Four Asian firms to bid for PNOC's Malampaya stake: Report
Tuesday, September 2 2003 - 12:21 AM WIB
PNOC officials will end its more than two-week roadshow presentation in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Korea anytime this week. PNOC president Thelmo Cunanan identified Indonesian and Thailand state firms Pertamina and Thai National Oil, respectively, as among the firms that have expressed interest to join in the proposed exercise.
Cunanan said that Hong Kong-based CLSA, an arm of renowned investment bank Credit Lyonnais and EC?s financial advisor, will evaluate the results of the international roadshow and will determine if they will push through with an initial public offering (IPO).
PNOC-EC president Rufino Bomasang said in a separate interview Monday that the mode of sale of the 49 percent of the 10-percent stake of EC, which will be transferred to a new exploration firm, will depend on the results of the roadshow.
?The objective is to get the interest of foreign firms engaged in upstream exploration activities. We have not decided yet on what mode of sale we will choose,? Bomasang said.
Should results of this exercise proved futile, the EC official said that they still have two more options left -- either they undergo an IPO or shelve the plan.
The sale of the 49 percent of EC?s 10-percent stake in the Malampaya project is valued at about $300 million. The remaining 51 percent will still be owned by EC.
Based on the initial privatization plan, EC has created a new subsidiary, PNOC Malampaya Production Corp, that will absorb its 10-percent share in the $4.5-billion Malampaya project and some $175 million worth of loans. A small portion of EC?s shares is listed in the stock market in the early ?70s, but is not actively traded.
Earlier, the government has expressed its willingness to privatize the 10-percent stake in Malampaya to bridge the gap in its budget deficit, which is expected to hit more than P200 billion this year.
CLSA, an arm of well-renowned investment bank Credit Lyonnais, is the financial advisor of EC. It handled the first phase of the privatization process which primarily involved assets valuation.
ING Barings, meanwhile, was appointed as EC?s global coordinator for the second phase of the company?s privatization process. It will recommend the privatization methods to be used and serve as the underwriter for the offering. (*)