FBDC makes formal offer to host PSE

Fort Bonifacio Development Corp. (FBDC) has made the formal offer to host the new site of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) which the latter’s board of governors can either accept or reject.

Breaking its silence on the relocation issue that has led to the resignation of FBDC chairman Manuel Pangilinan from the PSE board and the subsequent dismissal of PSE president Ramon T. Garcia, FBDC said it "has not reneged on its commitments to the PSE" and has, in fact, been in discussions with the Exchange’s representatives for the past two and a half years.

FBDC president and CEO Ricardo Pascua said the company’s board approved the submission of the formal offer last Sept. 26 to the PSE with the proposed term sheet reflecting the terms agreed upon by the two parties.

Incidentally, it was also during the PSE board’s meeting on the same date that Garcia was fired in a "no confidence" vote by majority of the governors.

"We only made one formal proposal and that was last Sept. 26. All the others were ‘unsigned discussion papers," Pascua said.

Based on the propers," FBDC – the joint venture between the Metro Pacific-led consortium Bonifacio Land Corp. and the Bases Conversion Development Authority – has left it to the PSE to choose the site: The original 2,100 sqm. Lot 9-5 at the Capital Place or to an equivalent-sized lot at the e-Square IT Park, a nearby economic zone which offers fiscal incentives to locators.

The "improved" offer, Pascua said, would increase the total floor area of the PSE building from 12,000 sqm to 26,100 sqm and allow PSE up to 15 years instead of seven years to build its headquarters.

He added the P252 million value of the incremental floor area would free up FBDC from its original commitment to construct the P250 million shell of the PSE building.

"They (PSE) can either stay or move, its up to them. If they take it, great; if not, its great too," Pascua said.

The FBDC then lashed back at Garcia for issuing a press statement which contained derogatory remarks against FBDC and Pangilinan in particular, "against the advise of the PSE chairman and notwithstanding the continuing and significant progress in the discussions between the PSE Building Committee and FBDC."

"We urge the members of the PSE to be vigilant in promoting the interest and welfare of the PSE and not allow individuals, who may be acting on the basis of their personal agenda, from hindering the orderly implementation, on terms beneficial to the PSE and its members as a whole, of the PSE’s relocation to the Bonifacio Global City," Pascua said.

Although Garcia is a member of the PSE’s Building Committee, headed by BOG member Ismael Cruz, Pascua said he was not actively involved in the negotiations having attended only one meeting (October 2000) between the two parties.