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June 4, 2010
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San Miguel acquires Mariveles Grain Terminal
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San Miguel Corporation has entered the commodities cargo business after sealing a deal to take over a unit of Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) that operates the Mariveles Grain Terminal in Bataan—the country’s most modern grain handling facility.
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ATI announced yesterday (June 3) that it has approved the sale of wholly owned subsidiary Mariveles Grain Corp. to a "private unlisted Philippine purchaser."
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The sale is still subject to further clearance by shareholders, who are set to meet on July 30 to discuss the transaction.
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SMC president Ramon Ang confirmed that the buyer was a unit of San Miguel, and that the purchase would be done in partnership with Japanese trading giant Toyota Tsusho Corp.
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For over a year, SMC had been in talks to acquire Mariveles Grain Corporation which would set the company on track to become a distribution and logistics powerhouse.
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San Miguel also wanted to take over MGC to expand the 500,000-tonne annual capacity of its feed mill located near the grains terminal.
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"An agreement in respect of the proposed sale was signed by the signatories as designated and authorized by the board," ATI said in its statement.
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MGC holds a permit from the Philippine Ports Authority to operate the Mariveles Grain Terminal until February 2033. The terminal offers unloading, conveying, storage, outloading, weighing, bagging and sampling services. It handles bulk cargo of commodities like wheat, soybean meal, corn and soy.
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The terminal can accommodate vessels of up to 70,000 deadweight tonnes, discharge cargo of up to 10,000 metric tonnes a day, and store 180,000 tonnes of soymeal and grain, based on the latest ATI annual report.
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It was earlier announced that San Miguel and Toyota would form a new company to acquire MGC--60 percent of which would be controlled by the diversifying conglomerate.
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Based on analysts’ earlier estimates, the acquisition deal was said to be worth PHP1.6 billion (US$34.44 million). Ang did not disclose the final valuation of the purchase.
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Apart from its traditional food and beverage businesses, San Miguel’s investment portfolio now includes interests in banking, energy, power, telecommunications, infrastructure and mining.
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San Miguel earlier said it would match, or even exceed, this year the PHP57.8 billion (US$1.24 billion) in net profit it booked last year as the conglomerate moved to cash in on its latest acquisitions, in line with its aggressive diversification.
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Also, the giant is raising funds from the sale of assets, such as substantial stakes in food unit San Miguel Pure Foods Co. and packaging unit San Miguel Yamamura Packaging group.
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Shareholders of the 120-year-old company also approved during a recent stockholders meeting the sale of up to 51 percent of the company’s stake in major subsidiaries.
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Likewise, stockholders also approved the removal of classification of San Miguel common shares “A†and “B†to facilitate broader investor base and greater public participation. As such, the authorized capital stock of PHP22 billion (US$473.79 million) will now consist of about 3.39 billion common shares.
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Shareholders also agreed to waive preemptive rights to any issuance of common shares in order to give the company the flexibility in making acquisition deals.
