LISTED food and beverage firm RFM Corp. will dilute its ownership in property subsidiary, Philippine Townships Inc. (Philtown), from 100 percent to 34.2 percent once it completes the proposed issuance of property dividends by the latter part of the year.

At the sidelines of the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting Wednesday, executive vice president and chief operating officer Felicisimo Nacino Jr. said RFM will declare property dividends in the form of its shares in Philtown, totalling 143.65 million or about 65.8-percent stake in the property company.

The shares will be valued P501.8 million.

“For every 22 RFM shares held by each shareholder, we will give one Philtown share. After we complete this proceeding, the next move will be to list the shares of Philtown by way of introduction,” Nacino said.

RFM originally considered the sale of Philtown via an initial public offering (IPO) but Nacino said the current weak market conditions is preventing them to proceed with this plan.

Once the dilution is completed, RFM will no longer consolidate in their books the financial results of Philtown.

Established in 1995, Philtown was initially organized as the property firm of the RFM Group. Through the years, it has developed a number of residential subdivisions in Metro Manila. To date, its landbank is around 200 hectares, which the company will use for the development of horizontal projects.

Apart from One McKinley, Fairways and the Metropolitan Tower, it is now developing the WH Taft project, a residential condominium that will cater to the needs of students in Manila. It is also pursuing other residential condominiums in Quezon City and Pasig under a new design concept called Asiana Residences.

In 2007, Philtown secured a P1-billion structured funding package from Filipinas Investments, Ltd. to bankroll its residential condominium project in Makati City.

Called the Metropolitan Tower, the project is located on Estrella Street, Makati. It is envisioned as an affordable luxury residential condominium that is part of a distinct and self-contained community.

In another development, RFM said it has secured a credit facility of P1.2 billion to upgrade plant facilities and equipment.     

The company, for instance, is constructing a new pasta-making plant to service the growing demand for its Fiesta-brand pasta products and expanding its polyethylene bottle-blowing and filling lines for the newly launched Sunkist Iced Tea, Hi-Juice and Vitwater products.

Vantage invests P250M in Transco bid winner

LISTED investment company Vantage Equities Inc. plans to invest up to P250 million in Monte Oro Resources and Energy Inc. (Morei).

PAL braces for tougher times

FLAG carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is bracing for tougher times ahead, fearing that demand for air travel may dip as air fares continue to climb, pushed by record-level oil prices.

Smart unit sees P500M in losses

NEW Smart Communications subsidiary, Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise (CURE), expects to incur losses to amount to P500 million until 2012.

NOW that the Yahoo! Philippines offices and web-domain have been online for four months, the popular Internet portal is looking at hiring local staff and providing localized services and content for Philippine-based Yahoo! users, Yahoo! Southeast Asia strategic consultant Cris Concepcion told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

Fuller Life, Tupperware to operate as one entity

MORE variety translates to higher sales. This, as sellers of expect to benefit from the integration of two multinational direct-marketing companies, Fuller Life Direct Selling Philippines and Tupperware Philippines, starting July.

LISTED food and beverage firm RFM Corp. will dilute its ownership in property subsidiary, Philippine Townships Inc. (Philtown), from 100 percent to 34.2 percent once it completes the proposed issuance of property dividends by the latter part of the year.

Small cable firm gets OK to operate in Pasig

CABLE Link & Holdings Corp. has been given the green light to operate in Pasig City but a major rival wants this reversed.

Philex seeks to buy out mine partner

PHILEX Mining Corp. offered to buy partner Anglo American Plc.’s stake in a copper project after the world’s fourth-largest mining company said the mine won’t be profitable.