Jardine Davies sells entire stake in Cebu sugar mill

Publicly-listed trading conglomerate Jardine Davies Inc. (JDI) has divested its entire stake in sugar milling firm Bogo-Medellin Milling Co. to concentrate on the similar sugar business of its subsidiary Hawaiian-Philippine Co., a company official informed the Philippine Stock Exchange.

JDI senior vice president Bi Yong Chungunco said the company’s board has approved the transfer of its over $1.25 million or 20.84 percent of BMMC to certain existing stockholders of the sugar firm.

Based on the present P15 per share market value of BMMC stocks, the transaction is worth about P18.75 million.

"The investment in BMMC constitutes less than one percent of the consolidated net worth of Jardine Davies Inc.," Chungunco said.

BMMC, established in 1928, derived its name from the two adjacent towns of Bogo and Medellin in Cebu, where its sugar milling plant operates. Due to the slump in the sugar industry, BMMC has not exported its produce for the past three years, mainly relying from sales revenues in the local market.

It has also decided to indefinitely postpone its expansion plan for other investment opportunities and simply focus on its core business of sugar milling in view of the prevailing economic crisis.

For its part, JDI’s divestment signals the concentration of its sugar interest in Hawaiian-Philippine Co. and maintains its approximately seven-percent share in total domestic sugar output.

As diversified conglomerate, JDI’s core businesses however are in the fields of building and industrial materials, middle-income housing, agribusiness and consumer finance.