Government to auction off Mla Gas property in Paco on Sept 13

The government has set the privatization of the Manila Gas property owned by the National Development Co. (NDC) on Sept. 13, Finance Undersecretary Gabriel Singson Jr. said.

Singson, who is handling the government’s privatization program, said the property is located in a six-hectare lot in Paco, Manila.

He said the bidding has already been approved by the NDC after securing the clearance from the Privatization Council, an attached agency of the Department of Finance.

Singson said that based on the latest appraisals by three firms commissioned by NDC, the property sale could generate as much as P600 million in proceeds. The property could fetch a price of between P12,000 to P18,000 per square meter, he said.

Proceeds from the sale would be used to beef up funds for infrastructure projects. About 50 percent of the expected gross proceeds from the sale would go tothe NDC in the form of dividends. The remaining half, or P300 million, will go to the National Government.

In addition, Singson said the government is also looking to sell its 4.8-hectare property in Bel Air, Makati where the former International School used to be located. The property was put on the auction block as early as 2003 but the bidding failed.

Singson said the government wants the property to be converted into an information technology hub to ride on the call center operations bandwagon and to attract more bidders.

The property was valued at P1.9 billion or P40,000 per square meter in 2003.

Singson said the government is also preparing for the privatization of the PNOC-Energy Development Corp. Under the plan, PNOC-EDC will sell nine billion shares through a combined strategic sale and initial public offering (IPO) consisting of six billion and three billion shares, respectively.

PNOC-EDC will flow Petron’s privatization model where PNOC retains a 40-percent stake, sell the other 40 percent to a strategic partner and offer the remaining 20 percent to the public via an IPO.

CLSA Exchange Capital has been tapped as financial advisor/underwriter for the privatization program of PNOC-EDC.

PNOC-EDC is the country’s largest producer of geothermal energy, accounting for more than 60 percent of installed generating capacity. Its four geothermal fields in Leyte, Negros Oriental and Cotabato have a total capacity of 1,149 megawatts.