Philex open to raising 5% stake in Lepanto

MANILA, Philippines -  Philex Mining Corp. chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said yesterday they are open to increasing their economic stake in Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. from the present five percent to what is available for sale.

On the sidelines of yesterday’s Philex stockholders meeting, Pangilinan said “if there are Lepanto shares available, then we will look at them.”

“If Lepanto is open to increasing our economic stake in that company, then we are prepared to increase our economic interest,” he said.

Philex earlier purchased a five-percent stake in Lepanto in order to participate in the latter’s Far Southeast gold project.

Lepanto owns a controlling stake in Manila Mining Corp., a company which earlier entered into a joint venture with Philex involving the Kalayaan project. Philex will have a 60-percent equity in the project.

In 2010, Philex posted its second highest level of reported net income in its entire history as well as the highest level of EBITDA (earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization) at P66 billion.

Capital expenditures last year reached P2.64 billion, of which P1.38 billion went into the Padcal project and the remaining P1.25 billion for other exploration projects.

Revenues last year hit P13.4 billion, the highest in Philex’s history. Of this, 54 percent came from gold (P7.2 billion) and 43 percent from copper (P5.7 billion).

During the first quarter of this year, Philex posted a core net income and reported net income of P1.3 billion.

Pangilinan said production has been up during the first half of 2011 and prices are higher. “We are seeing better first half results in terms of core income and we expect better full year results,” he added.

Asked whether Philex is interested in acquiring a stake in Atlas Mining, he said that “they are always open to anything that is value enhancing.”

But he emphasized that there have been no preliminary talks with the owners of Atlas Mining on the matter.

Philex has also spun off its petroleum assets to Philex Petroleum, which will be 36 percent owned by shareholders of Philex Mining.