PSE Circular for Brokers No. 708-00

March 20, 2000 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 708-00 1. March 17, 2000 Date of Report (Date of earliest event Reported) 2. SEC Identification Number: CEO2536 3. BIR TIN 003-828-269-V 4. ABOITIZ EQUITY VENTURES, INC. Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter 5. Cebu City Philippines 6. Province, country or other jurisdiction Industry Classification Code of incorporation 7. Archbishop Reyes Ave., Banilad, Cebu City 6000 Address of principal office Postal Code 8. (032) 2312-580 Registrant's telephone number, including area code 9. N.A. Former name or former address, if changed since last report 10. Securities registered pursuant to Sections 4 and 8 of the RSA Title of Each Class Number of Shares of Common Stock Outstanding and Amount of Debt Outstanding Common stock P1 Par Value 5,356,434,976 Total Liabilities 3,403,325,000 11. Indicate the item numbers reported herein: 9(a)(1)(J) Item 9(a)(1)(J). Purchase of stock. In pursuance of the AEV shares buy-back program approved by the Board of Directors, the Corporation has purchased the following additional shares of AEV: Date # of Shares U. Price Total Value March 17, 2000 20,203,000 P1.74 P35,153,220.00 March 17, 2000 20,204,000 P1.76 35,559,040.00 40,407,000 P70,712,260.00 Additional Information The Board approved a program to buy-back shares. The amount and timing of the buyback program was left to management, specifically the CEO and COO. The rationale for the buyback, which was that market prices did not reflect the true value of the shares, and therefore remaining shareholders would benefit from a buyback into treasury that reduced the number of outstanding shares, also provides the guidelines for the actual share purchases. The principal criteria is that it benefits remaining shareholders. Under that guideline, the company would only buyback shares when it believed the share price was undervalued, and that the cash expenditure for the buyback did not jeopardize prospective projects of the company. SIGNATURE(S) Pursuant to the requirements of the Revised Securities Act, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. ABOITIZ EQUITY VENTURES, INC. By: (SGD.) SYLVIA A. PADERANGA Asst. Corporate Secretary SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 17th day of March, 2000 in Pasay City, affiant exhibited to me his Community Tax Certificate No. 3754758 issued on February 16, 1999 in Cebu City. Doc. No. 29 Page No. 7 Book No. 1 Series of 2000 (SGD.) GERRY A. AGUILAR Notary Public Until December 31, 2001 PTR No. 2876016 Jan. 10, 2000, Pasay City