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THE
government said it is on track in the disposal of its
remaining stake in oil refiner Petron Corp. by the end
of the year, but it is still unsure whether it can sell
its stake in other entities up for privatization this
year.
Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves said on Tuesday the government
may not sell part of its stake in Philippine National
Oil Co.-Exploration Co. (PNOC-EC) this year, and they
are still waiting for the resolution of a legal
wrangling involving San Miguel Corp. (SMC).
“To be
more precise, we expect to get the proceeds [from
Petron] before the end of the year. With respect to PNOC-EC,
there is an agreement in principle to dispose of 40
percent,” Teves said in a news conference.
The
government, through PNOC, still holds 40 percent of
Petron, and owns the whole of PNOC-EC.
According to the plan, the Arroyo administration needs
to raise P30 billion from the proceeds of privatization,
but at the moment only P7 billion of that target has
been achieved with the selling of the government’s stake
in Manila Electirc Co. earlier this year.
Teves
said he is more concerned with whether the government
can achieve the P30-billion
privatization proceeds target before the year-end, and
economic managers would have to decide where to source
the shortfall.
The
government needs to boost collection the rest of the
year, as it plans to spend more on infrastructure and
handouts to the poor to prime the economy.
“For
SMC, we still have to wait for the final comments being
prepared by the Solgen [Solicitor General] on the
petition filed by Cocofed [Philippine Coconut Producers
Federation]. Hopefully, the SC [Supreme Court] will be
able to make a judgment [on] these,” Teves said, adding
their general direction is to move toward settlement of
the case and dispose of its remaining shares.
For SMC,
the government still has no valuation of its 24-percent
stake. Coconut farmers are claiming rights over the
shares since these were acquired using the funds from a
coconut levy under President Marcos.
In May
Aramco Overseas Co. sold its 40-percent stake in Petron
to UK-based fund manager Ashmore Group for $550 million.
The government wants to sell its 40-percent stake in
Petron at the same price, if not higher. The remaining
20-percent stake is held by the public.
Proceeds
from Petron could easily fill up the government’s
P30-billion target for the year, and there will be a
surplus if the SMC shares were immediately disposed of.
For PNOC-EC,
Teves earlier said they expect to generate about P6
billion in proceeds from the sale of the 40-percent
stake.
In
November last year, PNOC declared Red Vulcan Holdings
Corp. as the highest bidder offering to acquire the
government’s remaining 60-percent stake in PNOC-EDC for
P58.5 billion.
Red
Vulcan Holdings Corp. is a consortium led by First Gen
Corp. and Iceland-based Spalmare Holdings B.V. and Prime
Terracota Holdings Corp. |
