First Pacific keen on raising stake in Philex Mining

MANILA, Philippines - First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, the parent company of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), said yesterday it is keen on increasing its stake in Philex Mining Corp. but sees no urgency to do so at the moment.

“We like to increase our interest in Philex. That was our intention. It remains our intention but there’s no rush to do so. At the moment, we’re happy where we are,” said First Pacific executive director Robert Nicholson in a press briefing yesterday.

First Pacific owns around 21 percent of Philex, the biggest gold and copper producer in the Philippines. Income contribution of Philex to First Pacific’s bottom line amounted to $2.1 million in the first half of the year.

Philex stocks have been surging over the past two weeks amid intense speculation about a possible bidding war between corporate titans Manuel V. Pangilinan of First Pacific and Ramon S. Ang of San Miguel Corp. coupled with the continued increase in the price of gold. Gold prices hit a new record high of $1,120 per troy ounce yesterday.

Philex reached an intra-day high of P20 yesterday before closing at P19.50 each share the same price as Wednesday. From only P5.85 in January, the stock has risen by more than three times so far this year.

With a market capitalization of P87.86 billion, Philex has been steadily going up as two groups are reportedly accumulating shares in anticipation of a bidding war.

The group of former trade and industry minister Roberto V. Ongpin, through Goldenmedia Corp., last week disclosed it had acquired an additional 50 million shares in Philex for P12.75 each or a total of P637.5 million.

Ongpin is an incumbent director of Philex as well as vice-chairman and chairman of its executive committee.

First Pacific is raising about $282 million through a stock rights offering to fund investments in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippine mining and infrastructure sectors.

Meanwhile, Philex reported a 47-percent drop in consolidated net income for the first nine months of the year to P1.7 billion as revenues declined to P6.3 billion from P8 billion in the third quarter alone, Philex’s net profit amounted to P617.5 million.

Net operating revenue from copper was lower by 39 percent at P2.8 billion this year from P4.6 billion last year from lower average realized price per pound of $2.19 in 2009 compared to $3.32 in 2008.

Copper production was also lower at 26 million pounds in 2009 compared to 30.6 million pounds in 2008, partly offset by lower marketing charges of P497.7 million in 2009 from P571.3 million last year.