Bacnotan eyes hotels, med services

Awash with cash from the sale of its cement business, Bacnotan Consolidated Industries Inc. (BCII) – a unit of the Phinma Group of Companies – is expanding its investments in the services sector to include medical services and hotels as part of efforts to tap other potential revenue-generating businesses.

BCII president Ramon Del Rosario Jr. said the company is looking to invest in a full-service hospital which could cost between P350 million and P500 million.

"We envision a significant investment in a full-service hospital in the hope that we can contribute our management and financial expertise towards making the hospital more highly-competitive not only domestically, but regionally and internationally as well," Del Rosario said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting.

Del Rosario said the company is also keen on "exploring possible opportunities in the field of medical tourism where our neighbors – Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia – have become wildly successful in recent years."

He said the company is also considering investing in a possible chain of tourism and business-oriented affordable but high-quality hotels in key cities throughout the country.

"We will aggressively seek opportunities primarily in the services sector that will allow us to address the basic needs of our society while being globally competitive and generating attractive stakeholder values," Del Rosario said.

BCII is diversifying its business portfolio following its recent exit in the cement business. In August last year, the company sold its 21.31-percent stake in Union Cement Holdings to Cemco Holdings for $89.4 million.

This divestment has allowed BCII to distribute significant cash dividends, pay off its outstanding loans, fully redeem all of its outstanding preferred shares and explore opportunities in various sectors.

The Phinma Group has interests in reinforced steel bars, power generation and oil exploration, low-cost housing development, financial services and more recently, in educational services.

Del Rosario said BCII will make additional investments in the field of education. The company is set to acquire a university in Cagayan de Oro for P280 million, its second acquisition next to Araullo University.

He said BCII’s objective is to build a network of three to five universities and colleges all over the Philippines with a total student population of some 50,000 to 75,000.

Del Rosario said BCII is also considering investing in a school in the central province of Iloilo.

For its housing business, BCII, through Phinma Property Holdings Corp. will build another 100,000 housing units in Quezon City through its new project called Spazio Bernardos.

Del Rosario said PPHC is able to offer attractive homes in wholesome communities at highly affordable prices, supported by Pag-Ibig financing. PPHC units are typically 30 square meters in size and sell for P 500,000 to P800,000.

Apart from this, BCII may also bid for the geothermal plants being privatized by the National Power Corp. Among these power plants include the 330-megawatt Tiwi plant, 410-megawatt Makban plant and 112.5-megawatt Palinpinon.

"We have not yet programmed how much investment we will be needing to acquire one of these. But we are interested to participate in the bidding slated mid this year.

BCII subsidiaries Trans-Asia Oil and TA Power, the vehicles through which the group seeks opportunities in the energy sector, currently operate a 53-megawatt dedicated power plant for Holcim Philippines, Inc.

Del Rosario said Trans-Asia is going to form a consortium with both local and foreign firms in preparation for the planned bidding," Del Rosario said.