However, a Spanish law of 1817 prohibited foreigners and Protestants from owning real estate. Loney, himself a foreigner and not well-to-do, who at that time did not have enough capital for such a big investment, invited his three friends, a Swiss merchant, Frederich Luchinger, and two Spanish friends-partners, Jose Coscolluela and Ramon Mascuņana to join the venture. The interests of Loney and Luchinger were registered in the name of their local partners (Mascuņana and Coscolluela ) to acquire Hacienda Matab-ang in Negros Occidental. The hacienda, named after the village and the river, was 428.83 hectares located just across the Matab-ang River, about three kilometers from Bacolod on the way to Minuluan. Loney made the Hacienda Matab-ang a model for large-scale sugar production. He installed the largest steam-powered mill for sugar, the first in the Visayas and the biggest in the whole Philippines at the time.
