ATS sale to Nenaco: If it's good for Aboitiz.!

The big news in Cebu is that the Aboitiz Group, in a special board meeting with the Aboitiz Equities Ventures (AEV), has finally decided to sell its entire stake in the Aboitiz Transport System (ATS) to the Negros Navigation Co. Inc. (Nenaco). Sounds like old news, right? I guess it’s because in April last year, the KGLI-NM Holdings Inc. (a Kuwaiti group), which offered to purchase ATS, somehow failed to pay the agreed amount of $30 million as partial payment for the company, hence that deal fell apart. But apparently, AEV chief financial officer Stephen Paradies announced that this new deal was signed in Shanghai, China.

If you didn’t know, ATS is part and parcel of the Aboitiz Group’s original main line of business ran by the Aboitiz patriarch Don Ramon Aboitiz a hundred years ago. Today it carries brand names such as SuperCat, SuperFerry and the Cebu Ferries, including its cargo line 2GO. It experienced financial problems due to the high cost of bunker fuel and the unexpected low budget fares from the airline industry. No doubt, ATS is arguably the best shipping company in the country, thanks to the management style of the Aboitiz family and their professional way of running a business.

This deal puts ATS at a value of $105 million, which is approximately equivalent to $0.43 per share. Nenaco intends to acquire 100 percent of ATS (except the Jebsen Group of Norway that handles ship management, manning and crew management and bulk transport), which means a tender offer would have to be made to the other shareholders.

AEV CEO Erramon Aboitiz pointed out that their divestment from ATS wasn’t an easy decision, but the board of directors felt that the Nenaco offer was very reasonable and plans are afoot to reinvest the sale proceeds in the other business interests of the Aboitiz Group, so in the long run, this sale is good for the company. All I can add to Monxtu’s statement is, “If it is good for Aboitiz… then it must be good for Cebu!”

With this sale, Nenaco-ATS would have a combined 31 vessels and it would be the largest shipping company in the country. Nenaco is sourcing its funds from an equity investment of the China-ASEAN Marine B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of the China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund. (CAICF). So cheers to this grand sale and let’s hope that Nenaco-ATS would continue the service that ATS always gave to the Cebuanos.

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It seems that a lot of Catholics are now soul-searching whether they should obey the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and support her call for all Catholics not to support the RH bill, especially in the light of the so many falsehoods and media manipulation happening to con people to believe that so many of us are supporting the RH bill. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we said, our boxing hero, the world’s greatest boxer of all time, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, made no bones about fighting the RH bill, so why shouldn’t we all join him in this fight?

Incidentally, we got an e-mailed response to our article last Wednesday which we titled “Our people are our greatest asset.” Here’s the letter in full:

“Yes, Bobit. Our people are our greatest asset. Take me, for example. When we got married we only had our shirts on our backs. I retired as a teacher after 43 years and I am a widow with only P5,000 from PVAO because my husband was a WWII veteran. But I have 13 (yes, 13!) children and 33 grandchildren, some in the United States and others in Australia. And so I am rich. I can travel every year and I live comfortably in my own house, where my children take care of my needs.

“So, who are those saying that many children cause poverty? There is only mal-distribution of our wealth and mis-education. Our taipans became rich because they are industrious, persevering and frugal. They can help by sharing their profits to pay good teachers. The answer to becoming prosperous is to start teaching our young, the three- to six-year-olds in our barangay day care centers, the proper values NOW by teachers who can give them TLC (tender loving care). What they learn at this stage they will carry throughout life.

“Let us have really good teachers in these centers. But let us pay them well, so we will attract the good ones to apply. Adding two more years in the grades and high school will be more expensive for both parents and the government. Additional classrooms and teachers will require more money. More time in school is not the answer. Let us improve the quality of teaching by employing quality teachers who are paid WELL… Consuelo D. Sison, 8910 Alpha Road, Alpha Village, Capitol Hills, Quezon City”

Thanks Mrs. Sison for your very inspiring letter. How I wish all Filipino mothers are like you and put their faith in God… like Manny Pacquiao who wouldn’t have been born if Aling Dionesia used contraceptives! All Catholics should fight the RH bill!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. Avila’s columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.