Several block sales consisting of shares of International Exchange Bank ( iBank), were completed by various brokerage houses at the stock market yesterday. Based on data provided by the Philippine Stock Exchange, a total 314.7 million iBank shares, which account for nearly the entire 318.7 million outstanding shares of the bank, were sold at P42.50 each through a series of block sales handled by Wealth Securities, Campos, Lanuza & Co. and Fidelity Securities Inc. The total consideration amounted to P13.37 billion. The transactions were in line with the announcement made Friday by Union Bank of the Philippines, which ranks as the country’s 12th largest lender by assets, that its board has approved the completion of the acquisition of up to 100 percent of iBank. The sale agreement already secured regulatory approval, said UnionBank. iBank ranks as the country’s 20th largest commercial bank by assets. iBank was up 2.5 percent at P41.50. There were no done trades for UnionBank shares, which closed at P48.50 Friday. Offers for UnionBank shares ranged between P43 and P44.

Top property firms in the Philippines are targetting wealthy Filipinos based in the United States for high-end housing projects in their homeland, hoping to ride the boom in remittance money, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Filipinos in the United States are "bullish on the Philippines real estate market," it said in a statement. It said the Filipino consulate in New York received hundreds of visitors during a property roadshow last week involving many of the high-end developers in the Philippines. "The participating Philippine property developers were visibly impressed with the steady stream of potential customers," it quoted consul-general Cecilia Rebong as saying. The turnout "is a strong argument for a repeat of the roadshow around the same time next year," she added. There are some three million permanent Filipino residents in the United States among some eight million spread around the world, accounting for a significant share of remittances to relatives in the Philippines that hit a record $  10.7 billion last year. Many of these overseas workers maintain properties in the Philippines and hope to return home after retirement.

Ayala Corporation said yesterday it had formed a new unit to pursue potential investments in the fast-growing business process outsourcing industry. Ayala has filed the articles of incorporation and bylaws for wholly owned subsidiary LiveIT Solutions Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the conglomerate said in a disclosure to the stock exchange. Ayala didn’t provide further details. The growth of the Philippine business process outsourcing sector is led by the call center business. The Contact Center Association of the Philippines has projected the local call center business will become a US billion industry by 2009, with a total of 250,000 seats. Each call center seat is equivalent to nearly two employees.

A. Soriano Corp. has declared a P1.50 a share cash dividend to stockholders of record at June 20. The dividend is payable July 14. The dividend payment is higher than the P1.25 a share earlier promised by the Philippine investment holding concern following the sale of its 23 percent stake in International Container Terminal Services Inc. to ICTSI Chaiman Enrique Razon Jr. for P5.91 billion announced last month.

The government has promised to reimburse private contractors from Japan who were erroneously taxed for Japanese-funded projects - a problem that forced Tokyo to suspend support for several other projects in the Philippines, officials said. Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said the government has paid about 85 percent of the P458 million in value-added taxes erroneously charged to the Japanese contractors, and that the rest would be paid by July when Tokyo and Manila celebrate the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. The taxes should have been shouldered by the Philippine government but were paid by the contractors, who then demanded reimbursement from Manila and Tokyo, said Katsumi Yoshida, deputy Manila representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency which oversees Tokyo-funded projects. The value-added taxes were levied for about five to 10 key infrastructure and health improvement projects undertaken since 2004, Yoshida said.