CHINA Banking Corp. (China Bank), plus other local banks signed a notes facility agreement with power producer Quezon Power Phils. Ltd. Co. to participate in the $100-million, seven-year, fixed-rate note facility arranged and underwritten by local-investment house BDO Capital and Investment Corp., a wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary of Banco de Oro Universal Bank (BDO).

The bank extended $20 million to support Quezon Power’s various operational, business, and recapitalization needs. China Bank counterwrote the issue together with other local banks like the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), while Banco de Oro (BDO) Trust Banking Group, one of the country’s major fund managers, acted as facility agent for the transaction.

The signing was attended by top executives of the participating banks led by Ricardo Chua, executive vice president and chief operating officer of China Bank, Gil Buenaventura, executive vice president of BPI, Uy Chun Bing, executive vice president of RCBC and Eduardo Francisco, president of BDO Capital and Investment.

Other representatives from the issuers were also present, like China Bank officers Jose Leslie Javier, China Bank senior assistant vice president, and George Yap, assistant vice president, to witness the signing of the agreement.

Quezon Power is the first build-own-operate power project in the country and the first in the Philippines to be financed without any government or sovereign guarantee. It holds a 25-year power purchase agreement with Manila Electric Co.

MAJOR film and entertainment firm Viva Communications Inc. said Tuesday a chunk of the proceeds its initial public offering (IPO) next year will go to content creation and acquisition as well as pay for loans.

Empire East sees ’07 income up 10%

LISTED Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the affordable housing arm controlled by businessman Andrew Tan, expects to end the 2007 with a net income of P271.26 million, up 10 percent from P247 million a year earlier.

INSULAR Life, the largest Filipino life insurance company, said its gross premium income (GPI) from January to October this year reached P6.8 billion up 28 percent from a year earlier.

HONG KONG—Philippine stocks rose, pushing the benchmark index to a two-week high.

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and Megaworld Corp. advanced on continued speculation the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, helping avert a recession in the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest overseas market for labor and goods.

CHINA Banking Corp. (China Bank), plus other local banks signed a notes facility agreement with power producer Quezon Power Phils. Ltd. Co. to participate in the $100-million, seven-year, fixed-rate note facility arranged and underwritten by local-investment house BDO Capital and Investment Corp., a wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary of Banco de Oro Universal Bank (BDO).

WITH current globalization trend, it is timely to discuss the legal implications foreign equity of a corporation as regards ownership of private lands in our jurisdiction. Section 7, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution provides that save in cases of hereditary succession, no private lands shall be transferred or conveyed except to individuals, corporations, or associations qualified to acquire or hold lands in the public domain.