U.S. gallon of gas jumps to $3.76, could see $4-survey

NEW YORK, April 10 (Reuters) - The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States has moved closer to $4, jumping more than 19 cents since mid-March to a level less than 10 percent below its all-time high, a widely followed survey said on Sunday.

The Lundberg Survey said the national average price of self-serve, regular unleaded gas was $3.765 on Friday, up from $3.573 on March 18, and up 91.3 cents from $2.852 a year ago.

Prices in several western U.S. cities are already above $4 per gallon, led by San Francisco at $4.13. Chicago was close behind at $4.11 a gallon, the survey said.

The national average would have been higher had refiners and retailers not resisted passing on rising crude oil prices as customers grow less willing to pay what it takes to fill their gas tanks, analyst Trilby Lundberg said in an interview.

"Demand has been falling at these prices," she said.

The record high average pump price is $4.112 set on July 11, 2008. Lundberg tracks roughly 2,500 gas stations.

Crude oil prices are higher amid unrest in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East, as well as a weaker U.S. dollar, which on Friday fell to a 15-month low against the euro.

A falling dollar often lifts dollar-denominated commodities such as oil. This is because some investors use commodities as an inflation hedge, and consumers who use other currencies may view the commodities as cheap and buy more, driving up prices.

U.S. crude CLc1 settled Friday at $112.79 per barrel, after earlier reaching its highest intraday price since September 2008. ICE Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $126.65 per barrel, the highest settlement since July 2008.

Even if crude prices do not change, Lundberg said pump prices could rise another dime per gallon as earlier increases work their way into the retail market.

"One gets a little bit depressed talking about it, but we are getting closer" to a $4 per gallon average, though "there is no telling" when or whether it will occur, Lundberg said.

The average price for diesel fuel did top $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008, rising to $4.09 from $3.978 three weeks earlier, and $3.056 a year ago, according to the Lundberg survey, which is done in Camarillo, California. The lowest average price for a gallon of unleaded gas in the 48 contiguous states was in Tucson, Arizona, at $3.41, Lundberg said. San Francisco had the highest price. 

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Asia stocks mixed amid uncertainty in Japan, Libya

(AP) BANGKOK –  Stocks in Asia were mixed following a retreat on Wall Street on Wednesday, as the staggering toll exacted by Japan's worst-ever earthquake came into sharper focus and uncertainties grew about the outcome of Western military action against Libya.

Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 1.2 percent in early trading to 9,496.21 after a strong day of gains after a newspaper reported that government estimates of damages from the catastrophic March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's industrial northeast could exceed $300 billion.

The disaster also triggered a crisis at a nuclear power plant that forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and forced power cuts due to the shutdown of 11 of Japan's 54 nuclear power plants.

Three of the country's biggest brands — Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. — put off a return to normal production due to shortages of parts and raw materials because of earthquake damage to factories in affected areas.

Toyota and Honda said they would extend a shutdown of auto production in Japan that already is in its second week, while Sony said it was suspending some manufacturing of popular consumer electronics such as digital cameras and TVs. The production slowdowns hit their stock prices: Toyota drooped 1.5 percent; Honda was down 1.4 percent, and Sony lost 0.8 percent.

Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi index was up 0.1 percent to 2,016.35, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dropped 0.3 percent to 22,798.01.

Meanwhile, investors had a separate worry: the crisis in Libya and the real possibility that Moammar Gadhafi could stave off military action by Western powers intended to keep Gadhafi from overwhelming rebel forces trying to end his four-decade rule.

Oil prices hovered near $105 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as violent uprisings in the Middle East kept traders nervous about possible crude supply disruptions. OPEC-member Libya, which produces enough oil to meet nearly 2 percent of world demand, has almost totally stopped shipping it.

On Wall Street, stocks edged lower Tuesday, ending a three-day rally that had lifted the Dow Jones industrial average above 12,000 for the first time since an earthquake hit Japan more than a week ago.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.90 points to close at 12,018.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4.61, or 0.4 percent, to 1,293.77. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.22, or 0.3 percent, to 2,683.87

In currencies, the euro dropped to $1.4169 from $1.4207 late Tuesday in New York. The yen was unchanged against the greenback at 80.90.

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John Malone Overtakes Ted Turner as Largest Individual Landowner in the U.S.

Land Grab: Media Mogul John Malone recently became the largest individual landowner in the U.S., edging out old friend, Ted Turner.

When asked about the source of his lust for land, John C. Malone laughs. “My wife says it’s the Irish gene. A certain land hunger comes from being denied property ownership for so many generations.”

Malone, the 70-year-old billionaire chairman of Liberty Media, has well sated that hunger. He started his land feast slowly nearly two decades ago, collecting parcels in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado. By the beginning of last year he had nearly 1 million acres. But in the last seven months, as property prices and the cost of borrowing have dropped, the hard-bargaining cable magnate’s land grab shifted into overdrive.

In August Malone bought the 290,100-acre Bell Ranch in northeastern New Mexico, after waiting years for it to drop to what he says was a “rational price.” (The ranch was initially listed in 2006 for $110 million, then for $83 million last year. Malone is rumored to have gotten it for closer to $60 million.) Then in February he made his biggest splash, snapping up 1 million acres of timberland in Maine and New Hampshire for a “fair price.”

With that acquisition Malone became the largest private landowner in the U.S., at 2.2 million acres, according to The Land Report, which tracks sales. He surpassed his fellow billionaire Ted Turner, who had held the title for the previous 15 years. Turner owns 2.1 million acres in the U.S. and has an additional 100,000 acres in South America.

The turnover at the top is fitting. Malone (worth $4.5 billion) and Turner (worth $2.1 billion) are longtime acquaintances and business partners. Malone served on the board of Turner Broadcasting in the 1980s and bailed out Turner’s company in 1987. In 2007, through Liberty Media, Malone became the owner of the Atlanta Braves, Turner’s old baseball team. (“I will always think of them as Ted’s team,” says Malone.) The two have neighboring trophy ranches in northern New Mexico (Malone’s 250,000-acre TO Ranch runs east from Turner’s 591,000-acre Vermejo Park Ranch.) And it was Turner, 72, who “first gave me this land-buying disease,” says Malone, when the duo flew a helicopter over Vermejo. Says Turner: “Over the years I’ve shared my experiences with John. I consider him a good friend and have great respect for him.”

So no Hatfield-McCoy here. Malone recently visited Turner, who was “down in the dumps because I still have lots of dry powder and he’s pretty tapped out,” jokes Malone. “I think if it was a race, Ted would concede.”

Turner seems happy to do just that, saying he was glad to see Malone make his latest acquisition. “We’re working toward the same goal–to be stewards of the land and make sure it’s preserved for future generations,” says Turner.

But though their conservation ends may be the same, their means differ. “Ted’s idea of tradition is to go back to pre-European times,” says Malone. Turner famously poisoned a stretch of Cherry Creek–which runs through his Flying D Ranch in Montana–to rid it of the invasive brown and rainbow trout. (He replanted the stream with native cutthroat trout.) At Turner’s ranch bison roam free over land that’s been cleared of most signs of human habitation.

Malone, on the other hand, says, “I tend to be more willing to admit that human beings aren’t going away.” So he believes that trees can be harvested without damaging the ecology and wildlife. (“I’m not an extreme tree-hugger,” he says.) He will continue the sustainable forestry operation on the Maine and New Hampshire land (purchased from GMO Renewable Resources, a private equity firm). Malone is also looking at wind-power opportunities on the property and will keep the land open for public recreation, a Maine tradition. Malone takes the same “working farm” philosophy with his western properties, like the Bell Ranch, where he raises cattle and horses.

Malone wants to “break even” on his land, but there is more than economics involved. “There’s the emotional and intellectual aspect of walking the land and getting that sense of awe,” he says. “I own it, sort of, for my lifetime.”

Like Turner, he has plans to conserve most of it for beyond his lifetime, through perpetual conservation easements. “But I’m not going to kid myself and think that 500 years from now, with population growth, that the government won’t start putting people on the land,” he says. “But at least I tried.”

Landowners

   1. John Malone: 2.2 mn acres—With this year’s purchase of one million acres in Maine and New Hampshire, became the new top dog. Liberty Media chairman also owns property in New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado.
   2. Ted Turner: 2.1 mn acres—Land in seven states. Strident environmentalist has more than 50,000 bison. Has begun renewable energy plant (solar) in New Mexico.
   3. Red Emmerson: 1.722 mn acres—Runs family-owned timber company Sierra Pacific Industries, founded by father, “Curly.” Biggest landowner in California. Recently has begun placing some land in conservation easements.
   4. Brad Kelley: 1.7 mn acres—Discount cigarette billionaire owns land in Texas, New Mexico, and Florida, mostly used to propagate rare animal species, like the pygmy hippo and okapi.
   5. Irving family: 1.2 mn acres—Through the timber company, Irving Woodlands, the Canadian family owns forest land in Maine, most of which is sustainably harvested.
   6. Singleton Family: 1.11 mn acres—Children of Dr. Henry Singleton, founder of Teledyne, Inc., run ranchland in New Mexico. Avid participants in local rodeos.
   7. King Ranch: 911,215 acres—Land in Texas and Florida. Farm sugarcane, vegetables, citrus and pecans. The ranch produced 1946 Triple Crown winner, Assault.
   8. Pingree heirs: 800,000 acres—Family’s Seven Island Land Company owns tract of land in Maine bigger than state of Rhode Island. Heirs of David Pingree, a 19th century shipper.
   9. Reed family: 770,000 acres—Through Simpson Lumber Company, owns timberland in Pacific Northwest.
  10. Stanley Kroenke: 740,000—St. Louis Rams and Arsenal owner owns cattle and recreational ranches in Montana and Wyoming.

Source: The Land Report/MONTE BURKE/Forbes

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John Malone, Largest Private Landowner in the U.S., Speaks

 In February John C. Malone, the chairman on Liberty Media, became the largest individual landowner in the U.S.—with 2.2 million acres—surpassing his good friend, Ted Turner. Malone, 70, spoke to Forbes about his plans for his land, his conservation ethos and his relationship with Turner.

Here's the conversion with John Malone:

Forbes: Tell us about the recent purchase of 1 million acres in Maine (980,000 acres) and New Hampshire (20,000 acres)?

• John Malone: We bought it from GMO Renewable Resources, a private equity firm. We privately negotiated the deal starting about eight months ago. I already have forestry operation in Maine [68,000 acres] and was looking to expand around where I was. GMO happened to own property around there. I asked if they would part with some of it. Their response was they would, but it would expensive. Then I offered to buy their entire northeastern operation. The bulk of the land GMO had bought from IP five years prior.

Forbes: Why Maine?

• Malone: We’ve had a long history in Maine. My wife and I have been going to Maine since 1982. We used to spend summers there even when I was CEO of TCI. We’d move the summer office there every year. Maine is very similar to area where we both grew up in Connecticut before that state was overbuilt. And we’ve had a getaway place, a personal retreat, on a lake in Maine near the Quebec border for a dozen years.
• The new land goes from New Hampshire through Maine to the New Brunswick border, not contiguously, but more or less so. It fit our interests in land conservation and sustainability. From a financial point of view, it’s a pretty decent hedge on devaluation of currency. It’s a commodity-based asset, a hard asset, an asset that could see a tailwind if in fact the U.S. construction industry comes back.

Forbes: So what do you plan to do with the land?

• Malone: All of it will be operated as sustainable forestry. We’re trying to increase the value of what you don’t cut and trying to build a longer term asset. You cut down over-mature trees, you thin, which actually accelerates growth. You have a very long-term time horizon. In addition, we’re protecting lake fronts, riverbanks, and any drainages from any kind of siltation that might be caused by overcutting. Meanwhile you’re trying to provide continuing employment for pretty large contingent of people who make a living in timber industry. There’s also some potential to develop windpower on the property.

Forbes: There’s a long-held tradition in Maine of private landowners allowing public recreation on their property. Do you plan to keep that tradition going?

• Malone: Absolutely. Hunting, fishing, skiing, snowmobiling… all recreation. In Maine, property owners are protected from liability claims. It would be great if we had that out West. In Colorado if someone shoots himself in the foot because he tripped over wire on my property, there’s no protection. In Maine, we’ve kept the lake on which we have our personal getaway open to the public at no charge. We’ve never had a problem in 12 years. It works.

Forbes: What about the proposed national park in Maine? Have you considered donating any land to that cause?

• Malone: I would hate to see forestry banned.  I’m not an extreme tree-hugger. I do believe trees grow and are a useful agricultural product that can be harvested without damaging the ecology and wildlife. In fact, done well, it can enhance wildlife and recreation. In that sense I’m an agricultural person. I think private ownership is generally superior to public because you care about the land more and it doesn’t get trashed.

Forbes: Last August you bought the 290,100-acre Bell Ranch in New Mexico. Why?

• Malone: We already have a 250,000-acre TO Ranch in northern New Mexico. It goes back-to-back with Ted’s [Turner] Vermejo Ranch. I go east from him. We’ve had it for a number of years and really enjoy it.  It’s a traditional horseback and cattle ranch. So we just expanded those operations with the Bell Ranch. I had looked at it for years. It was pretty pricey. When it finally got to a rational price, we stepped up and negotiated a deal. It will be a horse and cattle ranch. I brought in a new manager who had been a professor in the cattle field at Texas Tech. He’s also an expert on equine and bovine nutrition. Our plan is to operate the ranch with a state-of-the-art understanding of breeding and natural food and pasture management. We also have cattle ranch operations in Wyoming and Colorado.

Forbes: The Land Report says you are now the nation’s largest private landowner, overtaking Ted Turner, with 2.2 million acres.

• Malone: Ted and I are roughly of equal size. He was down in the dumps last time I saw him because he said I still had a lot of dry power and he was pretty tapped out [laughs]. If it was a race I think he would concede, but that’s not what it is. We’re really good friends. Ted first gave me this land-buying disease. I was with him when he negotiated to buy the Vermejo. He’d never seen it from the air so I took a helicopter down and flew him around to see the ranch from the air.

Forbes: You and Turner are both land conservationists, but you approach that conservation differently, right?

• Malone: Ted’s done some magnificent things. Ted wants tradition but Ted’s idea of tradition is to go back to pre-European time. I really respect that. His Flying D Ranch is absolutely magnificent, with his bison herds. He’s eliminated any sign of human habitation. But I tend to more willing to admit that human beings aren’t going away. Ted feels that there are some places where humans can be kept out.

• Ted and I kid because we’ve looked at a lot of the same stuff without knowing that we we were both looking. We’ve never gone head-to-head. We’ve been in business together an awful long time. Neither of us wants something so bad that we would step on other guy’s toes. This isn’t that kind of thing. I’m just as happy to see Ted own it and preserve it.

• We basically both love the land, and are very heavily involved in The Nature Conservancy. Here in the Denver area I bought basically a large ranch that separates Denver from Colorado Springs. It’s really the only buffer between the two metros. I did that in conjunction with easement so that they’ll always be open space. It’s primarily an elk and bighorn sheep preserve.

• We’re not in this to get rich. The land is not going to provide a meaningful cash return on invested capital. But it does appreciate in value. You’re in it for inflation protection and long-term value, but primarily because it’s something that should be preserved and you can afford to do it if the interest rates are low enough and operations are efficient enough. I tell my ranch guys that the goal is to break even and to improve the quality of the ranch over time with better water, better grass, better fences, better buildings and better cattle. Then it’s sustainable.

Forbes: Are you still on the hunt for more land?

• Malone: We’re always interested. I’m looking at one large potential forestry addition back East, in the northeast and Canada. It would double us in forestry side there. We may or may not reach agreement on it. Then we are adding what I would call cropland to our land ownership, really so that we can go a little more vertical in cattle and produce more of our own feed and control costs better.

Forbes: So why make these land purchases now?

• Malone: Interest rates are very low so long term assets can be financed with low-cost money. Secondly, the devaluation of U.S. dollar would seem to be pushing up the value of commodities and commodity-producing assets. Also we’ve just come out of a very depressed period in which western ranch land became illiquid. It’s not so much there was collapse of prices as much as there was prolonged period of illiquidity which led to places like the Bell Ranch becoming available. There’s an old joke where one rancher says to another ‘there’s a four-year backlog in ranch sales.’ And the other guy says: ‘No, there’s a four-year pricing process, then a one month liquidity period.’ What happens with these properties is that most will sit in hands of a generation that doesn’t know what to do with them. It takes a while for them to conclude that the prices are not what they had hoped, so properties periodically come to the market.

Forbes: You’ve detailed the conservation and financial reasons for owning land. Are there any other reasons?

• Malone: My wife says it’s the Irish gene. A certain land hunger comes from being denied property ownership for so many generations.  My uncle told me one time that he didn’t want much, that he just wanted his little farm and all the ones attached to it [laughs]. There’s an emotional and intellectual aspect of walking the land and getting that sense of awe and the feeling that ‘wow, this is neat.’ I own it, sort of, for my lifetime. But I’m really just a steward.

•  I love to fish and I bird-hunt occasionally on the property. I like to shoot sporting clays. My wife rides horses for four hours a day.

Forbes: What about long-term plans?

• Malone: If you’re really clever maybe can protect it after you’re no longer here. I’m putting most of the land in conservation easements which are hopefully supposed to be perpetual. But I’m not going to kid myself and think that 500 years from now, with population growth, that the government won’t start putting people on the land. But at least I tried.

(By MONTE BURKE/Forbes)

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BSP closes Banco Filipino

MANILA, Philippines — The Monetary Board (MB), the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), has placed Banco Filipino Savings and Mortgage Bank (BF) under the receivership

of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC) to provide immediate relief to its 177,652 depositors, 97 percent of whom are small depositors fully covered by deposit insurance of up to P500,000 each.

This is the second time since it was established in 1964 that BF was put under PDIC receivership in accordance with Section 30 of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7653, the law creating the autonomous BSP.

Majority of the seven-man board voted to close BF due largely to its inability “to pay its liabilities as they become due in the ordinary course of business, insufficient realizable assets to meet its liabilities, and cannot continue in business without involving probable losses to its depositors and creditors.”

“The MB took note of the failure of the Board of Directors/management of BF to restore the Bank’s financial health and viability despite considerable time given to address its financial problems, and after according the Bank the requisite due process. It has, therefore, decided to prohibit BF from doing business in the Philippines and to place its assets and affairs under receivership,” the BSP said.

“The BSP is coordinating closely with PDIC so that deposit insurance can be paid out as soon as possible. In this connection, the condition, coverage, and quality of the records and documents of BF will be material in ensuring immediate service to depositors,” the BSP added.

This means that depositors with account balances of P5,000 and below, without loans and whose last known addresses are reflected in bank records, need not file their deposit insurance claims as PDIC will immediately process and start mailing payments through postal money order within a week.

It was said that depositors with balances of P5,000 and below represent 53 percent of total account holders.

All other depositors are required to file their deposit insurance claims with PDIC. BSP said PDIC will issue appropriate announcements to guide BF depositors to file their claims for deposit insurance.

While other information and claims forms may be downloaded from the PDIC website at www.pdic.gov.ph. The PDIC may also be reached at telephone numbers 841-4630 to 4631.

As receiver, PDIC is preparing to immediately take over all the BF offices starting with the head office today and secure the records and documents at the bank premises. PDIC’s take over will also prevent the further dissipation of the bank’s assets and assure maximum benefits to its depositors and creditors.

At the same time, the MB also “authorized the filing of appropriate cases, if warranted, against BF’s directors, officers and/or other individuals who may be found liable for violation of banking laws and BSP rules and regulations.”

Since it has been deemed insolvent, the BSP thumbed down BF's request for a special liquidity facility, also known as emergency loan, worth P1.4 billion. The BSP as a rule cannot grant or release emergency loans if the applicant bank is deemed insolvent, meaning the bank has more liabilities than assets.

Emergency loans are granted at "normal periods" for the purpose of assisting a bank under financial pressures, provided that the bank applying for the facility was not insolvent and has the assets to secure advances.

The BSP loan releases are limited to 50 percent of a bank’s outstanding deposits and must be collateralized. These loans are given in two tranches and must be settled in full after 91 days but it may be extended for another three months after an MB approval.

BF has a pending financial assistance package from the BSP amounting to P25 billion, including regulatory relief.

The bank operates 62 branches nationwide. It was first ordered closed in 1985 but was reopened in 1992 after the Supreme Court declared the closure illegal.(ManilaBulletin)

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Gaisano Malls will soon be established in the province of Southern Leyte

A groundbreaking rites formally and officially seals the deal for the ties that bind the city government of Maasin and Gaisano chain of superstores in line with the public-private partnership scheme propagated under the administration of Pres. P-Noy.

Highlight of the event was the lowering of the capsule and the ceremonial shoveling by all the principal actors of the deal, both from Gaisano and the officials from the local governments.

In attendance of the said activity was Dr. Edward Gaisano, chairman of the Board of Directors of Vicsal Development Corporation, the operator of Gaisano Metro chain of superstores, Mr. Arthur Emmanuel, head of the retail group, with full participation from the city government of Maasin lead by City Mayor Engr. Maloney Samaco and ever supportive dou of the Mercado Brothers, Lone District of Southern Leyte Representative Oging Mercado and Governor Mian Mercado.

The branch here in Maasin City will be known as Gaisano Metro Maasin Department Store and Supermarket, and it will be Gaisano's tenth branch in a continuing move of opening new branches around the country.

According to the reports released by Philippine Information Agency, Gaisano Capital will also soon be established in the nearby booming municipality of Sogod, which the latters management has already applied for the building permit and submitted it's building plan for the project. The target date for the operation is tentatively set on June 2011 in time with the founding anniversary of the town. The source revealed that the proposed 2-storey shopping mall shall accommodate their supermarket, dept. store and reserved among others.

With this development, even the business community is excited with the coming of Gaisano in the countryside. That it would be more convenient for the people in the general to go shopping in the locality rather than trooping at the jam-packed malls at the cities which would be more expensive.

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