San Miguel Corp. aims to raise at least 0 million from the sale of perpetual preferred shares, President Ramon Ang said yesterday. "We’re looking at 0 million. That’s our target," Ang told reporters at the start of a roadshow for the offering. San Miguel Capital Funding Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of San Miguel, will issue the perpetual preferred shares, which are hybrid securities and the first from a non-financial company in Asia outside Japan. A number of banks in the region have previously sold Tier 1 paper, which is akin to San Miguel’s issuance. San Miguel Capital will lend the proceeds to its parent company through a 30-year subordinated security, the company said earlier this week. The deal is being managed by Citigroup Inc., Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank AG and HSBC.

Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country’s second largest lender in terms of assets, said first quarter net profit reached P2.5 billion, up 25 percent from P2.0 billion in the same period last year, aided by higher non-interest revenue. "The increase in total revenues was largely driven by the 22 percent expansion in non-interest income mainly from trading gains derived from favorable market conditions," BPI said in a statement. It said net interest income increased just 2 percent year-on-year due to the prevailing low interest rate environment. Total revenues rose 9 percent, while operating expenses increased 4 percent due to additional costs related to the operations of Prudential Bank, a medium-sized bank it acquired late last year. The bank’s return on equity rose to 18 percent from 15 percent a year ago, while return on assets improved to 2.0 percent from 1.8 percent.

Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. said it is in talks with three foreign mining firms for possible investments in the company’s Far Southeast copper-gold deposits in the province of Benguet in the northern Philippines. These are Anglo American Exploration Pty. Ltd., Zijin Mining of China and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. of Canada, Lepanto told the stock exchange in a disclosure. Lepanto, one of the oldest mining firms in the Philippines, earlier said it expects to post net profit of P300 million this year as a result of increased production amid rising metals prices. Last year it posted a P410 million loss.

Philippine exports of abaca fiber in the first two months of the year improved 7 percent, reaching 17,240 bales (125 kilograms) compared to exports in the same period last year, due to high global demand, the Fiber Industry Development Authority or FIDA said yesterday. Abaca fiber and pulp — harvested from the trunk of the plant — are used to manufacture high-grade paper materials such as paper currency, cigarette filters and meat casings, among others. According to a FIDA official, exports to the United Kingdom rose 26 percent, reaching 9,006 bales in January to February this year, because of higher demand following the relocation of a pulp mill previously located in the United States. The official said exports to Japan have also been steadily increasing in recent years and shipments in the first two months of this year were higher by 11 percent, totalling 7,424 bales. The UK and Japan are two major export markets for Philippine abaca fiber. FIDA said that exports to India also soared to 588 bales, a six-fold increase from exports in the same period of last year. Other export destinations for Philippine abaca fiber and pulp include Finland, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and South Korea. The Philippines is the world’s biggest exporter of abaca fiber and pulp.

Property developer Megaworld Corp. will list on Monday 4.08 billion common shares which it sold to international and local investors through a recent primary and secondary offering, the stock exchange said. The trading suspension on Megaworld shares, which started in April 21, will also be lifted on that day. Earlier, the property developer said it raised P5.14 billion from the international offer and was expected to earn 271 million from the domestic issue. The share offerings account for 35 percent of the property developer’s expanded capital and are expected to improve the liquidity of its stock.