Petron mulls listing of newly-created retail arm

Petron Corp. is mulling the possibility of listing the shares of Petron Marketing Corp. (PMC), its newly-recreated retail arm, at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).

"It can be an avenue for an initial public offering (IPO)," a Petro official, who requested anonymity, said in an interview.

But the official said the IPO is not yet part of the immediate plan of Petron for the newly-formed subsidiary.

PMC is similar to Caltex Philippines Inc.’s marketing arm, CALSERV.

In a separate interview, Petron vice president and PMC chief operating officer Jose Campos said PMC, which is expected to have an authorized capital stock of P138.5 million, will handle the company-owned and company-operated (COCO) service stations.

Based on the five-year plan for PMC, the company will be putting up at least 30 new COCO service stations in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The company is expected to invest a minimum of P45 million or $830,000 per station under the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA).

So far, PMC has been able to start the construction of two new stations in Subic and Dasmariñas.

The Subic Coco station will be handled by Petron Treats Subic Inc., another new company under PMC with initial capitalization of P50 million. The 3,200-square meter service station is expected to be operational in the middle of 2004.