TOP British outsourcing firm Strategic Back-Office Solutions will open its first facility in the Philippines today on an investment of $1.5 million, said the British envoy in Manila.

British ambassador to the Philippines Peter Beckingham said the well educated and English proficient Filipinos is a major reason why Strategic Back-Office made a substantial investment in the country. The office is located in Megaworld’s new development, McKinley Hill Cyberpark.

He said the country has been attracting top British banks and financial institutions for more than 10 years. In 2007 alone, direct investments of British companies in the Philippines has reached $446.5 million.

“UK investors have really taken a serious look at what the Philippines has to offer, and sees the tremendous potential of the country,” said Beckingham in a statement Wednesday.

Chief executive Stephen Lipton of Strategic Back-Office meanwhile said the Philippines offers attractive incentives that include workers highly skilled in English and have an understanding of and close cultural fit with the West, as well as having technical competence.

CEBU as Asia’s hub for information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) will get a boost when six major projects are completed within the next two years in the 25-hectare Asiatown IT Park.

PLDT gains 1.5-M wireless users

WIRELESS subscribers of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) Group grew by about 1.5 million in the first quarter of the year.

NEW YORK—Citigroup Inc. is in talks to sell $12 billion of loans at a loss to Apollo Management LP, Blackstone Group LP and TPG Inc. as part of an effort to shrink the bank’s balance sheet, a person briefed on the matter said.

COMMUNICASIA and BroadcastAsia will again take center stage at the Singapore Expo from June 17 to 20, this time offering visitors firsthand experience in digital convergence.

TOP British outsourcing firm Strategic Back-Office Solutions will open its first facility in the Philippines today on an investment of $1.5 million, said the British envoy in Manila.

PACIFIC Online System Corp. said Wednesday its net income for 2007 rose 167 percent to P134.6 million from P50.5 million a year earlier.

The board of ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. approved on March 26, 2008 a dividend declaration of P0.825 per share to stockholders as of April 30, 2008 that will be paid on or before May 27, 2008.