Phinma Corp. is close to completing the purchase of Petra Cement Inc. in Mindanao, according to a senior executive.
Eduardo A. Sahagun, executive vice president for construction materials group, said the acquisition will position Phinma as the only company serving the cement needs of northern Mindanao.
Phinma unit Philcement Corp. signed a manufacturing and sale agreement with Petra Cement in January enabling the company to operate the Petra plant, manufacture, distribute and sell cement products.
“We actually look at that as an opportunity. When we look at where it is located, it’s almost like we’re the only one there serving northern Mindanao. We think that has a good potential for us, to bring us closer to where we want to be as we actually put into our model for being more sustainable in our cement business,” Sahagun said.
The acquisition will complement the 1.5 million ton per year cement packaging plant the company plans to put up in Davao. Phinma has a processing plant in Mariveles, Bataan.
When completed, the transaction will boost its production capacity to an estimated 5 million tons in two years, Sahagun said.
According to him, the Davao plant is about to start production with initial costing estimated to hit P2 billion.
Its construction materials group, composed of Union Galvasteel Corp., Philcement Corp. and Phinma Solar Energy Corp., generate a combined revenue of P13.27 billion and combined net income of P430.95 million.
“UGC’s sales volume grew as construction activities rebounded in the second half of 2023,” the company reported.
Its solar business is the only successful bidder in the solar rooftop program under the government’s Green Energy Auction Program involving 58 projects generating a total 9.39 megawatt peak.
Phinma has allocated P4.5 billion this year as capital expenditure, up from last year’s P3 billion, including the acquisition cost for Petra Cement.
Edmund Alan Qua-Hiansen, Phinma CFO, said its education business gets half of total allocation, the property business another P1.75 billion and its hospitality and construction materials business P500 million.
Qua-Hiansen said the capex spending is financed by a mix of debt and equity.
