After emerging from decades-long indebtedness, Benguet Corp. is looking at further expanding its footprint in the mining sector as well as venture into other businesses, such as renewable energy. “As [Benguet] embarks on a new chapter, it will continue to deepen its foothold in the mining sector as well as build up its portfolio in new business ventures like agriculture, real estate, bulk water and renewable energy,” the company said in a disclosure on Monday. Benguet Corp. said becoming debt-free relieved it of the negative restrictions of the restructured loans that hampered it from growing the business. READ: Benguet gets 25-year mining deal renewal The company operates a gold mine in Benguet, nickel mines in Zambales and a processing facility in Baguio City. Beyond mining, it has diversified into other sectors such as healthcare and diagnostics, mining logistics, industrial equipment trading, port services, shipping services, real estate and lime kiln operation. “Now with improved creditworthiness and clean balance sheet, [Benguet] can resume capital market activities and engage investors in undertaking new projects and expansion of existing operations that will create new revenue streams for the company and will hopefully lead to future dividend payouts,” it added. Benguet, which is primarily engaged in mining and mineral exploration and holds interests in various industries such as logistics, announced paying a cash dividend to its shareholders. It declared a cash dividend on its common stock at P0.20 a piece and P0.28 for its convertible preferred stock, payable starting Dec. 10 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 14. This is the first time in 35 years that Benguet made such payments as it became debt-free with the settlement of all its outstanding debts in October. “The termination of the 1993 debt restructuring agreement and mortgage trust indenture is the culmination of management’s long and hard struggle to free the company from its outstanding debt liabilities that have for more than 30 years subjected it to hardship and constraint of operation,” Benguet president Lina Fernandez said. The mining company signed a mutual rescission agreement with its remaining creditors Wilshire Business Consulting Corp. and Armstrong Capital Holdings Corp., along with Philippine Veterans Bank as trustee, effectively releasing the firm from mortgage. Such an agreement means that the parties involved are freed from the contract, in this case relating to restructured loans, which is considered ended. In 1993, Benguet restructured loans from 23 creditor banks and financial institutions amounting to over P1.4 billion and has settled substantial portions of the loans since then. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . The remaining creditors opted to transact with Benguet including leveraging the debts for investment purposes, it added.
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is denied bail for a third timeMicroStrategy has bought 5,262 bitcoin using proceeds from a sale of $561 million worth of stock. The company now holds 444,262 bitcoin, worth $27.7 billion, bought at an average price of $62,257. MicroStrategy's bitcoin buying strategy involves leverage, posing a big risk if the crypto declines significantly. MicroStrategy continued its bitcoin buying spree for the seventh consecutive week, announcing that it purchased an additional 5,262 bitcoins. The company sold about $561 million worth of shares in its at-the-market equity offering and then used the proceeds to add to its bitcoin pile, according to a filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Last week's purchase came at an average price of about $106,613, just below bitcoin's record high of about $108,500. Since then, the cryptocurrency has declined 14%, to $92,893. MicroStrategy now owns 444,262 bitcoins, acquired for $27.7 billion at an average price of $62,257. It's the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. Despite its impressive bitcoin stash, MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor is playing a risky game, taking on leverage to buy as much of the cryptocurrency as possible. "Their strategy is to issue convertible bonds and use the proceeds to buy bitcoin. That is literally the definition of a leveraged trade — borrowing money to buy a financial asset," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told Business Insider last week. MicroStrategy said in October that it would issue about $42 billion of stock and debt to buy that much in bitcoin over the next few years. The company has since purchased nearly 200,000 bitcoins and increased its average cost basis from $39,266 in October to about $62,257 today. "That works fabulously when the price of the asset moves in your favor, which it has done spectacularly with bitcoin, but has a nasty way of unraveling if it moves in the opposite direction," Sosnick said. While MicroStrategy is sitting on an enormous unrealized gain of about $41 billion tied to its bitcoin bet, a significant decline in the cryptocurrency could put the company at risk, especially considering that its underlying software business is not consistently profitable and that it has raised more than $7 billion in convertible debt. Sosnick highlighted that MicroStrategy benefits from a "self-fulfilling feedback loop" as it buys up more bitcoin, helping push the price higher, and then sells more debt and equity to buy more bitcoin, which subsequently pushes the price higher. "These types of things never go on forever and often end poorly — the question is 'when?' The short-term answer seems to be 'not yet,'" Sosnick said. But Anthony Scaramucci, founder of hedge fund company SkyBridge Capital, doesn't think Saylor's bitcoin bet has to end badly even if the cryptocurrency suffers a bear market decline. Instead, Scaramucci said bitcoin would need to experience a "systemic collapse" for MicroStrategy's leveraged bitcoin bet to collapse. "People think if bitcoin crashes, he is going to implode, and as a result of it, leverage is going to unwind in the system and there's going to be a collapse," Scaramucci told Bloomberg last week. "But if you really study his balance sheet, he has long, long-term debt, and he has rolling long-term debt. You'd have to have a systemic collapse in bitcoin, and you'd have it to last six or seven years to flash him out." According to Sosnick, the stock will stay elevated as long as the hype and momentum continue for bitcoin and MicroStrategy. Even small bitcoin corrections can have a big impact on MicroStrategy stock, however. A 9% sell-off in bitcoin in late November coincided with a near 40% decline in MicroStrategy stock peak-to-trough. Granted, the volatility has subsided over the past week. Amid bitcoin's current 14% correction, MicroStrategy stock has been less volatile, falling about 17%. For his part, MicroStrategy's Saylor is keep up the evangelism for bitcoin. He told CNBC last week that buying bitcoin was like buying a piece of Manhattan a few hundred years ago. "We'll just keep buying the top forever. Every day is a good day to buy bitcoin. I would have bought Manhattan 100 years ago, 200 years ago, every year for the past 300 years. You pay a little bit more than the person that bought Manhattan before you, but it's always a good investment to invest in the economic capital of the free world," Saylor said, before mentioning a $13 million long-term price target for bitcoin. Ultimately, Saylor's risky strategy has paid off. The billionaire's wealth has soared this year, driven by his stake in MicroStrategy stock, which is up 442% year-to-date.Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke with Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch) In 2017, the Labor opposition argued against a Coalition proposal to allow a minister to declare certain items in immigration detention prohibited. It opposed the idea again in 2020. Now, the Labor government has introduced its own bill, with the exact same name as the ones the party previously opposed: the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill. “It’s still, in substance, very much the Coalition’s bill from 2017 and 2020,” Asylum Seeker Resource Centre deputy chief executive Jana Favero told Crikey. An asylum seeker saw no way out of Australia’s immigration purgatory. The numbers paint a bleak picture Read More “Labor’s condemnation of the earlier bills was quite widespread, but they’ve only tinkered with some elements in the current version of the bill — and they’ve done it in such a rushed way that there has never been time to properly scrutinise the safeguards they say they’re bringing in.” Addressing the 2020 bill in Parliament, then shadow multicultural affairs minister Andrew Giles complained the proposed ability to seize phones was unnecessary because “the government already has the powers it needs”. He also asserted that the Coalition’s argument that many in immigration detention have criminal histories wasn’t enough of a justification for “not treating people as individuals on their own terms”, and said that “phones generally provide a positive benefit to detainees and their welfare”. “Of course, access to mobile phones also provides an important wide benefit in enabling the scrutiny of conditions and conduct at immigration detention facilities. It is concerning that this is not an issue of any significant interest to the government,” he said. Giles, who was appointed multicultural affairs and immigration minister in 2022 before the roles were taken over by Tony Burke earlier this year, did not speak on Labor’s own version of the bill when it was introduced last week. But Burke did, and his arguments for the bill were remarkably similar to the ones the Liberals made in 2020. “Over recent years, asylum seekers have been replaced in immigration detention by individuals who have had their visa cancelled on character grounds, who often have serious criminal histories ... there have been incidents of criminals in detention facilities using encrypted messaging services to run drug trafficking and other organised crime activities,” Burke said last Thursday. “Officers need extended powers, including the power to search and seize communications devices to stop this from happening.” Mobile phones are mentioned in the new bill’s explanatory memorandum as one of the examples of items that may be determined prohibited by a minister. But Burke told Parliament he wanted to make it clear the bill would not establish a blanket prohibition on phones. “To ensure the rights of detainees to engage in communications with others outside of the detention facilities are maintained, if the thing that is seized is a mobile phone or communication device, the detainee will be provided with an alternative device until such time as their device is returned,” Burke said. “This will ensure there is no impact on their ability to contact their friends and family or to engage in any other lawful communication under their constitutionally implied rights.” Landmark detention ruling latest in long line of costly asylum seeker legal battles Read More Favero said the vow detainees would get an alternative means of communication wasn’t enough to assuage critics of the bill. “They haven’t guaranteed what that alternative would be, and it looks like it will be discretionary and up to the guards,” she said. “What if you have complained about the guard, and then that guard is the one who doesn’t give you back your phone? The safeguards are not in there to protect the rights and liberties of people in immigration detention.” Favero said she was concerned Labor was trying to “rewrite history to make it look like they have addressed all their original concerns”. “The only thing that has changed is that Labor wants to get reelected, and they’re looking at what happened in the US election and have decided to target refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the hope of winning votes.” The item prohibition bill will be brought to the Senate as part of a package that also includes a bill that would allow the Australian government to deport people to countries that have agreed to house them in exchange for payment . A third bill in the package includes a provision that would give a minister the discretionary personal power to designate a nation as a “removal concern country” , which would prohibit people from that country from applying for an Australian visa. The latter power has been compared to US president Donald Trump’s 2017 travel ban. “It’s absolutely a fair comparison — you’re looking at listing certain countries to bar [people from there] from entry,” Favero said. The package is scheduled to be voted on in the Senate on Thursday afternoon. Patricia Rushton, a lawyer whose PhD thesis on Australia’s Migration Act will be published as a book next year, said she believed Labor was moving the bills with Coalition support in order to preempt a “stranger danger campaign” by the opposition at the next election. “I suppose we get the politicians we vote for,” she told Crikey . “We ask almost every person who comes to Australia to sign onto what we call the Australian values, and those values talk about compassion and fairness. I think Australia needs to face up to what we want and who we are, and not pretend one minute we’re compassionate and fair and the next minute act in the opposite way.” Have something to say about this article? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au . Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say . We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
Representatives will meet with global partners to share market insights and discuss the company's unique supply chain solutions HOUSTON , Dec. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith , a leading global distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces its attendance at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada . Company representatives will be on hand to meet with current and potential customers during the trade show, which runs from Tuesday, January 7 , to Friday, January 10, 2025 . CES, also known as the Consumer Electronics Show, is widely regarded as the world's premier technology showcase. The biggest names in consumer electronics and entertainment will gather to debut their newest products and cutting-edge innovations. "This is a great opportunity for us to shake hands with our customers, forge new relationships, and gain insights into their needs and the challenges they face within the semiconductor supply chain," said Todd Burke , Smith's President of Global Business Development. "We are excited to demonstrate how Smith's customized programs can help keep chip inventories in balance and how our open-market strategies can generate new revenue streams." Todd and his team will discuss the benefits of supplier diversification , robust inventory management , and staying ahead of market trends . "As artificial-intelligence products and services become more mainstream, demand will continue to rise for the components powering its processing capabilities," said Todd. "Smith's agile sourcing team, broad global reach, and decades of industry expertise underpin our ability to develop fully customizable solutions that help our customers avoid supply chain disruptions and support their success." Visit Smith's CES landing page to schedule a meeting. About Smith Founded in 1984, Smith is celebrating 40 years of Intelligent DistributionTM. As a leading independent distributor of electronic components, Smith sources, manages, tests, and ships billions of components to partners worldwide in every industry and vertical. Offering a comprehensive suite of flexible and scalable supply chain solutions, Smith identifies and delivers customized service programs to support its customers' success. The company's expertise is backed by decades of market data, cutting-edge technology, and a systems-based approach to quality excellence. Smith has generated more than USD $12.9 billion in global revenue since 2019 and ranks eleventh among all global distributors. Visit www.smithweb.com to learn more. SOURCE SmithWilliams' 19 lead East Texas A&M over Abilene Christian 68-67Adani stocks take Rs 2.24 lakh crore hit
The Manning Family Let NFL Fans Know Where It Stands PoliticallyNEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Mayor Eric Adams took Eyewitness News on an exclusive look at the City's outreach efforts to homeless New Yorkers sleeping in the subway system. The program has often been criticized because it sometimes involves removing people against their will. Mayor Adams is touting its success and says the safety of subway riders is the number one priority. Beneath the glittering sidewalks of Herald Square, homeless outreach workers are pleading with a man with bare feet. Others approach another man who doesn't want to move. "This-this breaks my heart, right here," Mayor Adams said. He said he is determined to change it. "You came into office saying what?" Eyewitness News reporter N.J. Burkett asked. "That we can't continue to act like we don't see you," Adams said. The mayor invited Eyewitness News to tour the Herald Square subway station late Wednesday night, along with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, where nurses and social workers teamed-up with New York City police officers. It's part of the mayor's latest initiative to offer shelter and services to the homeless, and to involuntarily commit those with severe mental illness, who refuse treatment. "Critics say that he should have a right to be in a public subway system or on a public street. And he shouldn't be harassed by the city or by the police," Burkett said. "The critics are so far removed from what everyday New Yorkers want, you know, they are being philosophical. And everyday New Yorkers, they are saying this should not happen," Adams said. Over the past three months, more than 5,000 have been approached and roughly one third have accepted care, including treatment. The mayor insists that's progress. "1,700 have taken us up on the services. Those are good numbers," Adams said. Just Thursday morning, Eyewitness News saw three people, sprawled out across the seats sleeping-onboard a crowded uptown No. 2 train. N.J. Burkett showed Adams a video of a man in the Fulton Street station, "This is a guy, he's got a Skittles box on his head." "He's unkempt, he's soiled himself. This is a picture perfect example of why we should not be saying he has a right to be out there. He doesn't know he needs help. We have to give him that," Adams said. Crime is down in the transit system so far this year, but the commissioner admits it doesn't feel that way. "The mayor was very clear with me when I started this job, the priorities are bringing crime down and making people feel safer," Tisch said. "The mayor has launched a number of initiatives, this being a prime example to get at those things that create the feeling of disorder in the city." "It's about understanding our responsibility to help people who are in desperate need but just can't recognize it, themselves. And so, to me, there's nothing aggressive about trying to help somebody and there's nothing respectful about leaving somebody to rot," Brian Stettin, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services said. * Get Eyewitness News Delivered * Follow us on YouTube * More local news * Send us a news tip * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.