Another feat

Businesswoman Elena Lim has achieved another first for the country when her company successfully penetrated the stringent Korean market for prawns.

Her group, which is also one of the biggest producers of bangus (milkfish) for the domestic market, made its maiden export of prawns to Korea (around five to six tons or one 20-footer container) just last month and expects to ship the second order very soon.

The Philippines used to be one of the top five exporters of prawns to Japan with several companies, including Lim’s AA Export and Import Corp. and San Miguel Corp. engaged in prawn farming until the former’s production plummeted drastically due to the luminous bacteria that plagued not only local prawn farms but also other neighboring countries.

Now, it is only Lim who is exporting to Japan but instead of producing the prawns herself (which she used to do in a 500-hectare farm in Capiz that has now been converted to bangus farming), she just buys from small local producers. She says that by doing so, she is giving these farmers the right market for their products.

Aside from prawn exports and bangus production, Lim’s family owns Destiny Cable, which is currently under siege from the Star Group which recently pulled out five of its biggest channels. It is also in joint venture arrangement with Sony Corp. of Japan for the distribution of Sony products in the Philippines. Lim is extremely proud of her newest project – the creation of a number of Sony showrooms which display the newest products.

I’ve known Ms. Lim for more than a decade starting when she was having a lot of debates with then Trade Secretary Joe Concepcion over the concept of a ‘people’s car.’ At that time, she was in every lucrative business that one can think of. Now, she has trimmed this to a manageable few, but the gutsiness has not changed a bit.

Is there or isn’t there

An official of Sky Cable recently told me through an intermediary that raising their prices for their subscribers is not in their immediate plans. I wonder.

It doesn’t make sense not to increase prices now that it has a virtual hold over the local cable television market (with Sky and Home Cable’s exclusive agreement with the Star Group which distributes in the Philippine market ESPN, Star Sports, Star Movies, Star World, and National Geographic and the premium price it has to pay the Star Group because of this exclusivity). Assuming Sky does not intend to pass on this added cost to its subscribers, up to when can it subsidize? It is not making money right now and is, in fact, losing and owes its creditors a lot.

I know of many subscribers who will pay any amount just to continue getting the sports channels. In fact, a number of people that I know who subscribe to Destiny are transferring to either Sky or Home at whatever cost.

I challenge Sky, therefore, to issue an official statement that they will not be increasing their prices as well as up to when to end speculations once and for all as to their plans.

Boardroom war

The majority and minority owners of Nextel Philippines are engaged in a boardroom war of sorts and are now trying to ease each other out of the board.

The majority owners, consisting of Nextel international and their new Filipino partners, are reportedly coming up with all sorts of excuses not to pay minority group leader Antonio Urera the retirement pay (around $5 million) that he was promised before. And more, they are not only discrediting Urera but inventing all sorts of black propaganda to destroy the guy’s reputation.

They are afraid of Urera. The guy has documents to prove that Nextel International has exceeded the maximum foreign corporate equity limit and is using dummies to hide the extent of its interest in Nextel Philippines.

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