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THE
Philippines’ premier port operator is planning to
acquire at least two strategically located facilities,
one in South America and another in Asia, for the
expansion of its foreign business, the source of
two-thirds of its income.
According to an executive of the International Container
Terminal Services Inc., the publicly traded company has
formed a team to examine opportunities in a South
American country it did not name and in China. “We are
bidding for several overseas ports this year but our
attention is really concentrated in South America and
China.”
After
the port operator sold its stake in an Argentinian port
to Hutchison Whampoa in 2001, the executive said the
company is again looking in the region since a 5-year
noncompetition clause with Hutchison has already lapsed.
The
source added that owing to a healthy balance sheet, they
have been attracting unsolicited offers from various
parties to manage their ports.
At the
recent Philippine Ports and Shipping conference held in
Manila, Brian O’ Gallagher, executive director of the
Australian department of the Chief Minister of the
Northern Territory Government, said International
Container is also welcome to bid for their terminal
operations.
Besides
running a terminal in Tecon Suape in Brazil, the company
also manages the Baltic Container Terminal in Poland,
the Naha port in Japan, and the Port of Madagascar in
Toamasina, all acquired in 2005.
Last
year, the company bought 95 percent of PT Makassar
Terminal Services in Indonesia and also took over
cargo-handling operations in Tartous port in Syria.
Early this year, it was awarded a contract to operate
the Yantai Gangtong Port in Shangdong, China.
Although
it previously ran ports in Mexico, Tanzania, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan and Thailand up until 2001, the company
was forced to sell all these assets as a result of the
1997 Asian financial crisis.
Company
shares closed Tuesday at P29 apiece, up from the
previous P28, the highest price posted in a year. Early
this year, when the company announced it would buy its
own shares held by its two other units, its stock prices
jumped by P2 a week later to P26 apiece. (With Louise
Francisco) |
