"The consortium was supposed to submit a bid but it was not able to get the approval in time for the bidding [last April]," the source said.

The two parties earlier executed a joint study and bid agreement to evaluate exploration acreage released in the so-called Philippine Energy Contracting Round 4.

Nido earlier said it would do technical and commercial evaluations of all 15 blocks offered in the government auction on behalf of partner Total.

PECR4 is a competitive bidding round over several exploration blocks conducted between April and July. The awarding of blocks to the successful bidder is expected in the second half of 2012.

"Nido and Total will definitely look at and most probably participate in the bidding of areas 3, 4 and 5 this end-July," the source said.

Areas 3, 4 and 5 are located in northwest Palawan, considered as one of the most prolific oil and gas areas in the country and is home to the Malampaya field in the Philippines, the largest and most successful natural gas industrial project in the Philippines.

Total is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. Its upstream business includes oil and natural gas exploration, development and production, as well as coal, gas and power activities.

Total's exploration and production activities are found in over 40 countries with production in 30 of them. Its main production regions are the North Sea, Africa and the Middle East, followed by Southeast Asia and North and South America.

Nido, meanwhile, aims to "unlock" the estimated combined resource potential of 2.9 billion barrels in its Philippine oil and gas portfolio.

(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/June/12)

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